Hurlblog - the Blog for Shane Hurlbut, ASC

The Untitled Navy SEAL movie has taken me to some of the most extreme working conditions that I have ever experienced in my career as a Director of Photography.  We traveled to the following locations:

• The jungles of Costa Rica
• The swamps of Mississippi
• Out in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on an Aircraft carrier
• Flying in Blackhawk helicopters
• The hot box of El Centro, California
• Dumont Dunes, California

The last 2 locations have been very challenging for the camera because heat attacks the 5D in a very strange way.  The camera and the sensor get incredibly hot even when you have the LCD screen off.  I have been using an HD monitor to light from and the camera overheats sitting there.  You have to power down the whole camera to cool it down.

Crash Cam

When the 5D Mark II gets hot and you are recording, there is an increase noise in the blacks and a contrast increase.  Try to keep the camera shaded and powered down right up until you need it.

In El Centro we had a big T-Bone crash with an old Mercedes and a dump truck. The temperature was 117 degrees.  The 5D’s in our crash housings over temped in the hot sun right before we were about ready to do the stunt.  We took a can of Dust Off , turned it upside down and blasted the body with the cool burst.  Then, waited 10 seconds, turned it on and smashed the truck.

Creative solutions that happen in the midst of shooting are exciting because that is where keeping it simple matters the most. My elite team inspires me with their ingenuity and ability to generate solutions every day on this project.

Shooting in Puerto Rico has tested the Canon 5D Mark II with intense humidity and rain.  Yet, every time the camera has delivered.

Bike Cam

We shot running footage of motorcycles speeding down roads, splitting traffic, and near misses by literally gaffer taping the Canon 5D to the motorcycle.  We started out with the standard rigging package that you would bring to mount a film camera, threw it all out and went with t-shirts for vibration dampening and gaffer tape.  KISS “keep it simple stupid” was the motto.  During shooting it started to down pour.  The camera took heavy rain for about 10 minutes until we were able to pull off the road and un-tape them.  No water damage at all.  Humidity did not seem to affect the Canon 5D Mark II, but did cause our film camera to jam and not function properly.