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Relief for the Epic Fan


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I was surprised to discover today on the RedUser forum that a couple of Swiss film technicians have come up with a fix for the Red Epic fan.

One of them is cameraman Patrick Tresch; the other is Jacques Sax, the founder of the famed mixer/recorder company Sonosax. The unit is basically a small $800 metal brick that bolts on top of the camera, and has a "nearly silent" fan that blows into the intake port on the back of the Epic. (Yes: a fan in front of a fan.) The idea is, this very quiet fan runs 100% of the time, and prevents the bigger fan from ramping up and going into leaf-blower mode.

It looks like this:

FanPlate_rear_zps8cba3dc5.jpg

I have no idea how well it works in the real world, but judging by M. Sax's excellent past work, he knows good sound and craftsmanship. At $800, the FanPlate is not inexpensive, but if it meets the manufacturer's claims, this accessory will help tame these cameras quite a bit in terms of usability with sound crews. It's due to start shipping in November 2012.

More info at this link:

http://www.mecasax.c...oducts/fanplate

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That's helpful for rehearsals and tracking down bg noises without the camera rolling, but the camera is still very noisy when in a small room or in close proximity to talent.

I also don't feel like propper cooling of the camera is a sound department responsibility, even if the negative effects of the heat are creating a sound issue.

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It always wonders me why the white and red current cable needs to be exposed like that. There most be some solution for it, or at least wrap it in some black.

Oh man, the FIRST thing that hit me was this - when i saw the picture of the unit. I wondered if Sonosax has taken the cue from Lectro and made a 1st April announcement. Heh.

I am sure they will say "oh, that was because you can change the fan in the unit very easily on location" or something like that.

-vin

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That's helpful for rehearsals and tracking down bg noises without the camera rolling, but the camera is still very noisy when in a small room or in close proximity to talent.

I also don't feel like propper cooling of the camera is a sound department responsibility, even if the negative effects of the heat are creating a sound issue.

It seems like a great solution if takes are longer than 8-10 minutes. A benefit for rehearsals too. As far as the camera being in small rooms and in close proximity to talent, adjusting the fan speed while rolling is really helpful. The fan goes as low as 25-30%. I've had some red operators not even know about adjusting the fan speed to help out sound, or at least they claimed such. This has solved all my complaints about the fan noise thus far.

I don't think the proper cooling of the camera is a sound department issue either. It might hinge on whether rental houses decide to carry them, and how much they rent them out for.

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It seems like a great solution if takes are longer than 8-10 minutes. A benefit for rehearsals too. As far as the camera being in small rooms and in close proximity to talent, adjusting the fan speed while rolling is really helpful. The fan goes as low as 25-30%. I've had some red operators not even know about adjusting the fan speed to help out sound, or at least they claimed such. This has solved all my complaints about the fan noise thus far.

I don't think the proper cooling of the camera is a sound department issue either. It might hinge on whether rental houses decide to carry them, and how much they rent them out for.

I agree it's helpful for rehearsals and long takes.

Even at 25%, which is the lowest I have seen the fan speed setting, I can still clearly hear the fans in small rooms and in close proximity. I find it quite annoying.

The fan noise is a commonly known issue, so hopefully we'll see a lot of camera owners adopting solutions as they come out.

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Hello,

I'm happy to write my first post in this forum.

I see that there is interest in the FanPlate and I will be willing to answer any question you have.

Here the introduction to what led me to design the FanPlate:

I was on a feature with Jean Umansky shooting on Epic and we teared appart the camera noise problem. First I noticed a big difference between Epic-M and Epic-X cameras. As this was in April 2012, at that time Epic-M that where not updated (heat sink...) could not roll the camera fan setting lower than 35%. Having shot a feature with an Epic-X before, I knew that there was a lower fan setting than 35% (25%) wich is a big difference. Even if Panavision Paris said there was no difference, we decided to change the body and rent the X version.

The main sound issue we see on set with the Epic is due to a team that don't take the time and care to adress them. Solutions are out there, if not create your own.

But rolling at lower fan speed on long takes (about 10 to 15 minutes) in small bedrooms bursted the heat issue.

If in the 50's we managed to make a blimp for the noisy 35mm cameras (BTW who cares wich department came up with the solution) it must be a way nowadays to cool the camera efficiently. I started the research.

I asked my friend Jacques Sax if he would be interested to help me in the quest. Understanding the problem, he kindly gave me access to his engeneering team and tools.

Jacques created with his son Stefan Sax a subsidiary called MECASAX to elaborate the FanPlate. MECASAX provides multiple services, such as prototyping, mechanical engineering... So the FanPlate is in focus with this goal.

The FanPlate is clearly not an SX-ST ;-) but Jacques gave us full support to make our project alive even with his tight schedule.

The FanPlate you see is a prototype. Some changes could still be made.

Greatings from Lausanne,

Patrick

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This is great. I have an occasional client that was still using a Red One last time I worked with them. We would do interviews that were easily 20+ minute takes in a normal indoor type setting. Heck, some of the interviewees could give a 20 minute answer to one question. This would be great for something like that.

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