This week I finally had time to open it up and set it up. While taking my time going through the menus to set everything up (prob 15min) I got the overheating symbol and then 2-3 min later the camera shut down. Camera was in 4K60 XAVV-4K 4:2:2 10 bit with active stabilization on. I’m using the OEM Sony battery and two 300mb V90II Sandisk Extreme cards. High temp mode was on.
Called Sony Canada and they had me take the battery out and hold the shutter button for 30 seconds. I’m to run more tests and call them back if it persists. Not sure if I got a lemon but I’m not the only one out there according to some google searches:
As an update the camera overheated again. Settings were essentially the same except I was filming at 24 frames. Camera was left on a coffee table recording straight for around 15min before it overheated. I contacted Sony and they escalated my issue to the next level agent who will call me in 24 hours time.
This camera should not be overheating @ 24 frames a second and at 15min. Camera and battery were extremely hot. Also forgot to mention earlier my rear screen was not put extended out it was closed facing towards me on the camera
I’ll continue to update this thread as I hear more from Sony
Bstrom2414 wrote:
Thanks for the details on this - mine warmed up a bit during menu configuration but no video issues - yet.
There definitely seems to be some overheating issues with the A7IV. After watching a pile of youtube videos about the camera while I was waiting for mine to arrive (my first Sony camera).. One of the first things I changed was setting the "Auto Power OFF Temp." to High.
Mine also got quite warm just going through the menus, which seems a little absurd. Didn't shut down from that though since I had already changed the shutoff to high. (otherwise it probably would have)
Did a video test yesterday. I only have v30 sd cards atm so can't test the higher bit rate modes. My test went as follows..
Screen closed. ( I tried it this way since the room I had it in was only about 60-65F degrees, if that )
XAVC S 4K
60P
140 M 4:2:2 10 bit
Stabilization set to active
It recorded 50 min 47 secs before it shut down
Cards were not full and battery was still over 40% so I presume it shut down from getting too hot. I did use my infra red temp gun on the body about 10 minutes before it shut down and the hottest spot I could find was around 109F, felt warm but not hot to the touch.
I'll try it again today maybe with the screen open. I just figured since the room was so cool that having it closed would be a better test. I mean if you put the thing in the fridge it would probably not overheat (I would hope), but that is not real world use for most people.
What is actually causing the heat? The processors, sensor, combination of things probably..? Whatever it is hopefully they can get some fine tuning done and improve things with a firmware update, soon.. 🤷🏼♂️
I had hoped since this is ver 4 of the camera that this would be sorted out by now, but I guess it is a new higher 33MP sensor now, so there is that to deal with.
If yours is overheating and shutting down that fast in a normal temperature room, I'd be tempted to return it for a replacement or something. That does seem to be worse than average from what I have read.
I will let you know what Sony says when their service manager calls me. If you read other posts on other forums some people have multiple copies of this camera for their businesses and one copy out of their cameras is exhibiting what we are currently experiencing.
In my opinion there are some lemons out there and I therefore will be pushing Sony hard for a replacement camera.
Charles7 wrote:
There definitely seems to be some overheating issues with the A7IV. After watching a pile of youtube videos about the camera while I was waiting for mine to arrive (my first Sony camera).. One of the first things I changed was setting the "Auto Power OFF Temp." to High.
Mine also got quite warm just going through the menus, which seems a little absurd. Didn't shut down from that though since I had already changed the shutoff to high. (otherwise it probably would have)
Did a video test yesterday. I only have v30 sd cards atm so can't test the higher bit rate modes. My test went as follows..
Screen closed. ( I tried it this way since the room I had it in was only about 60-65F degrees, if that )
XAVC S 4K
60P
140 M 4:2:2 10 bit
Stabilization set to active
It recorded 50 min 47 secs before it shut down
Cards were not full and battery was still over 40% so I presume it shut down from getting too hot. I did use my infra red temp gun on the body about 10 minutes before it shut down and the hottest spot I could find was around 109F, felt warm but not hot to the touch.
I'll try it again today maybe with the screen open. I just figured since the room was so cool that having it closed would be a better test. I mean if you put the thing in the fridge it would probably not overheat (I would hope), but that is not real world use for most people.
What is actually causing the heat? The processors, sensor, combination of things probably..? Whatever it is hopefully they can get some fine tuning done and improve things with a firmware update, soon.. 🤷🏼♂️
I had hoped since this is ver 4 of the camera that this would be sorted out by now, but I guess it is a new higher 33MP sensor now, so there is that to deal with.
