Sony A 6300 Overheating is a real problem

JAPWOLF

Active member
I bought the Sony A 6300 a few weeks ago. I have owned Sony's Nex cameras 5 & 7 both overheat. Now here is my issue with Sony. After all this time Sony should get their stuff together with the overheating. While we can't deny the image quality, which is why I took the plunge with the A 6300. It really pissed me off this week shooting an interview for our documentary in 4K. This darn camera overheated several times while interviewing. I am thinking of selling my A 6300 coupled with Sony G lens 18 to 105 Zoom and being done with Sony mirrorless cameras. I am also tired of seeing these Sony overheating fix it videos that don't work or are not consistent . Every time Sony comes out with a new mirrorless camera people always have to try and find a way to stop the overheating. This is crazy for a company to put a product out and say oh but wait you have to to fix the overheating yourself. I not trying to get a buyer just showing my frustration with Sony.
 
Totally get it. I dont shoot in 4K and find the HD image to be fine. It wont overheat in HD either or at least it hasn't ever for me but I live and work in San Diego. I think and hope Sony will fix this. Just back off the temp sensor a little so we can actually use it in 4K for longer takes and heavy shooting cycles.

Try shooting in HD. It's fine. Don't let people that don't own the camera, or haven't tested it out firsthand say it's horrible and soft. It's not. Very usable and no overheating with much less rolling shutter. Continuous AF is amazing with gimbals.

SAMPLE VIDEO

https://www.facebook.com/ErikNaso.DP/videos/1007712215942511/

Frame grab from a HD interview with Sony 90mm Macro. Movie/Movie profile no grade or post processing.

a6300 HD PwC.jpg
 
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I bought an A6300 for 4K video, but had to send it back because of the overheating.

I had been hoping to replace my Panasonic cameras for 4k event work, to reduce the number of systems that I own. Instead I bought another Panasonic, a GX85. That just arrived last Wednesday.

The GX85 has great 4K, it doesn't overheat, it has 5 Axis Stabilization (which is also missing from the A6300), it has Dual IS (in body and in lens), and it has no recording limit. (At least the USA version.) It does lack a microphone adapter (boo, the G7 has one) and a headphone jack. But I do dual system sound, especially at events.

I just can't afford to run an external recorder on the A6300, at $2K for the camera and recorder. A $600 Panasonic G7 or $685 GX85 can record the 4k that I need internally.

Obviously, YMMV.

Cheers!

ETA: I also have a Sony AX-100 for 4k, plus an older Sony CX440 and other camcorders around.

I am trying to justify the A6300 as part of my stills kit, and maybe get a little video use out of it. Most of my cameras have both stills and video niches.
 
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I have a A6300 on order with a cage to reduce heat. will be my B Cam for interviews and for weddings (will live on a tripod). I wanted to stick with one system, Don't plan on having it run continuously for more than 15-20 min. If it overheats (indoors) it will go back, I'm just hoping it will work so I don't have to spend $4K (CDN) on another A7S2. It would double as a good stills camera for me too.
 
My first copy of the Sony A6300 ran for 42 minutes in my family room, with the temperature around 68 degrees.

I was filming a movie on the tv. So no real autofocus activity or similar.

I haven't tried the second one that I bought yet. I have been playing/ testing the GX85 that arrived on Wednesday. Maybe I will test it tonight.

It is too bad there are so many variables. It would be nice to see "rigorous" test results. From multiple cameras side-by-side, to see how much they vary from camera to camera. Then running them again, but raising the temperature by 1 or 2 degrees, etc. With different AF and MF lenses, different AF activity levels, etc.

I guess we will each have to test on our own, to get some degree of confidence.

Let us what you find out. :)
 
a6300 arrived!
I have a paid shoot this week which I will try as my A-Cam (short clips) (A7s2 as backup). I noticed it doesn't heat up much when not recording.
Baseline test: overheated around 25min. in. ~74 degrees
Manfrotto base plate + external power: ~46 minutes. However I think the power cable came loose as battery was dropping fast. I wasn't monitoring it attentively.
I have the Smallrig cage on order, so I think with the extra mass, I should be fine. wedding ceremonies and speeches usually 45 minutes MAX.

