As many of you may have heard, Last week during the Australian Open in Melbourne we had a heat wave, with three days over 40 degrees.

You guessed it! I had weddings on two of those days, the 1st in an old blue stone suburban church with no air conditioning!

After the photographer and I talked at the bride's house (also without aircon) about his Canon 5D was rated to 40 degrees, when I arrived at the church, my car was telling me it was 48 degrees outside.

After I videod the groom etc I went back outside (in the shade), and discovered the top of the casing above the cards was so hot I couldn't leave my finger on it.

I quickly went into the foyer of the church which was a bit dark and cooler, and opened the door and fanned some air through it for a minute or so, then went outside as the bride arrived and shot continuously for the next hour and a half for a FULL EXTENDED MASS with three priests and some very uncomfortable guests!!!!!

Lo and behold, I'm very pleased to report that the camera and S x S cards didn't miss a bit all weekend. (The second wedding was at a function centre with aircon).

The operator has had gastro all this week which I'm sure came about from eating at receptions where they'd lost power in the the preceeding days (We lost it for 17 hours over two days, including 14 straight).

And as a matter of interest, in Australia we measure the temperature in the shade, don't think that's true of all countries.

Tomorrow heading over forty again, not working this weekend!

Cheers All,

Vaughan

No problems with my EX3 here in Melbourne either :) That said, I wouldn't want to be operating all day in direct sunshine o_O

I wonder how video tape would cope with this same situation.

Not meaning to gloat, but we have had a healthy sprinkling of snow here in the UK - lovely and cool.

Have a beer on me.

I do encounter occassionally such scenarios since in Malta it does sometimes peak over 40 degrees celcius (and we do as well measure temp in the shade). Once when it happened in a morning wedding in August and when I was using the DVCAM camera, I was so worried that the tape will melt that I went to the caterer and asked him for a piece of tinfoil that they use to cover the food with. I wrapped the upper part and the tape compartment with it. Yes it did look funny, like an oversized wrapped kebab but at least I saved the day from a possible complication - and it did cool down the camera. Pity I did not wrap one around my head as well....!

Luckily have been indoors lately so the gears safe but my home town here in Australia is entering the record books! Guess global warming as they predict lots more to come. The quote below was the news a few days ago and still above 40 degrees here with 46 predicted this Saturday!

Quote;
"Mildura is on track to record 13 consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 40 degrees, which Jones says is nearly double the previous record. The town has already set a new record with seven consecutive nights above 24 degrees."

....a hot Evo

And as a matter of interest, in Australia we measure the temperature in the shade, don't think that's true of all countries.


Air Temperature has to be measured in the shade. If you hold the thermometer in sunshine you're really only measuring the temperature of the thermometer under combined convective and radiant (5600K) heating.

I just spent 1 week in Gippsland in and around all of the Latrobe Valley power stations, local dams, water treatment plants, Australian Paper and more during high 30's & low 40's, shooting in sunshine for a large part and having to contend with dust storms using my EX 3. No issues, great pics.

Glad to hear everyone's equipment is holding up under extreme conditions but this is not all that unusual even with older technologies. Both heat and cold have caused many problems for gear but most manufacturers state operating temperatures for their gear which we exceed normally in the field all the time with few consequences. Most professional tape cameras temperature operating range was posted by the manufacturers as 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius) to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40Celsius). This didn't mean the equipment wouldn't operate in other lower and higher temps it just meant the manufacturer didn't want to be responsible if the equipment failed in higher or lower temperatures.
The EX1's operating Temp range is rated as 32F/0C to 104F/40C. this is the same spec as my Panasonic SDX-900 tape camera. The storage temperature of both is a little more extreme -20ºC to +60ºC (4ºF to 140ºF) I would also be wary of humidity issues in the tape camera as far as the tape transport is concerned but be careful with any camera when going from airconditioned office to hot outside or cold outside to hot inside as condensation can fog a lens for a fairly long time. A few weeks ago I was asked to shoot some exteriors when it was about 10deg F as well as shoot some interviews and B Roll which had to be done under a time crunch and I decided to shoot the inside stuff first as I didn't want the camera to fog up from being outside in the cold and delay us when we were inside.
It is wise to be aware of the the temperature as you go above or below the operating range as there are precautions one can take to keep the equipment operating correctly.