P2 in the yoga sauna...

[Barry_Green]

Today we shot another segment for this infomercial, and it was in a yoga class. Only, it was yoga + sauna or something. I kid you not, the reception area was at least 90 degrees, and the actual yoga room was at least 105. (110 was our common guess; we're from Vegas, we know our heat!)

I don't know why anyone would do that to themselves, but I guess that's part of this particular school of yoga's philosophy -- sweat sweat sweat. Sweat out the toxins maybe? Well, for whatever reason, they had the heater going full bore, and it was hot and sticky and humid and painful in there.

Jay and Mike went in, the rest of us stayed in the relative comfort of the 90-degree lobby. Jay shot in there with the HVX for between 30 minutes and an hour. He pointed out to me that if we'd been shooting tape, the tape probably would have gummed up and stuck to the heads instantly, and it would have been difficult (if not impossible) to get the shots. The HVX handled it like a champ, of course -- it was all "heat? What heat? Who cares about heat?" :thumbsup:

When they'd bring it back out into the icy cool 90-degree lobby, I'd pull the cards to offload 'em and they'd be HOT. I mean actually very warm, not quite too hot to hold but uncomfortable to hold... but they worked perfectly and we offloaded the footage and all was well.

Just another update from the trenches...

[Milezee]

Doesn't quite compare to Marc Singer's "in the field" experiences. Were there no pyrotechnics going off around you?? Exploding shampoo bottles? Towel whiplashes?

:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

[petelms]

Hihihihihihihih, seems like you guys are not used to Saunas! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

SAUNA-SESSION:

http://i2.tinypic.com/snpaiu.jpg

Sorry, Barry, couldn't help it! :)

[toke lahti]

Hmm, I've shot hours of material in Middle-East and in Africa with those temperatures and with tape and had no problems.
By the way, good Finnish sauna temperature is 90 _centigrades_. :thumbsup:

[mikkowilson]

I think al the Finnish memebrs spotted this thread!
Nice report Barry - thoguh I'd like to see how it handles in a *real* Sauna :)

Only 90 Toke? you wimp. If the sweat doesn't sizzle on your skin it's too cold! :laugh:


- Mikko ... 90*C is 194*F for all you non metric folk.

[ggdelarge]

194 degrees farenheit. i dont know how that could be enjoyable. you should do a test in one of those things. Or just stick your cam in the oven for a little while.

[Jarred Land]

P2 at its best baby.. good work barry, glad the camera survived.

[cici]

hehe - I couldn't trust my eyes when I read "105 degrees" - because as Celsius it would be really HOT and as Fahrenheit it's pretty "cold" for the sauna that I'm used to know... I think in Finland 105 degrees Fahrenheit is just enough for the cold-water pool after Sauna, isn't it, Mikko?! ;)

What a good "pro"-point for solid-state cameras: not only the g-forces (as in army-jets, rockets, rollercoster, ...) but also humidity and high temperature are - as PROVEN now - no problem for the cameras. Personally, I'd be afraid of steam entering the camera and producing some corrosion... I guess Barry and other professionals have solutions for this, as e.g. slow adaption - leaving the camera step by step adapt itself for some hours... but does this work with the extreme humidity?

[VegasDDP]

Barry, did Jay put the camera in a baggie or anything to keep the humidity out of the lens?

[J.R. Hudson]

Hmm, I've shot hours of material in Middle-East and in Africa with those temperatures and with tape and had no problems.
By the way, good Finnish sauna temperature is 90 _centigrades_. :thumbsup:

It's not the heat, its the humidity.

[tuface]

It must have been Bikram's yoga. The heat is part of the technique and it's not uncommon for it to be 120 - 130 degrees in the studio.

[Barry_Green]

It was Bikram's, yes.

It wasn't a sauna per se, there wasn't any sort of water fixture there, but it was rather humid. It wasn't the "dry heat" we've been so accustomed to here, so it was hot and a bit sticky. But not actually steaming, just hot.

[TwoHatCat]

Your're all a bunch of wooses, and your cameras are, too. My relatives are all from Finland, and when I built the sauna at my house, I didn't know it was hot enough until the telephone jack I installed on the wall melted down and looked like a Dali painting. (No joke, it really did.) It ain't hot till it's HOT, and then you pour water on the coals to get the sting. REAL men (and women) are from Finland.

Come to think of it, woos or not, I think I'll leave my HVX outside anyway, just to be safe. People heal, but cameras cost money.

[Justyn]

Way tooo tough it out in finland...! Maybe the frigid temps keep that sauna a necessity..

Way to go finland... Makes Greenland and Iceland look good! But then again it's 80 degrees here in the day... lol

[mikkowilson]

Way tooo tough it out in finland...! Maybe the frigid temps keep that sauna a necessity..

Way to go finland... Makes Greenland and Iceland look good! But then again it's 80 degrees here in the day... lol

I hate you.
The snow only just started melting as we finally got above freezing for the frst time since December this week.

You are dead on about why we have so many Saunas.


- Mikko ... is a real man ... from Finland.

[pkendall]

I'd pull the cards to offload 'em and they'd be HOT. I mean actually very warm, not quite too hot to hold but uncomfortable to hold...
that sounds scary, the p2 cards get hot anyways, i'm just wondering how hot they can really get..

[SergejIvanovits]

The snow only just started melting as we finally got above freezing for the frst time since December this week.

- Mikko ... is a real man ... from Finland.
It is more important how the HVX works under 0 C° without heated Polar Bear.

[Barry_Green]

We've got a picture from Mike Single shooting at -40 celsius down at the south pole. Worked fine, although he said that the LCD started to get a bit "dozy". I imagine the "liquid" crystal display was becoming something of an "ice" crystal display at those temperatures...

[SPZ]

It is more important how the HVX works under 0 C° without heated Polar Bear.

This test with the sauna was a great test and hearing these results is quite reassuring for people doing work on this side of the Globe (HK, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau) due to the high humidity (90 to 100 % !) and high temperatures. Fungus on tapes is also a big concern over here.

[SergejIvanovits]

We've got a picture from Mike Single shooting at -40 celsius down at the south pole. Worked fine, .... Camcorders use to work fine, still recording, under 0 C°, but some camcorders with servo are loosing manual focus even at plus 4C°. The auto and the push button focus are still working fine.

Rune Gjerde from Norway made a trip over Antarctic with 2 HVR-A1 camcorders. 4600 km, minus 90 C°, best case minus 55 C°. I don't know if the manual focus still was working, I guess not.

Some pictures:
http://www.video4.no/admin/billedbank/1997598926.jpg
http://www.video4.no/admin/billedbank/726365620.jpg

Porta Brace Polar Bear for the HVX:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/largeimages/413730.jpg
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=413730&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

[SergejIvanovits]

This test with the sauna was a great test and hearing these results is quite reassuring for people doing work on this side of the Globe (HK, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau) due to the high humidity (90 to 100 % !) and high temperatures. Fungus on tapes is also a big concern over here. The camcorder should stop working in 90 - 100% humidity . Not because it has a bad design but because it protects the camcorder. In such high humidity you should get water drops, tears on the front glass and everywhere on the camcorder.

[toke lahti]

I didn't know it was hot enough until the telephone jack I installed on the wall melted down and looked like a Dali painting.
Telephone in sauna? Uncool, some places should be kept phone free...:)