Protecting Arri 435 From Desert Dust/Heat

[Evan Andrew John Prosofsky]

Hi there!

 

The topic really says it all. I'll be shooting in the Nevada desert in the heat of summer. Apparently there are occasionally dust storms and severe heat. Being from Canada I have absolutely no experience with this kind of weather/conditions, and as the DP I'd love to know how to best protect the camera. Specifically during lens changes/mag changes.

 

We will have a van with us that I am hoping we can have on standby when I need to swap out a mag or lens, but this might not always be the case. I know sand/dust/dirt love to get into everything (including lenses??? uh oh, we're shooting s4's and cooke zoom) so I was planning on using a standard visqueen rain cover over the camera with a small hole for the eyepiece. Can anybody suggest anything more/better? (I've looked into the Camera Essentials cover and they no longer stock it) And what about lens/mag changes? General camera upkeep? Shooting in the heat like that?

 

Please let me know , thankyou!

 

Evan

[Phil Thompson]

While I was shooting Stargate we ran into many dust problems. I solved them with an elementary solution. The humble black trash bag with sellotape. Yes, I simply put a bin liner around the camera and made a hole for the lens. I think taped it all up. Job's a goodun. If you have budget, try the Hydroflex 435 Deep Water Housing.

 

http://www.hydroflex.com/site/cameras/435deep.html

 

Will protect you from dust no worries and you can go for a swim with it too :D

[Evan Andrew John Prosofsky]

While I was shooting Stargate we ran into many dust problems. I solved them with an elementary solution. The humble black trash bag with sellotape. Yes, I simply put a bin liner around the camera and made a hole for the lens. I think taped it all up. Job's a goodun. If you have budget, try the Hydroflex 435 Deep Water Housing.

 

http://www.hydroflex.com/site/cameras/435deep.html

 

Will protect you from dust no worries and you can go for a swim with it too :D

Great thanks!

 

Sorry for my ignorance but what is a bin liner? And what did you do for mag and lens changes? Take the camera to a car and strip off the bag?

[Phil Thompson]

Yes, the camera would be taken back to the car/trailer where the mag/lens change would occur. This should not be done by someone with no experience. I know the danger of sand particles. Especially with glass. All you need is a few grains and some moron with a cloth to scratch up your lens. Not to mention the impact of sand grains in the actual mechanism. Yeah I ment trash bags.

[Mark Dunn]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=&q=bin+liner&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGHP_en-GB___GB497&ie=UTF-8&biw=1045&bih=662&sei=o503UIJqpKfRBc6GgcgC&tbm=isch

[Doug Durant]

You could also saran wrap the camera and make slits where needed (ie:mag throat, lens mount, movement door)

to keep it a little neater/less cumbersome, or as an additional layer beneath. Definitely keep a Clear filter or 2

that you can keep in the mattebox all the time and just pull out once you go for the shot.

[Evan Andrew John Prosofsky]

Thanks everybody! Just got back from the desert and the shoot went great. However -- I did find that no matter how careful I was the dust (incredibly fine) always managed to get into everything. Wiping things off at the end of the day seemed to do the trick but it was still scary. The main thing that still confuses me is how people do lens/mag changes during shooting, and that has yet to be answered. If someone wants to chime in I'd love to hear. In the end I just ran to the van for every reload, stripped the housing off as quickly as possible, etc. It didn't feel very elegant and dust always enters things during the time I take the cover off the camera.