Arctic Shooting HD/Small Kit

1st Published 2005

Going up to Artic Circle to shoot doc filming in tents and/or igloos any suggestions re portable geni's?

Small tungsten and HMI kit hiring from Canada.

Shooting HD Sony 730s (50i) for European market any issues re flicker or frame rates? is Canada 60hz? Volts?

Regards to all
Lawrence Jones DoP UK

> Small tungsten and HMI kit hiring from Canada Shooting HD Sony 730s
> (50i)for European market any issues re flicker or frame rates? is
> Canada 60hz? Volts?

Your equipment supplier can give you all those details.

Typically, in Canada you'll get 120V/60Hz.

IMHO, flicker-free HMI's are NOT a smart solution for this issue in Arctic conditions. Magnetic ballasts are much more reliable in the cold.

Why not just bring what you need? It's not like the Arctic Circle is all that close to anywhere metropolitan (equipment suppliers) in Canada...

When are you going?

David Perrault, csc

> going up to Artic Circle to shoot doc filming in tents and/or igloos any
> suggestions re portable geni's?

Unless you have a crystal controlled "inverter" generator, I would think magnetic ballasts will flicker. These generators also have the highest power to rate ratio of any type.

From discussions on alt.energy.homepower, it appears that Honda inverter type generators have reliability problems, while Yamahas are praised.

The Yamaha YG2800i weighs 66 lbs, and has continuous output of 2500 watts. Output is a crystal controlled electronically generated sinewave, so the stability of a mechanical governor is not an issue.

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/products/gen/yg2800i.html

Bob Morein
Title: "Mister"

> The Yamaha YG2800i weighs 66 lbs, and has continuous output of
> 2500 watts.

That sounds like a sweet geni although the specs don't indicate a 220/240v load. More info may be needed for larger than 1200w applications. The illustration seems to show a 220v receptacle.

I'd be curious if anyone has tried to strike either a magnetic or flicker free 2500 ballast on one. HMI's draw a bit more amperage than loads for incandescent lights especially on ignition. So this geni may require a two pole 15A breaker to accommodate a 2500 ballast.

BTW - the Arri specs for the conventional ballast model 2500EBB located here :

http://www.arri.de/prod/lighting/ballast/eb/eb575-25.htm

seem to indicate the ballast operates reliably at -20C to +50C and requires 15A 230V AC input.

I would certainly do a test/check out any geni/HMI combo for operation and compatibility before I travelled to a distant location. Carry extra adaptors, fuses...

Jim Sofranko
NY/DP

>That sounds like a sweet geni although the specs don't indicate a
> 220/240v load. More info may be needed for larger than 1200w
> applications. The illustration seems to show a 220v receptacle.

It is strictly 120 volts. The receptacle is a 30 amp twist-lock.

There is another option.

Two Honda EU2000i or EU3000is generators can be phase-locked to produce two 120 legs with a neutral.

These generators are similar to the Yamaha :

http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp

However, the inverter section of the Honda gennyâ€™s is notoriously fragile, and repair approaches the cost of a new generator.

Robert Morein