Time will tell.
 
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I just tested mine.

72 degrees tonight. Sony 16-50 kit lens without any real activity- just pointed at a filing cabinet/ bookcase.

I got 1:02 in the second file after the restart- 1 minute, 02 seconds. So basically 31 minutes before overheating at 72 degrees. I got 43 minutes on my other camera at 68 degrees, so at least that seems consistent.

+++

I am going to keep my Panasonic cameras for event video. I am still testing the GX85, I like that a lot so far. I will also try to keep teh A6300. Plus my Canon 7DII and 5DIII. And I am having a hard time giving up my Nikon D810 and D5500, but something has to go! :(

Good luck.
 
I just tested mine.

72 degrees tonight. Sony 16-50 kit lens without any real activity- just pointed at a filing cabinet/ bookcase.

I got 1:02 in the second file after the restart- 1 minute, 02 seconds. So basically 31 minutes before overheating at 72 degrees. I got 43 minutes on my other camera at 68 degrees, so at least that seems consistent.

+++

I am going to keep my Panasonic cameras for event video. I am still testing the GX85, I like that a lot so far. I will also try to keep teh A6300. Plus my Canon 7DII and 5DIII. And I am having a hard time giving up my Nikon D810 and D5500, but something has to go! :(

Good luck.

I had similar results until I slapped a smallrig cage on it. With the cage I didn't get an overheat shutdown until 76 minutes of continuous 4K recording. With a cage and changing batteries every 30 minutes I was able to record for 2 hours without overheating at all. Not sure if it's the same for others but the smallrig cage indoors is a life saver. I'm sure outdoors in the sun the camera will overheat quickly with or without the cage.

Agreed that Sony needs to fix this and it's ridiculous, the rolling shutter is bad enough but overheating as well? Not acceptable, even at this end of the pricing spectrum. Panasonic doesn't seem to have any issues with overheating....
 
image1.jpg

A6300 with cage installed. Flipped up the flash and opened the battery door. Combined with battery change (plugged in doesn't seem to help much) I got no overheat warnings after ~80minutes of recording. If I get half that on a hot day I'll be happy. I could have gone with another A7S/R II but I think this will work fine for my needs. that's a few thousand dollars saved!
 
I used my 6300 on Wednesday as 2nd camera for 1st time on interviews. This was indoors - and I had plugged into AC - no cage. Shot 6 interviews - each ranged from 18 min to 29 min long. Recorded internally and also to Pix E external recorder.
No overheating problems whatsoever. I did turn the camera off for at least 2 minutes between interviews - just to be cautious.
 
So I take it that the Smallrig cage, due to its contact with the base of the camera, manages to pull just a little bit of heat away from the camera. Is that what’s happening here?
 
So I take it that the Smallrig cage, due to its contact with the base of the camera, manages to pull just a little bit of heat away from the camera. Is that what’s happening here?

Yes. You'll notice the cage itself starts to get warm. The cage extends the body and makes it bigger in a sense. Because the a6300 is touching the cage directly heat is transmitted to the cage.
 
So I take it that the Smallrig cage, due to its contact with the base of the camera, manages to pull just a little bit of heat away from the camera. Is that what’s happening here?

Correct. I feel the cage getting a bit warm. I wasn't planning on doing the thermal sticky pads, but I think I might them where the cage does not contact fully where the lens mount is.
 
Please keep us updated on your experience with the SmallRig and overheating. I appreciate the anecdotal/ real world test results. :>)

I have a SmallRig in my cart at Amazon, but I haven't gotten around to buying it yet.

If I can keep the video overheating under control with just the rig it would be great. I don't want to alter the A6300 too much in a way that would make stills use more awkward.

+++

ETA: A quick question about the SmallRig. Is there enough room in the cage to add a Really Right Stuff clamp (or similar), along with an Arca-Swiss compatible plate on the camera?

I prefer to use quick release plates on all of my devices. I know some cages are too tight to allow the additional height. Thanks!!

Best,
Michael
 
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