C500: C500 Fan noise be gone!

I dunno guys. I explained the solution to this issue. Others have found the old Matt Porwoll post describing how AbelCine designed a lightweight fan cooling system for the camera that completely works and is not a big deal to mount to the camera. People have posted images and videos of their own solutions and there are even forum members posting how they are willing to build the solutions for a modest fee if one is not inclined to do it one's self. Several individuals came up to me at NAB NY to note how they are now using these solutions with complete success.

This is an easily surmountable problem. The solution is available, just scroll back.
 
Mitch Gross said:
I dunno guys. I explained the solution to this issue. Others have found the old Matt Porwoll post describing how AbelCine designed a lightweight fan cooling system for the camera that completely works and is not a big deal to mount to the camera. People have posted images and videos of their own solutions and there are even forum members posting how they are willing to build the solutions for a modest fee if one is not inclined to do it one's self. Several individuals came up to me at NAB NY to note how they are now using these solutions with complete success.

This is an easily surmountable problem. The solution is available, just scroll back.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I have done a lot of this testing and built a solution from cut steel and fans... am willing to make them for others as posted.

On a side note to Mitch: I ended up buying a 7Q+ for my C500. It came in today and I am playing around with it for an upcoming Pilot shoot. Looking forward to see how it does.

Thank you Mitch.

Best Regards,

Chris
 
I have had no internal fans come on running the camera (C500 4K or 2K set up) for forty minuets using the external cooling fan unit I bought from AbleCine, the yellow temperature icon does come on but hasn't turned red, If the icon turns red you should shut down the camera till it cools. The yellow icon means the camera has reached a temperature that the camera is okay recording with. I think it was unfair of Canon to say in their last firmware update that they had addressed the fan cooling noise issue, it clearly has not been fixed, It was this statement from canon that made me finally buy a brand new C500, only to find the internal fan noise was still a problem ( recording in 2K and 4K mode ) I have been talking with my purchase rep and he told me that Canon got back to him in regards my fan noise problem and they said: The fan noise should not be a problem with the latest update. I'm thinking of walking into Canon service and showing them the fan noise problem just to get them to admit the problem still does exist. My solution wasn't cheap $542.00 but it did make me want to keep the Camera instead of returning it.

Read the fine print under this statement.

COOLING FAN CONTROL
To help control unwanted noise, the Cooling Fan Control can be set to Automatic mode, in which the fan will remain off for an extended amount of time while the EOS C500 camera is recording or until the camera's pause button is pressed*. Such fan control is important while recording in-sync sound, since it prevents high-frequency noise reaching lavaliere or boom microphones during close-ups and tight shots. Canon listened to what the market had to say and the cooling fan can remain off during critical operations.
Cooling Fan Control
* When recording for an extended period of time, the cooling fan will automatically turn on.

And here is the link to that firmware, page update.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/...s/cameras-and-lenses/cinema-eos-firmware/c500
 
C-Mac said:
Agreed, I have done a lot of this testing and built a solution from cut steel and fans... am willing to make them for others as posted.

On a side note to Mitch: I ended up buying a 7Q+ for my C500. It came in today and I am playing around with it for an upcoming Pilot shoot. Looking forward to see how it does.

Thank you Mitch.

Best Regards,

Chris
Click to expand...

Welcome aboard! You can now shoot 4K RAW to 60p, 4K hRAW to 120p, 4K ProRes to 30p and 2K ProRes 4444(XQ) to 60p. Congrats!
 
i wonder as c500 can do 10-Bit 4K Half RAW (4096 x 1080) at Up to 120p , i wonder why it cant do HD or 2k 120p?

Dear C500 users, could you plz post a Few Seconds of original file examples 10 or 12 bit or raw, regular and or high frame! would be great to drop into the adobe and try to play around with it....

Regards
 
Please note that the special encoding of the Canon hRAW files can only be decoded by the free Canon software. It's available for download from the Cinema EOS website.
 
