Sony A6300 Overheating - Test Results

U

unadog

Well-known member
EDITED March 14, 2016:

It looks like there are a lot of reports of overheating turning up! Some of them are no better than my Sony A6000 or RX100IV. Overheating in as few as 21 minutes:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3978661


Thanks to Chris Joy for the DPReview link. Worry-ing. I guess I will continue to shoot 4K with my Panasonic G7 and Samsung NX500 for now. I still have my Sony A6000 for casual stills until this all gets sorted,. Along with AF with Canon and Sigma lenses... And that rolling shutter. :)

Cheers!

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This is the first test I have seen of overheating with the Sony A6300 in 4K video mode.

It was posted February 29, 2016 by Max Yuryev. The verdict? No overheating!

https://youtu.be/ksc566AajAI


It is a short 2:32 video of him talking about the testing. He says that he ran the A6300 for 3 hours in internal 4K video mode:
  • restarting every 30 minutes
  • changing the battery at 1 hour.
  • with the LCD closed
  • indoors
All without overheating! It looks like he is in an office/ hotel room, probably air conditioned to about 68 degrees F. He mentions his previous experience with other Sony cameras overheating at 20 or 30 minutes, so he seems to understand the issues.

Let's hope that others find this camera as solid as he did, for events and similar needs, with internal 4k. This is obviously very early in the testing process, but we should see a lot more tests over the next month as these cameras start to ship. Call me cautiously optimistic for now! :)

Please share here if you see other, more detailed, or more technical overheating tests on the A6300!

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You can also see some of the work that Max is starting to create with the A6300 here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIgQksZ_4IvQ_VAqBWW81bg


Here is a quick snapshot of the 5 videos made with, or about, the A6300 that he has uploaded so far:


max.jpg


Cheers, and thanks.
Michael
 
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Very nice. There were already some reports of "no overheating", but this one specifies the conditions and really convinced me that this won't be an issue. Plus: battery life is at least one hour.
It's looking pretty stellar, if it has any issues, we're still to find them.
 
These need to go on a tripod or some sort of a gimbal because the footage - to quote one Jerry Seinfeld - reminds of Elmer Fudd sitting on top of a juicer.
 
I shoot both stills and video, which has always been a struggle.

I am really excited about the possibility of reducing systems- down to just Canon and Sony! While also being able to re-purpose all of my Canon lenses on the A6300, with good quality AF, especially for stills.

Buying an A6300 to replace (or supplement) my existing A6000 will allow me to sell about $4,000 worth of Panasonic and Samsung kit I have been using for 4K video. While I like the 4K video from the G7, I am still not convinced by the image quality of M 4/3 for stills. And the multiple menu systems has been driving me nuts at times in the field!

Now, I know I could have gone the same route using the Sony A7RIII. But I use 4 or 5 cameras at a time for events- 2 for stills, and 2 or 3 for video. At $3,000 each .... no, that wasn't going to happen. :{

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I am in Florida right now doing wildlife stills and video. I will still keep my Canon 7DII for wildlife, and for event stills. I am using that with a Sigma 150-600 Contemporary and a Canon 100-400 II, with 1.4x extender that I use on either lens.

It will be great if the A6300 wil also let me do 4K video with decent AF with those long lenses. The G7 AF when using a Kipon adapter wasn't fast enough on long lenses, so I used the 7DII for HD video with AF instead. It is impossible to do manual focus for video with those long lenses, at an 1100 mm effective focal length. Even touching the lens to focus induces crazy vibrations that take a long time to settle, and I have to continuously refocus with some wildlife subjects.

I suppose I should have pre-ordered an A6300 right away so that I could do some early testing here in Florida before I leave on April 7. Oh well, I suppose I may as well wait now until it is in stock.

Off to search for more testing reports ....

Cheers!
 
Cool thanks for that test. I'm considering the A6300 to replace my AX100, since even though the AX100 is "ancient" by Sony standards they still haven't announced any direct replacement for it. I figure maybe the A6300 could work since it doesn't overheat (would be a deal breaker). I can live with it's 29 minute recording limit, but would just have to juggle batteries a bit.
 
There was a video of Jason Lanier who did a review/overview of the camera, and he DID say it does overheat. He mentioned it shutdown, overheated and couldn't do the full 29 minutes. Its weird because right after he posted it on YT he took it down within 24 hours.
 
