Overcoming NEX 5N overheating. a cheap and real fix!

[majego]

Thanks for this awesome post. I tried out the heatsinks, but I also removed the label as well. I recorded a wedding this weekend. I had the camera on for just over 2 hours. I was recording on and off for the first 30 minutes, then continuously for the next 1 hour and 30 minutes. It finally shut down on me after that time. I never received the icon about overheating it just shut down. I turned it off, then back on and I was able to shoot for another 30 minutes. Weather was close to 90 degrees a little humid with a slight breeze. In my book I'd say that was a win. I was able to get through the whole wedding no problem, and it only shut down on me when they were pictures afterwards.

[richg101]

Thanks for this awesome post. I tried out the heatsinks, but I also removed the label as well. I recorded a wedding this weekend. I had the camera on for just over 2 hours. I was recording on and off for the first 30 minutes, then continuously for the next 1 hour and 30 minutes. It finally shut down on me after that time. I never received the icon about overheating it just shut down. I turned it off, then back on and I was able to shoot for another 30 minutes. Weather was close to 90 degrees a little humid with a slight breeze. In my book I'd say that was a win. I was able to get through the whole wedding no problem, and it only shut down on me when they were pictures afterwards.

Glad you are happy with the results It does indeed work well. removal of the sticker is definitely an added bonus. carefully remove it and stick it onto some wax backing paper (as you get on stickers to protect the sticky side before application) then store the sticker flat inside a book incase you need to re apply it when sending your camera back for repair under warranty. sticker removal will void warranty.

problems solved!

[rawfa]

Did anyone else try this out? I´m very interested in finding out if this works.

[richg101]

Did anyone else try this out? I´m very interested in finding out if this works.

it costs less than 10gbp for a set of ram heatsinks. I wouldn't have posted the topic if it didn't offer an improvement. just try it. if it doesnt work for you, at least you'll have given it a go.

[rawfa]

You´re right. I was just wondering if more people other then you have tried and what the results were.

[Admanx]

I have tried it with small RAM heatsinks and removed label with no improvement at all. Still too unreliable for me. Testing can be fine for 29 minutes but actually using the camera I can get 3-20 minutes. I think there's a firmware bug that sometimes unnecessary limits recording.

[Trankilstef]

Does anybody experienced overheating issue with the Sony electronic viewfinder on it? Overheating never happened in my case maybe because I always have the EVF on top. One interesting thing I use to do is hit the "finder/lcd" button on the left of the viewfinder ever since I won't use the LCD screen anymore fo a few minutes. What it does is turn off the screen and even the viewfinder is off except if you move your eye cloe to the eyecup. So if you don't need the screen after a take just think of hitting this little button on the left and it will shut off the screen, avoiding the Nex-5n to overheat...

[Samuel H]

My 5N overheats real quickly while recording, even with the copper heatsinks. Luckily, unlike the canons, it doesn't overheat at all if it's on but not recording, and this kind of behavior fits my needs quite nicely (I hardly ever shoot takes of more than 3 or 4 minutes, which is all my 5N can manage in current Spanish summer weather).

[xenogears]

I have experienced 5n overheat with EVF, with external monitor, with manual lens, with all auto options turned off, even at air conditioned room, sadly for me i still love this little bastard ;)

[Josh Munson]

As I was reading through the thread I had a thought someone with more knowledge might want to consider. If the camera is heating up to the point where shutting down is needed so that things don't get damaged, start melting, ect. What if all the heat sinks are doing is pulling the heat away from where the temperature sensor is in the camera? The reason I bring this up is because you're then essentially tricking the camera into thinking it's cooler when other parts (image sensor, processor) may not be any cooler. I doubt this is the case, the body is so small removing any heat would help all around I would imagine, but I just thought I'd see if anyone else had thoughts concerning this.