If yours is overheating and shutting down that fast in a normal temperature room, I'd be tempted to return it for a replacement or something. That does seem to be worse than average from what I have read.
I'll try and do another test on mine today... ...Show more →
I missed the call from Sony because I had no idea they would be calling me from Florida. The contact did send me an e-mail and suggested the following:
Set the Auto power off temp to HIGH.
If recording in 4K its recommended to have the camera on a tripod and pull out the LCD monitor away from the body and turn off the steady shot.
When scrolling through the menu its recommended to have the camera shooting mode in Stills.
Umm excuse me so if I want to shoot in 4K you want me to use a tripod and turn off active shot... settings you promoted in your promo videos. This is totally unacceptable!
After doing some more of my own testing, and watching some more YouTube videos on the subject..
The two biggest things are "Set the Auto power off temp to HIGH"
And "pull out the LCD monitor away from the body"
Having it on a tripod will allow airflow (cooling) on the bottom side of camera. (presuming the ambient air temp is less than the camera...)
My last test with the screen closed, when it overheated and shut itself off, I checked the temp in behind the screen with a infra red temp gun. It was 147F!! The last test I did, with the screen/monitor open (swung out to the side), I turned it off after 1hr and 22 mins and the temp on camera behind screen was around 135-137F at the hottest (after recording for a while), which I should note is the hottest spot I could measure on the camera during the test (by probably 25-30F), so having the monitor/screen open is important if wanting to shoot for a long time. (unless maybe you are in much colder air temps) The screen also makes some heat so having it open allows them both to cool easier.
If a person is going to want to record for a long time, it also makes sense to use a dummy battery with external power. This would allow the camera to stay cooler and also not cook your expensive sony batteries, I measured the battery temp when I was done with my last test and it was 110F... I know heat can kill lithium batteries, so there is that to consider.
I'm guessing having the active shot on or not will not effect near as much as having the screen open. And not having the camera resting flat on a insulate surface (wood?, coffee table?). Did you have a tripod quick release attached to camera or anything, or just the flat camera bottom? If you are getting a lot lower record times than other people with your camera in similar conditions I would still seek a replacement. Are you still within your return/exchange window from where you purchased camera?
Sorry that was a little long, hopefully it is somewhat helpful for you or anyone else researching the subject.
Ah, didn't realise that you hadn't already set the auto shut off temp to high already else I'd have suggested that. There are lot of videos on YouTube where they say to do that as soon as you turn the camera on the for the first time if you want extended record times.
That and pulling the screen away from the body has given better record times on Sony cameras going back to the A6300 which was the first E-mount camera that people really had heat issues with. I guess I pretty much assumed you were already doing both of those!
There are some further videos on A7 IV overheating that were posted today that might help some people. It looks like it's 4k 60fps that can cause it to overheat, roughly 30mins with the screen closed but over an hour with the screen away from the body. It seems that recording at 24/25/30fps then it overheating isn't an issue for typical shooting conditions.
- 4K24 using highest possible bitrate
- Camera had screen open sitting on my office desk while recording (no hand holding at all)
- High temp mode on
- Test conducted in coldest area of my house (basement) during Winter time in Canada
Camera recorded for 35 Min and was pretty hot but did not overheat and shutdown.
I stopped the recording and immediately switched over to 4K60 highest possible bitrate
- Camera had screen open sitting on my office desk while recording (no hand holding at all)
- High temp mode on
- Test conducted in coldest area of my house (basement) during Winter time in Canada
Camera overheated and shut off after 2min of recording.
As a professional this scenario to me proves this is not a professional workhorse video camera. Imagine filming a wedding ceremony in a church where the camera could run for 40-50min straight or more at 4K24 and going outside to get some slow-mo 4K60 of the bridal party after the church and the camera overheats after 2-3min of shooting.
I don't know if I have a dud but I am surprised way more people are not talking about this. I also am surprised that people test this cameras ability to overheat by simply leaving it in one mode forever, professionals don't shoot that way, they shoot different timelines all throughout the day hence why a test like I just did is a more accurate representation of what a professional would run into.
Asael wrote:
Anyone tried to see if it overheats at 4K60 when using only the EVF (i.e., LCD closed/reversed)?
