31 replies to this topic

[RonBaldwin]

Using the epic on a shoot and having issues using my hot-swap. The "camera" will work fine for a short while then shut down. Tried it on the other "camera" and the same thing happened...worked fine for 20 to 30 minutes then shuts down.

Anyone else have this issue? Using two hc-90's on the hot-swap btw

Ron

[Charles Papert]

Top Four Ways to Piss Off Ron Right Now:

4) Why don't you just shoot with a real camera
3) Your gear is the reason things aren't working
2) The last guy didn't have any problems with this setup
1) You missed a great show at Jumbo's last night--Cricket never stopped asking about you

[William Demeritt]

Are both batteries depleting? What do you mean your hot swap?

[RonBaldwin]

Charles is correct as usual...especially with #4. Will, the batts had plenty of juice, i was using the hotswap just to add more balast to the camera. One hc-90 or one d-160 runs the little batsard fine.

[William Demeritt]

I meant what kind of hot swap are you using? If you're flying two batteries, like the Anton Bauer dual-paddle hot-swap, it should run the batteries in parallel, and if one battery is depleting while the other one remains full, then something is wired wrong. However, if you're successfully hot swapping (no power down during battery swaps), then it's probably not that.

If it's an internal battery hot swap that mounts a single battery, and when you swap that battery the device's internal battery takes over, then something might be wrong with the device?

Moral of the story: RED is a POS.

[RonBaldwin]

Yes, anton bauer...I should have specified in the title of the thread...oh yeah, I did

[Tom Wills]

Ron,

Just a thought. Have you tried taking 2 batteries, fresh off the charger, reading the same voltage and putting them on?

I remember there was a lot of talk a while back about making sure battery plates had diodes in them, to prevent the batteries from trying to charge each other, if one was at a lower voltage than the other. I would hope that an AB hot swap would include diodes, but if it works with two fresh batteries, and doesn't work with 2 unequal batteries, that might be the culprit.

[William Demeritt]

Yes, anton bauer...I should have specified in the title of the thread...oh yeah, I did

I'll reply later when I'm sober.

[RonBaldwin]

That's what was so weird...both batts wrre more than half full (or empty depending on world view).

Will is 100% correct...pos!

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

Ron,

my manual states: "QR-HOT SWAP is ONLY compatible with Dionic® 90, and HyTron™ 50 batteries." ???

there is a "newer" hot swap available called QR-Hotswap-AR that is compatible with HC and HCX.

http://www.antonbaue...s/QR-HOTSWAP-AR

not sure however....

here are the two models

http://www.bhphotovi...itialSearch=yes

[RonBaldwin]

just read this on their site in the description of the "GM" model:
"QR-HOTSWAP-GM can be used with any combination of Anton/Bauer DIONIC 90, DIONIC HC, DIONIC HCX or HyTRON 50 batteries ONLY, due to the batteries’ sizes and weights." The "AR" model (the link you posted) seems to be designed to communicate with the Alexa. That's the only difference I can tell from the site.

This particular shoot was a cluster for me as I had no prep, had never seen an Epic before (unless Lawrence of Arabia counts), and no aks to help with the tiny size and zero inertia. Insult to injury was being in low mode for two days.

I am sure the camera was just being, well...it's unreliable finicky self. We had to re-boot the camera constantly -- I guess that's what happens when a sunglass company puts a lens on a computer? Sure it makes pretty pictures...but what a pain in the ass to use!

[William Demeritt]

Maybe it has an "auto sleep" feature? Or perhaps the Epic owner had not tithed Jannard lately, so he sent out the "self shutdown" signal.

[RonBaldwin]

perhaps the Epic owner had not tithed Jannard lately

I like this explanation the best

[David M. Aronson]

just read this on their site in the description of the "GM" model:
"QR-HOTSWAP-GM can be used with any combination of Anton/Bauer DIONIC 90, DIONIC HC, DIONIC HCX or HyTRON 50 batteries ONLY, due to the batteries’ sizes and weights." The "AR" model (the link you posted) seems to be designed to communicate with the Alexa. That's the only difference I can tell from the site.

This particular shoot was a cluster for me as I had no prep, had never seen an Epic before (unless Lawrence of Arabia counts), and no aks to help with the tiny size and zero inertia. Insult to injury was being in low mode for two days.

I am sure the camera was just being, well...it's unreliable finicky self. We had to re-boot the camera constantly -- I guess that's what happens when a sunglass company puts a lens on a computer? Sure it makes pretty pictures...but what a pain in the ass to use!

Actually, the Alexa model being different is purely mechanical. The only difference is the location of the mounting points. If you use the normal one on an Alexa, any stuff you put on there will block the ports on the left side of the camera. I had actually called AbelCine about this because I wanted to know where the extra $70 was going.


I can't help you with the Epic issue other than agree that the Epic isn't a great camera. I've had it drop frames when it was near a loud sound. No audio was going into the camera, it was just in the same room as the screaming.

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

"Actually, the Alexa model being different is purely mechanical."

No. The Alexa one also passes battery info to the viewfinder. I've also been told that it has a higher amperage breaker.