Over the year that I have worked at EXAIR so far I have had a fair share of calls come in from movie production / filming crews that are looking for ways to keep the camera lenses clean and clear of water during the wet shoots they are doing. Several film houses and production crews have had exceptional results using our Air Knives.
Let’s say you are shooting a film in the rain, or a pool shot, anything involving liquid flying toward the lens of the camera. You will probably already have your camera in a protective case, or poncho, to keep it from getting wet but you can’t put anything over the lens to protect it from getting droplets on the lens which will ruin the shot. (Similar to this video of a not so fun track day.)
What the crews will do is mount our Air Knife across the top of the camera lens blowing downward to create a barrier of air for the lens. This won’t disturb the shot or the focus like a protective sheet of Lexan or glass could. What the air stream will do is help keep all the droplets off the lens and blow the water away from it. A Super Air Knife or Full Flow Air Knife typically works just fine and doesn’t consume a lot of compressed air or nitrogen. Which is generally present on most shots or you can get it very easily from a rented compressor. If the video above would have been a filmed shot from a stationary point the film would have been nice and clear if an EXAIR Air Knife would have been present to blow off the rain. It could have even turned out something like this.
So if you are filming a movie and debris or water on the lens is a problem just give us a call. We’ll help you size the appropriate Air Knife for the lens you are using.
Oh yeah. That second video is me.
Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF