Humidity and the DVX

A

araujofh

Veteran
Hello folks,

I am now living in Angola, and the weather here is around 40 degrees nearly everyday.
I am afraid to use my camcorder, so I want to ask what shall I do to avoid anything happening to my camera.

If I want to shoot something, I have to shoot between 6am and 9am, cause from then on it is really hot, and it is very humid.

What do you guys suggest?

Thanks in advance

Fidel.
 
Re: Humidity and the DVX

Acclimate the camera to shooting outdoors by having it outside to start with.  That is before you need to shoot have the camera outside, experiencing the humidity, preferably with the power on.  This way, it knows what the environment is.  Where peope get into trouble is when they go from one environs to another and expect the camera to adjust.  BTW, your tapes should be in the same spot.

I had a customer call me from Cuba with this problem and she had jumped off the plane and started to shoot.  Things came to a pretty quick halt as the camera dew sensor went crazy.

She then backed up and started over, but she lost some time. Anyhow about 45 mintes should be enough.  if it is raining, use a rain jacket and keep the power on.

Hope that helps.

Jan
 
Re: Humidity and the DVX

expect dirty heads the next day.

I have been shut down three times now by dirty heads the day AFTER shooting in high humidity.
I think the cause of it is that the tapes leave some resedue behind when they are wet...  this then dries on the head and has the same effect as months worth of dirt.

I had this happen within the first 6 hours of head time on my new dvx100a.

I love this camera, but I hate how finiky the heads are... and trust me - I am anal about keeping it clean and only using panasonic MQ dry lube tapes.

I look forward to the day we all stop needing to deal with heads and tapes and just shoot straight to hard drives.
 
Re: Humidity and the DVX

Put your camera in a cooled (AC) room for a night. Next morning go the the other room without AC. After 10 minutes you will see your camera NOT WORKING.

This is what happend to me. I spend about an hour until my camera got used to the new temperature and higher humidity.

Next day I was smarter. I left my camera in that room (no AC, more humid than mine) and next morning my camera was READY to work. No problems.

So, it looks like you got to think in advance what conditions are present in the place you are going to shoot. If they are much different than the conditions you have in your camera storage place - you may be in trouble (loose some time until your camera will adjust to the new conditions).

yeah
 
Re: Humidity and the DVX

The secret to shooting in high humidy situations is really pretty simple. Just get yourself a one or two gallon zip lock bag. Place your tapes and camera, and anything else (lens, etc..) also in the bag.

Let it sit (in the bag) for at least five to ten minutes, then load your camera in a case, or whatever you're using to carry it.

When you get to your shooting location, just make sure that the temperture where you are and the camera are equal (again maybe five or ten minutes) and then unzip the bag and you should be fine.
 
Re: Humidity and the DVX

Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot for the tips. Fortunately, I shot in the morning which wasn´t too hot.
But I left the camera on for a while and then I started shooting.

Thanks a lot guys

Fidel.
 
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