Cooling fans in DB's

[johnnygoesdigital]

I know that Leaf uses cooling fans, but can't find info on the Hasselblad CFV39.
Does anyone have info on the +'s or -'s on using fans over heat sink? Is there shutter vibration or more battery usage that might favor heat sink?

 

[SergeiR]

ZD aint got one.. and Leaf got. And they do hit "oh crap its too hot and i cant shoot anymore" at about same temperature, to be honest.

Biggest positive thing about active cooling - it theoretically should allow for longer noiseless exposures.

 

[goesbang]

I have an Aptus12 which is fan cooled and P45+, P65+, IQ180, all of which do not. Up to the 30sec exposure limit of the Aptus, there is no noticeable difference, either in noise or in vibration. The only disadvantage of the fan cooled back is that at some point, usually after many years of continuous use in busy studios, the fan will fail, I guess due to bearing wear. This is a simple repair and the back is working again.

 

[yaya]

In the studio the fan is your friend when it comes to running live view for long periods of time. There's virtually no limit to how long you can leave it running and there's no impact on image quality.
It also helps when running long sessions of fast shooting

Regarding reliability I can say that in 6 years of selling and supporting the Aptus (thousands of back) I've had 2 backs that needed a replacement fan because it was making some whistling noise
BTW the Aptus' chassis and RF box are also designed to serve as a heat sink

Hope this helps

Yair

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Yair,

Thanks, by having a cooling fan, should one be more concerned about dust entry? Can dust access the sensor area through the fan port? I do admit, that Leaf's have such a different look. Much has been said about the skin tones, and it does seem accurate.

Lastly, does a fan move more heat then a heat sink? From a manufacture's stand point, why choose one( fan/heatsink) over the other?

 

[GrahamWelland]

Yair,

Thanks, by having a cooling fan, should one be more concerned about dust entry? Can dust access the sensor area through the fan port? I do admit, that Leaf's have such a different look. Much has been said about the skin tones, and it does seem accurate.

Lastly, does a fan move more heat then a heat sink? From a manufacture's stand point, why choose one( fan/heatsink) over the other?

I worried about the dust issue with my Aptus but to be honest it's a complete red herring. Unlike say the fan on a PC that runs all day I've never seen any evidence of dust build up. You wont see any dust build up on the sensor either because it sits in a sealed zone between the IR filter and the electronics etc are behind it. The IR sensor wont pick up dust either because there is no extra exhaust or gaps on the side that fits to the camera body - so the dust there will be the same as a non-fan based back.

The only potentially irritating thing is the slight whine of the high pitched fan but you very quickly end up ignoring it.

As regards efficiency of the fan vs heat sink - without doubt the fan keeps the back cooler as witnessed by the fact that there is no need to wake up the sensor/back with the Leaf to avoid heat build up. I certainly notice that my IQ160 runs a LOT hotter to the touch than my Aptus even when not running in zero-latency mode.

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Thanks Graham,
Those are great points, perhaps the fan uses active cooling where there's also a heat sink at the base of the fan. Without a fan, thermal transfer of the heat sink would seem to dissipate slower as opposed to the direct method of using the velocity of air. The dust issue came up today when photographing on a rural dirt road with a 903SWC.

 

[P. Chong]

I have a fan on my old H3d-39. It works well, almost silent and only discernable during operations if you are looking out to hear it. I took the camera to Antelope Canyon, with the fine dust all over. But wrapped in a Kata Elements bag, the camera performed flawlessly, yielding some very beautiful large prints.