We used the C500 with my "self built" external fan system for two long days on a "Pilot" episode for a Documentary Style TV show we are producing. We had a total interview record time of around 5 hours and the internal fans only triggered one time and that was because we forgot to turn on the toggle switch for the "self built" external fan system. Our longest single record time was around an hour as we cut for the 1Dc to change our a 256GB CF card. (256GB is the largest CF card available for the 1Dc and equates around 1 hour of 4k footage.) The fan system held up extremely well... I have moved back to an old Petrol camera bag so that I can just leave the fan unit on the camera in the bag with my wooden camera top mount and handle attached. I can take the fan unit off and on in under a minute, but it's easier just to pull it out of the bag and go. We shot the C500 in 2K 12bit 444 to ProRes XQ. The footage looks very nice! I am happy with the camera purchase! We shot B-Cam with the Canon 1Dc.

Note about the Convergent Design 7Q+: I bought the Sony L Battery back for the 7Q+ because I have 4 Sony brand L series 970 batteries. Two of my batteries are several years old and 2 are new with little usage. The 2 new units worked fine with the 7Q+, however with the old ones the 7Q+ would give us a warning and cut off recording during the shoot. The monitor itself stayed on, but the unit cut recording. So likely best not to use older Sony L batteries. We lost 20 minutes of an interview due to the batteries cutting out and my operator did not catch it right away as he was new to the 7Q+. We actually opted to plug the unit into the wall when possible for this shoot, but I would note we used one of the new Sony L 970 batteries for 2-3+ hours not always recording.

Sorry for my stream of conscious writing style this morning... I'm on little sleep and my coffee does not seem to be kicking in yet, LOL.

Hope this is informative and helps someone out!

Best Regards,

Chris McGuinness
 
B.Berry said:
I have had no internal fans come on running the camera (C500 4K or 2K set up) for forty minuets using the external cooling fan unit I bought from AbleCine, the yellow temperature icon does come on but hasn't turned red, If the icon turns red you should shut down the camera till it cools. The yellow icon means the camera has reached a temperature that the camera is okay recording with. I think it was unfair of Canon to say in their last firmware update that they had addressed the fan cooling noise issue, it clearly has not been fixed, It was this statement from canon that made me finally buy a brand new C500, only to find the internal fan noise was still a problem ( recording in 2K and 4K mode ) I have been talking with my purchase rep and he told me that Canon got back to him in regards my fan noise problem and they said: The fan noise should not be a problem with the latest update. I'm thinking of walking into Canon service and showing them the fan noise problem just to get them to admit the problem still does exist. My solution wasn't cheap $542.00 but it did make me want to keep the Camera instead of returning it.
Click to expand...

Hey B. Berry,

I hope you are well and still enjoying your C500. I love mine!

I believe you got the last one Abel Cine had, I tried to pick one up just to have a unit that was cleaner looking, but they told me they sold the last one. I have ordered tools and built new units that look clean and work as you describe. I am going to make a few at $350 than bump up to $450 for "one offs". Not very efficient to make 1 at a time.

http://www.pulsecinema.com/canon-c500-fan-noise-solution-external-fan-unit/

Best Regards,

Chris
 
Good on ya Chris! I love my C500 :) and the fan mod, I'm using my old Sony F3 right now but the next project is C500. I mentioned I have a friend that has a 3D model set up, I will at some time replicate the base unit that holds the fans with a hard plastic copy! I'll let you know how it goes.

I use the F3, and C500 with an Anton Bauer D90, along with the Odyssey.

Broatch
 
Throwing my hat in the ring here......

First, huge THANK YOU to C-Mac for being the guinea pig and for openly sharing your findings and experiments. If you're not mechanically inclined or if you want something that works great, is built well, and is good for all sorts of situations, I highly recommend buying his custom made piece here.

