2009General Discussion forum
RED camera video signal loss on Steadicam Ultra2 sled
17 years old. Gear and prices may have changed since.
What the thread found
- Video signal dropout lasting several seconds occurred repeatedly during shoots with RED cameras mounted on an Ultra2 sled, then returned without permanent damage.
- Swapping cables and batteries did not resolve the intermittent signal loss issue.
- A clicking sound from the camera was heard during signal dropout events, occurring at regular intervals.
- Signal dropouts happened in different shooting conditions including indoor setups with low light and exterior shots in sunlight.
- The issue was traced to internal cabling problems within the Ultrabright monitor that could be repaired by replacement or shortening the cables.
- Some users reported the problem resolved after powering down and rebooting the camera system.
- A separate issue involved RED firmware build 17 causing unexpected behavior with external control signals compared to build 16.
Depends on
- Unclear if all reported cases stemmed from the same root cause since multiple potential culprits were suggested including camera firmware, monitor hardware, and power supply issues.
- The correlation between specific RED camera builds and the dropouts was not definitively established.
- Only a few users reported experiencing this particular problem despite widespread use of the same equipment combination.