Behind the LCD in the body is where most of the heat is being generated, using only the EVF and leaving the LCD in place will cause the overheating. This may be the tradeoff with the A1, A7IV, R5, R6 bodies in their small form factor compared to the Z9.
All of the Sony manuals for the sIII, FX3, and 7IV indicate their max record times were reached with wifi off and the monitor open, which I think is their subtle hint on how to get the best out of them. I haven't have much of a problem running 4K/120p with the FX3's monitor closed, but I haven't been running stress tests, just series of 1:30ish clips with five to ten minutes between. If I have to run it continuously, I open the monitor, even if I'm using the Ninja.
webmstrk9 wrote:
Behind the LCD in the body is where most of the heat is being generated, using only the EVF and leaving the LCD in place will cause the overheating. This may be the tradeoff with the A1, A7IV, R5, R6 bodies in their small form factor compared to the Z9.
However, a lot of the heat is created by the LCD itself, so using the EVF instead my help, that's what I wonder about.
The first time I used my A7 IV, I filmed handheld with steady shot active, focus breathing compensation on, 4K XAVC S 100mbps 4:2:2 10 bit S Cinetone, using 24mm GM original firmware (never updated as I had no trouble on the A7 III). I didn't flip the screen out and recorded about 3-5 mins in 74 F indoor at night. I then proceeded to record another clip handheld with the screen now flipped out, and got overheat warning about 2-3 mins later and then shut off after 30 sec to 1 min. Gave the camera about 30 mins break and went back to adjust the menus and it overheated in the menus after about 5 or so minutes.
Since then, I changed the auto power off temp to high as suggested. Airplane mode. Never overheated since but I haven't pushed the camera yet. Just recording short clips of mostly less than 5 mins at a time and a few photos at a time.
I did notice that it seemed to get hotter to the touch using the 24mm GM than my 35mm GM and 50mm GM. Not sure if it's my imagination though. I haven't yet updated the firmware on the lenses. I also have not tried any other lenses yet.
I'm coming from A7III (bought it about a year after release) and it's still in the auto power off temp as standard. I have filmed multiple clips close to the 30 min limit almost back to back to more than 2 hours when the battery ran out and I changed battery and kept filming. I used on gimbal or monopod mostly though. Only 1 time I saw the overheat icon appear and it was outside in direct sunlight. I chose to turn off the camera at that time rather than see it auto power off.
I wanted to share my experience and see if I should be worried or not. I don't have much time to fully test the camera. I'm torn as I really don't want to return it but also don't want to have serious limitations discovered later when filming longer or in higher ambient temperatures.
Asael wrote:
However, a lot of the heat is created by the LCD itself, so using the EVF instead my help, that's what I wonder about.
Actually it doesn't produce as much heat as you think. I don't have an A7iv but I was curious about that and checked one of my A7riv LCD's (which actually has more than twice the dots so you would think it produces more heat than the A7iv LCD) with one of my thermal imaging cameras. The only part that got warmer to my surprise was the left side of the screen where the fatter bezel is. And the heat mostly stayed in that small area. It didn't seem to migrate or graduate across the screen. There was about a 12 degree difference in that little strip of bezel when using it compared to the rest of the screen. So if the screen is open obviously that will help keep the body cooler but I don't really think that is because of heat from the LCD. I think the LCD closed is just like a layer of insulation so to speak. You take that away by opening it up it would only improve heat dissipation from the body. I'd be curious to here if anyone tested with an aluminum L bracket attached vs not having one on. Aluminum is highly conductive and just might act like a heat sink and dissipate the heat faster, like a radiator fin. Just a thought. I'm not a video guy so never have these over heating problems.
freaklikeme wrote:
All of the Sony manuals for the sIII, FX3, and 7IV indicate their max record times were reached with wifi off and the monitor open, which I think is their subtle hint on how to get the best out of them. I haven't have much of a problem running 4K/120p with the FX3's monitor closed, but I haven't been running stress tests, just series of 1:30ish clips with five to ten minutes between. If I have to run it continuously, I open the monitor, even if I'm using the Ninja.
Monitor open is all you need, and using a reasonable codec helps, like h265 small size for long recording sessions
The Siii can definitely record longer, but even the A7iv, I was able to get over 2 hours continuous with 4k60?
I was running active stabe and Bluetooth and high monitor settings…..
Are people who record this long straight going to be using the largest codecs? I don’t think so, and using reasonable settings, you can go for a long time.