For those that insist on endlessly tinkering and just have to DIY everything, here are my findings:

Solution #1 aka no wire cutting required

Because I'm not an electrician and am not very handy I thought I'd try the path of least resistance and work with a few parts that I already had. Also, since I only plan on needing this during interviews I wasn't worried about portability/size/sturdiness as it will just be on a tripod. Also, I wanted to find a solution that wouldn't introduce another battery into the mix & to take advantage of re-charchable power that I was already using. I ended up purchasing the following:

-SOONWELL D-Tap P-Tap to 5V USB Adapter Connector for Anton/Sony V-mount Camera Battery - $13.99
-AC Infinity MULTIFAN S3, Quiet 120mm USB Fan - $13.99
-SmallRig Multi-purpose Switching Plate for Rail block, Dovetail Camera Cheese Plate-1681 - $31.20

Here's a few pics of the setup:
3.jpg

The Results:

The fan comes with 3 different settings (hi,med,lo) and I determined that medium was as loud as I wanted to go, so I did a test in my living room and after about 20 minutes the yellow temperature icon turned on, but my camera chugged along and recorded close to an hour and half without the fan ever turning on. At that point I was convinced it was working well and I turned it off.

A few weeks later I had my first real world test. I filmed a sit-down interview with this set up - filming 4K into my Odyssey 7q. I was far enough away from the person speaking (10ft+) that I felt comfortable turning the fan on High without the mic catching it. Just a few minutes in the yellow temperature icon turned on so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The interview went for about an hour and twenty minutes and the internal fan never kicked on until - ironically - when we are all done and I had everyone remain silent to capture some room tone, haha. I stopped the roll for a minute and then hit record to get a clean 20 seconds.

Knowing that I'm not always going to be able to run it on High depending on the room and being nervous that it will kick on sooner if we're in warmer conditions I decided to try the tiny computer fan route similar to C-Mac.

Solution #2 aka, let's cross our fingers and cut some wires

Today I went to Fry's Electronics and bought the following:
-EVERCOOL FAN-EC3007M12CA 30mm Case Cooling Fan - $7.99
-Raidmax 30mm Fan 6000RPM, 2.1CFM - $7.99

After watching some videos on YouTube I cut open a spare USB cable and went to work wiring these fans to power via my USB P-tap. After two unsuccessful attempts trying every combination of wires I did some more searching and figured out that both of those fans were too powerful to even start up from a 5v source. I thought they would work, just spin slower, but neither would fire up. Since I already cut the wires and couldn't return them, I went to the hardware store and bought a 9V snap connector for $1.99 to power them off of a 9V battery like C-Mac does.

After getting the wires hooked up, the Evercool fan fired right up and was sooooo quiet! The Raidmax on the other hand wouldn't turn on - it must need all 12v to power up. However, I discovered something important that makes me think that maybe the internal C500 fan isn't actually the problem afterall.....

As soon as I put the silent Evercool fan flush up against the bottom fan port of the C500 the internal cavern of the camera instanly turned into a megaphone. Just the sound of air passing through was sooo much louder than the fan itself. At first I thought it was just as loud as the internal fan, so I had to do a test to check. I was relieved to find that it was at least half as quiet as the internal fan, so a definite win, but I still want to search for a quieter solution. What I found to be a decent compromise is that instead of mounting it flush to the camera, I put some sticky tack (reusable putty) to attach the fan to the camera and to also create a gap between the fan and the camera. This reduced the noise the camera's cavern was making and my hope is that it would still get enough air flow to keep it cool. In a completely quiet room I can still hear the fan from about 7 feet away & it's definitely louder than I would like, but knowing that it's half as loud as the internal fan I'm confident that if the boom mic picked it up, it'd be pretty easy to EQ out or would fade into the background with some music underneath.

The Results
So I am just wrapping up a test with a single Evercool fan blowing into the bottom fan port (no top exhaust fan) running off of a 9V battery and after about 30 minutes the yellow temperature light came on and as I am typing this, the thing has been recording just over 2 hours and the internal fan has yet to turn on. I've noticed that the sticky tack is starting to come off the camera, so maybe not the most reliable solution...I'll probably add a piece of gaff tape as well to make sure it stays on during future shoots (again, only using this set-up in a tripod situation, so not worried about a permanent solution).

