Hello there, I have been lurking on this forums literally for what feels like a decade, but here we go - just seeing many people extremely frustrated, returning cameras etc...so I am chiming in to give a little back to the community.
I have recently received two a6300 to replace my gh4 and g7 (which were replacing my mk3 and mk2 5ds) and same as all the other people here I quickly hit the overheating 'wall' (at room temperature) where each camera would stop at around ~ 21 and 17 minutes in 4k. As I am mostly a full time events/conferences/fares videographer and cam op I had to think very quickly about the overheating solution because I had to shoot in two days time a 3 hour event. Note: I do not own any external recorders.
So here it is (mats to fix two cams):
- 2x smallrig a6000/a6300 cage
- 10 strips of 1.0 mm thermalpadding 7w/mK
- 10 square aluminium heatsinks (in retrospect I think a heavier copper variety of the same size would have been better)
- 6 batteries
- 2xdouble chargers
Basically I think from the list of ingredients it is pretty clear how it goes:
- > Inspect the cage and cut out the thermal padding and stick it to the cage in the areas that are in contact with the metal parts of the body (mostly around the mount and underneath where the tripod mount is) I didn't do the handle or the very top of the cam.
- > 'Fill' the niche behind the lcd with the heatsinks in one big array (dont forget the themalpads under to even out the surface and to maximise the area)
- > Stick the 'cooling cage' onto the body.
- > Remove the battery door permanently or keep open when recording (depending on the temperature conditions and desired recording time)
- > Keep the flap with the connections open as well (depending on the temperature conditions)
- > Keep the silly flash up as well (depending on the temperature conditions)
Just by cycling batteries in ~45 minute intervals with the cage mod I am able to have unlimited (as in lots of 29:55 tracks) recording time (I also make 2-3 strong blows into the battery compartment when cycling bats to get rid of excess heat).
Without battery cycle I am able to record ~125 minutes (24C temp, indoors, 95mb/s SanDisk Extreme Pro) on one and 117 minutes on the other fairly consistently (still a battery change though). So basically there you have it for most people here who does not record 2-3 hour continous events just by buying a 68EUR cage and 15EUR worth of thermal pads you have unlocked and improved this camera above and beyond into a formidable machine.
For those that don't have one, next step is to buy an external monitor with the mic out and you have pretty much corrected most of the shortfalls of this camera in your hands. Of course there is not much we can do about the rolling shutter.
Btw I also carry with me just a lens pen with a spray nozzle on one side (filled with water) and pen on the other - just in case of an extreme thermal disobedience, to carefully mist the heatsinks behind the lcd. However I have not had to do it yet in almost a week time of shoooting, though the summer is not exactly upon us so I am imagining that maybe in 35 degree day my solution might not suffice and would require a non-passive way of cooling.
IF you use external battery in my opinion the running time would be even higher, however, from other people tests I see a lot of different data, with some people saying that it doesnt make much difference and some saying it does. I am going to test this once and for all as I got two battery packs arriving sometime soon.
P.s. snug mounted lenses cool the cam too so make sure your mounts are nice and tightish.
I'm out.
I have recently received two a6300 to replace my gh4 and g7 (which were replacing my mk3 and mk2 5ds) and same as all the other people here I quickly hit the overheating 'wall' (at room temperature) where each camera would stop at around ~ 21 and 17 minutes in 4k. As I am mostly a full time events/conferences/fares videographer and cam op I had to think very quickly about the overheating solution because I had to shoot in two days time a 3 hour event. Note: I do not own any external recorders.
So here it is (mats to fix two cams):
- 2x smallrig a6000/a6300 cage
- 10 strips of 1.0 mm thermalpadding 7w/mK
- 10 square aluminium heatsinks (in retrospect I think a heavier copper variety of the same size would have been better)
- 6 batteries
- 2xdouble chargers
Basically I think from the list of ingredients it is pretty clear how it goes:
- > Inspect the cage and cut out the thermal padding and stick it to the cage in the areas that are in contact with the metal parts of the body (mostly around the mount and underneath where the tripod mount is) I didn't do the handle or the very top of the cam.
- > 'Fill' the niche behind the lcd with the heatsinks in one big array (dont forget the themalpads under to even out the surface and to maximise the area)
- > Stick the 'cooling cage' onto the body.
- > Remove the battery door permanently or keep open when recording (depending on the temperature conditions and desired recording time)
- > Keep the flap with the connections open as well (depending on the temperature conditions)
- > Keep the silly flash up as well (depending on the temperature conditions)
Just by cycling batteries in ~45 minute intervals with the cage mod I am able to have unlimited (as in lots of 29:55 tracks) recording time (I also make 2-3 strong blows into the battery compartment when cycling bats to get rid of excess heat).
Without battery cycle I am able to record ~125 minutes (24C temp, indoors, 95mb/s SanDisk Extreme Pro) on one and 117 minutes on the other fairly consistently (still a battery change though). So basically there you have it for most people here who does not record 2-3 hour continous events just by buying a 68EUR cage and 15EUR worth of thermal pads you have unlocked and improved this camera above and beyond into a formidable machine.
For those that don't have one, next step is to buy an external monitor with the mic out and you have pretty much corrected most of the shortfalls of this camera in your hands. Of course there is not much we can do about the rolling shutter.
Btw I also carry with me just a lens pen with a spray nozzle on one side (filled with water) and pen on the other - just in case of an extreme thermal disobedience, to carefully mist the heatsinks behind the lcd. However I have not had to do it yet in almost a week time of shoooting, though the summer is not exactly upon us so I am imagining that maybe in 35 degree day my solution might not suffice and would require a non-passive way of cooling.
IF you use external battery in my opinion the running time would be even higher, however, from other people tests I see a lot of different data, with some people saying that it doesnt make much difference and some saying it does. I am going to test this once and for all as I got two battery packs arriving sometime soon.
P.s. snug mounted lenses cool the cam too so make sure your mounts are nice and tightish.
I'm out.
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