Blackmagic Forum

Hi all,

I was shooting with my UMP the other day and for the first time ever the fan came on and was quite loud. Even worse was that the fan doesn't stop during recording so I wasn't able to get any close up shots with audio. Is this normal or is the camera supposed to go quiet while recording but has malfunctioned somehow? Has anyone else had this issue?

No, on the Micro Studio the fan is on all the time and it’s speed seems to be controlled by the heat buildup in the camera, and comes in whenever it needs the extra cooling. Not sure, but the Ursa Mini may be a similar behavior. Anyway a good fix is to take the mic off the camera and use a boom pole and longer focal length for closeups, which looks better anyway.
Cheers

I was using a boom, the noise was still being picked up. Why is the fan stopping during recording not a feature like on other cameras? I just had the camera on a few minutes ago and the fan started up right away even though the camera was cool.

Surely this shouldn't be happening.

Maybe your fan is just too noisy it always spins at slow RPMs but it's not audible.

It should only spin up if the ursa mini gets too hot.

That seems like a fault.. My fan is on all the time, even cold. So if the fan wasn't on in the beginning, it seems like a fault.

But I agree.. I don't understand why its not a feature that It is temp-controlled. Is there even a function to readout the temp for BMD when they have it in for service?.. Maybe its just one of the features they left out for financial reasons. Just seems weird.. such a small thing.. But there's always a reason..

The fan is always on and always at a constant speed.

It shouldn't get louder. If it's louder than normal then something is wrong.

I once had some small branches from a tree poke down there and it made a hell of a racket but it was fine once they came out.

I also had a fan fail once, I didn't even notice for a few days until I realised that the camera was getting very warm.

JB

The fan should NOT be controlled. The controlled fan could start during shooting unexpectedly and cause lots of problems. But if you notice fan noise then it's most possible that the fan needs replacement or, in extreme cases, just lubrication if the replacement is not available.

Use some liquid oil and Mylar adhesive tape or duct tape to seal the bearings. Do NOT use lubrication grease and Vinyl isolation tape. I cannot be more specific since I don't know the specifics of your lubricant market.

I've been trying to find more information on the subject but it seems like this isn't super common. I've only had the camera since June. It's my first BM camera, do things like this go wrong with their cameras often?

In my experience the UMP's fan is far less noisy than a Red camera. Yours might be defective.