Winter Olympics 2018

That’s what happens over here during hurricane and snow storm coverage to avoid condensation and other problems.

In the Super Bowl festivities NBC News did a ride along with the military securing Minneapolis. They were supposed to have cockpit cameras but it was too cold and they wouldn’t work.

The Sony PXW-X400 series has an operating range of -4°— 40°C.

Both the recent Sony HDC's and GVG LDX's are specced to operate between -20°C and +45°C. As suggested, the actual temperature is far less of an issue than temperature gradients (especially in humid countries) where condensation forming can cause serious problems.

Just watching the Quest countdown of the 50 Greatest Winter Olympic Moments from the weekend and when they put the Miracle on Ice at number 46 it pretty much makes the whole thing rather questionable.

And Torville and Dean at 39. Ridiculous.

Right but those would normally be in a studio or near a heater if outside. What about a typical run and gun type setup?

Not sure of your point - HDCs and LDXs shooting external events won't be near heaters will they? Neither will they be if they are doing RF camera exterior presentation. Lots of presentation in Scandinavia is exterior-based. They do 3 camera desk chat in the open-air, often with inches of snow on their desk!

Historically you keep outside cameras as cool as possible and avoid bringing them in to warm spaces when off-air. If you are shooting predominantly inside you keep your camera nice and warm in as well insulated a bag as you can when moving around outside between inside shoots. What you want to avoid is quickly taking a camera from a -20C exterior shoot to an interior 20C shoot and vice versa...

Hand warmers can be useful to help PSC camera batteries last a bit longer (tape one to the battery to avoid its capacity dropping in the cold). A hand warmer can also help with fogged up lens elements if you do get caught. (Also keep your phone in an inside pocket next to your body and use a cabled earpiece and mic - like everyone in Scandinavia does...)

I’m confused.

Someone mentioned RF cameras and I interpretted them as being the typical Sony PXW / Panasonic Type as they are commonly used here. Then you mentioned the HDC and the LDX series which although are used outside are typically teathered to the camera chain (in the US). I assumed when you meant outside they’d be near heated areas such as where a set would be and protected a bit more from the elements. I forget that those series can be used wirelessly.

You can use HDCs with a number of third-party RF links - that's not that unusual, and often preferred to using a camcorder + RF back as the result is a bit smaller.

I've seen 8 or 9 x HDC 1500s (possibly 2500s - can't remember) all running with RF backs deployed on one show here. Sure - you see PMW350s and 500s (and PDW-800s for that matter) with RF links too - and that's a good fit if you are working both RF and PSC, or are doing single-camera RF without a full vision set-up in a truck supporting you. And if you are using an RF Steadicam then a P1 is a good choice.



The exterior sets I've seen for winter sports in Scandinavia haven't had obvious heating, and the hosts have been dressed warmly.

http://skidzonen.se/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BB161126CS140-696x464.jpg


The snow on their hats and desk isn't melting. I wish I could find the best picture of Vinterstudion I saw a while back - they had at least an inch of snow on their desk!

SVT must have incredibly easy going engineers. The tech teams I've worked with in the past would go mental about exposed laptops plugged in to live power outlets, sitting on an inch of snow! #typicallybritish

There are all sorts of risks that you wouldn't expect.
An iPhone charging in a wet area for example.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39307418

Wouldn't expect? You'd have to be a moron not expect electrocution from that.

You and I may expect it, but obviously there are a large number of the population that don't think of these things unfortunately,

We can't see the whole install - but yes...