Here's a few pics of that set-up:
wire.jpg

Solution #3 the quest for the perfect fan

I'm excited that Solution #2 will work in a pinch, but I still want to keep tinkering. I want to see if I can find a less powerful/quieter fan that will still get the job done AND run off of my 5V USB P-Tap adapter, so I'm going to order the following:

-Noctua A-Series Cooling Fan Blades with AAO Frame, SSO2 Bearing (NF-A4X10-FLX 5V) - $14.99

These fans will be a little bigger 40mm vs. 30mm and 10mm thick vs. 7mm thick & obnoxiously cream colored, but they're almost half the RPMs of the Evercool fan I'm using AND they'll run off of 5V power. I think Mitch's hunch that the bottom in-take fan is doing most of the cooling work looks to be the case, so I'll be interested to see if a single, lower RPM fan can hold the fort by itself. I will post the results later next week after I do some more tests. I'm hoping this will work out & I'll plan on keeping the Evercool with some putty and a few 9V in my camera bag as a back up.
 
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Thanks to Adam S. for bringing it to my attention that I never followed up with my results with solution #3.

That's the one I ended up going with and it worked great over the past several months. It was quiet enough and yet powerful enough to keep the fans from kicking on. I would get a temperature warning during longer interviews, but the internal fan would never kick on.

I originally attached velcro to my camera near the bottom fan and on the little Noctua computer fan, but that only held up for a time or two before the velcro lost connection with the fan (there's hardly anywhere to stick it to), so I ended up going the sticky putty route. Not elegant, but worked good enough for sit down interviews which is the only time I really needed to worry about fan noise.

Here's a pic of Solution #3:
C500_13.jpg
VSCO Cam-1-1.jpg
 
Hello, I bought a Canon c500 camera with a Aja 4K recorder and I am wondering what is the best way to eliminate or lower the fan noise? I know this thread is over a year old so I am wondering if more info is out there to know how to deal with the c500 fan noise?
 
jcs said:
Try this: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...!-Photos-of-my-external-fan-unit-for-the-C500!
Click to expand...

Yes, I am still able to make these and they work extremely well and are attached in a way that is very easy to take on and off and won't fall off during normal usage. I have been using one of these on my C500 for over a year and it works fantastically and I have only heard good things about the ones I have sold to other C500 users. I don't sell at this price anymore because it's a custom hand made product and takes time to cut, grind and rubber paint stainless steel. FYI, I have a TV commercial shoot using up all my time this coming week but could fabricate the following week.
 
oxforduniversity said:
Hello, I bought a Canon c500 camera with a Aja 4K recorder and I am wondering what is the best way to eliminate or lower the fan noise? I know this thread is over a year old so I am wondering if more info is out there to know how to deal with the c500 fan noise?
Click to expand...

You are welcome to email me directly from pulsecinema.com with any questions. Best Regards, Chris
 
Hey Guys,

I hope all you C500 owners are doing well! So, I sold my C500... really loved it, but I have been renting more for specific client needs and decided to make some changes to my gear.

Before selling my C500, I made used up my remaining parts and made a handful of fan systems and ran tests on them to make sure all was good....

What does this mean? I won't be able to make any more fan units beyond the few I have left in stock. Each unit needed to be molded to a C500 body and tested as they were hand made.

I feel like my C500 sold very well on eBay because I included the fan unit with the C500 removing that worry for the buyer. I can't guarantee it, but I do think it will help maintain value of a C500 if you have a solid solution for the next user.

Anyhow, I have lowered the price on eBay to $375 + $15 shipping, but if you would like to buy one directly via Paypal and skip Ebay, I can do $325 + $15 shipping.

Here's a link to my blog about this item: (They work very well and client's don't even notice it unless I tell them about it. It also won't fall off.)

http://www.pulsecinema.com/canon-c500-fan-noise-solution-external-fan-unit/


It's been fun to custom make these and I have met some cool people and made some friends from this little side venture.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Chris McGuinness
www.pulsecinema.com
 
While the external fans produced by AbleCine and Chris McGuiness are no longer in production, we’re happy to offer an updated version to bring new life to the C500. Our version includes a variable speed control for fine tuning the fan speed providing the quietest noise to speed ratio depending on your needs. In our tests, 3.5V provided continuous recording times at an ambient room temperature of 77° F, with the internal fans never engaging.: http://onefilmproductions.com/canon-c500-external-fan-diy-build/
 
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