Is smoking bad for the camera?

C

Chris Andrews

New member
My DVX is being used for these interior party scenes and it seems like anywhere from 1 to 5 people are smoking cigarettes at any given time about 3+ feet away from the camera.

I read through the manual and it doesn't say anything about cigarette smoke, but I know everytime someone tries to sell used anything they talk about how it came from smoke-free environment.

We're shooting next weekend, which should be longer and include more (smoking) people on the set, and I seem to be the only person concerned with this (well, it is my camera after all). Do I have reason to be?
 
Yes.

Smoking around your camera is about the worse thing you can do to the heads & lens, short of using the camera to build sandcastles.

In addition to the resedue left behind, a single particle of cigarette smoke is enough to cause a head-clog on a MiniDV system.

- Mikko
 
mikkowilson said:
Yes.

Smoking around your camera is about the worse thing you can do to the heads & lens, short of using the camera to build sandcastles.

In addition to the resedue left behind, a single particle of cigarette smoke is enough to cause a head-clog on a MiniDV system.

- Mikko
Click to expand...

smoking is not bad for the camera, I am always smoking close to the camera, I have been doing it ever since the hvx came out and today it works as it did when we bought it brand new.
 
yeah that is why I am not a rental house :) but on any event I would not rent a camera that smelled like smoke either but for personal gear hey why not have a stogie while shootin'
 
My DVX smoked for years until it coughed up a head, then it quit.

But it's not really the camera I'd be worried about in this case. It can always be replaced, but there are other- irreparable and irreplaceable- things damaged by smoke. Have a beer instead. Just don't spill it.
 
I think my situation is bad, I am a heavy smoker but I do not touch alcohol, everyone says damn it should be the other way around and you should drink but dont smoke, well I am sorry I just dont like alcohol but smoke about a pack a day, what do u guys think?
 
There are actual physical benefits to having some alcohol daily. There are no such benefits for smoking unless you have colitis (in which case it can relieve some symptoms). A pack a day is really bad and I would suggest stopping.

As for cameras, I know that computer circuity gets really gunked up by cigarette smoke (remember tar is really sticky). So I would imagine that the same thing happens to cameras.
 
-Bad for the camera itself in the short run (a couple of scenes etc)? No, probably not

-Bad for the camera if it's used in a smoke filled room for a couple of years? Yes.

At one point you'll start noticing brown gunk all over it when you rub your finger over it. That stuff gets everywhere... But the part I'd be most concerned about would be the lens and getting that gunk on there. If you really must smoke tons, spend a couple of bucks for a good UV-filter or something like that.
 
I was on a shoot 2 weeks ago shooting a EPK and it seemed that everyone was smoking. This was inside an Audio Recording studio. My DVX got the ole red flashing dirty heads after aprox 2 hrs of shooting. Now, I had just clean my heads a few days before manually. Luckly I had a tape head cleanner with me which I really dont like to use, but it did the job. Beauty shops can do the same thing with all the various hair sprays and crap they use.
 
I'd say yes, the tar from the smoke can coat on and in the DVX and make things awful.
 
I don't think I would've told John Ford not to smoke though....

Geez. Everyone's so PC now. We probably shouldn't be driving cars either. Won't the carbon emissions dirty my precious lens? Relax - have several cigarettes.


C56435John-Ford-Posters.jpg
 
There is quite a bit of space between John Ford's lone cigar and the precious equipment. I'm talking cramped conditions, multiple cigarettes with smoke visibly coming within a foot or so of the camera, and, no offense to anyone involved -- not a John Ford picture.
 
Understood. Just trying to bring some levity to the thread. I'm also guilty of coddling my DVX a little too much. Might get cumbersome but have you considered a rain slicker for these conditions? I don't think the Porta-Brace version is too snug but Body Glove has one and I've seen others that are even more form-fitting to the camera body.

Combined with a UV filter up front, you could get it pretty secure. I've done this when using an old school smoke machine (in tight quarters) and it works like a champ. James Longley described gaff-taking the tape door to keep out sand on 'Iraq in Fragments'.

Best of luck w/ the shoot.....
 
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