Extreme Cold

[Nelson]

Hello all,

 

We are shooting in Alaska in a couple of weeks and already have a plan to keep our camera, lens, and batteries warm.

 

However, what affect will the extreme cold have on our lights? The temperature is expected to be

30 degrees below zero and we are going to use 1K Arri Fresnel lights. Is there anything special we should do?

 

I was thinking of removing the globes when not in use and keeping them in an insulated case.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Chris Keth]

I don't think you need to do anything special. I've shot with tungstens in -20F weather and it wasn't a problem.

[Michael Collier]

Greetings from Anchorage! good to hear people know we exist and are bringing work up. Where are you shooting, Fairbanks I assume? (its surely not that cold here in anchorage)

 

As far as shooting you won't need to do much. I have run betacams, lights, batt belts, etc. with no special protection in wx that cold. You'll want to keep your batteries warm, so they don't freeze (in your jacket works, or with a hand warmer pack)

 

The globes should be fine in that wx. You'll find you don't have to wait for the lights to cool before packing them. Also you can adjust the barndoors with no gloves (though if your gloveless in -30 temp good luck to you.) The biggest effect you'll see on the lights will be with the power chords. They tend to get really stiff and freeze, so keep them in a car thats warm, and only pull it out when you have your power run done. If you pull them early and they are wrapped, and they freeze, you'll have a hell of a time running power. If your running a lot of power through them, they should stay more or less warm enough to roll up when your done, but they might need a bit of warming before propper packing, depending on the gadge wire and power load.

 

Good luck and courage in the cold. Let me know when you get in, if your flying through anchorage I'll buy you a beer.

[timHealy]

Concerning lighting, some types of insulation on cable can crack in extreme cold exposing the copper beneath.

 

Best

 

Tim

[Kiarash Sadigh]

Take a couple of cooler boxes for storing batteries and some tar-paper to protect lights in case of freezing rains...you can also take toe-warmer pads, activate them and drop them in the cooler to keep batteries warm, just make sure they don't touch batteries. A car-battery-to-AC adaptor is always good to keep batteries charging on the road. good luck.

[David Auner aac]

Concerning lighting, some types of insulation on cable can crack in extreme cold exposing the copper beneath.

 

Hi Tim,

 

that problem should be most obvious with PVC coated cable. Heavy duty rubber coated cable should be ok. The main type used here, H07RN-F, goes down to only -25° C, so you might run into a problem when using this type in an extremely cold (-40 or lower) environment.

 

Cheers, Dave