^^ Hmm, that is worrisome! I will have to do another search tomorrow to see if we have any new data points. Thanks!
 
Reality Studio said:
I can live with it's 29 minute recording limit, but would just have to juggle batteries a bit.
Click to expand...

I did okay using the Panasonic G7 for events, that also had a 29 minute recording limit.

I was always running at least two cameras, often three for events. It wasn't much of a problem to restart the camera at around 25 minutes. I would also swap batteries at 1 hour, just to be safe.

I would probably just stay with the Panasonic cameras as they are a little cheaper, and I am happy with the 4k video. But I'm not completely happy with M 4/3 for stills, so it means a whole additional system. I still have a Sony APS-C kit for stills use.

I stopped in at Best Buy today, the Sony guy there said they would have the A6300 starting March 29.
 
I mentioned earlier about Jason Laniers comments about overheating and him taking down the video immediately. I found a rip of the audio on this site: https://huffduffer.com/kivus/311659 Near the bottom of the page you can listen and stream the audio fr the said YT review. Overheating discussion starts around 11:30 mark.

In summery he states he got 23 minutes of 4k before it shut down, now mind you he did say he was using a pre production model. But why would sony give him a different version than the one everybody else is getting so close to launch. Im also curious as to why none of the youtubers (tcs guys included) never bothered to test it themselves but rather only referencing Max Yuryev's results.
 
It ships in a couple days, we'll find out more then. Given how Sony fixed overheating in the A7rII, its entirely possible the final firmware made it a non-issue. Max's test looked pretty good to me. I'm getting one, I'll plop it on a tripod in my sunny Florida back yard and let it run.
 
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Looks like Sony is really pushing this camera, there were lots of YouTubers and other camera press, at that Sony event in Miami and the previous one in NY.

The camera looks great, but no IBIS, come on.....
 
TheTrickster said:
Looks like Sony is really pushing this camera, there were lots of YouTubers and other camera press, at that Sony event in Miami and the previous one in NY.

The camera looks great, but no IBIS, come on.....
Click to expand...

It's a 1k$ camera, in a small form factor. How much can you ask of it, it's already got a lot more for the price than any other manufacturer can offer...
 
RTI said:
It's a 1k$ camera, in a small form factor. How much can you ask of it, it's already got a lot more for the price than any other manufacturer can offer...
Click to expand...

The Pani GX8 has IBIS when acquiring 1080P. It's a $1K camera.
 
Thanks Eric! That is troubling, but also very useful to know. :(

I am in South West Florida, about 100 miles west of Miami (and a little north, in Cape Coral.) A temperature of 78 degrees during the daytime, in the winter, is about "as good as it gets" here.

Overheating is my primary concern for my ability to use the A6300 for event video, especially as I run multiple cameras at each event. I can't justify 2 or 3 A6300 with 4K external recorders, at about $2K+ total per camera, when a Panasonic G7 will do what I need for $500. At the same time, I like APS-C sensors better than M 4/3 for stills. As usual, that means too many systems. that each do part of what I need!

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Their review was pretty balanced. I liked the way they mentioned other cameras that might be a better fit for some uses.

I am shooting a canon 7DII for wildlife and events right now, along with a Nikon D5500 (I just sold my D750.) I have a Sony A6000 kit that I still use for stills, but I wound up buying a Panasonic G7 for 4K last August, instead of any of the Sony offerings available at the time (also for events.) Finally, I have a Samsung NX500 that I like quite a bit for 4K video and stills. I only wish it had a viewfinder.

+++

It will be interesting to see just how good the Sigma MC-11 adapter is on the A6300. If it can allow the Sigma EF mount lenses to perform on the A6300, I may buy an A6300 for stills use, along with light video use. Re-purposing my existing Canon lens kit to use on multiple cameras- with high quality auto focus, IS/OS/VR, and in-body aperture control- is still the holy grail for reduing cost & complexity.

Right now I have proprietary lens kits for the 5 different systems (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung.) The smallest investment, in Samsung glass, is about $700 at retail prices. Sony is about $2K, after I just bought the Sony 70-200 4.0 Canon, Nikon, and M 4/3 are each about $3K. Time to consolidate!!! (I was hoping it could be Canon & Sony only. Not working.)

Keeping a G7 or NX500 body that is worth about $400 for niche use isn't that expensive. But having 3,4, or 5 separate versions of the same effective focal length gets to be downright stupid. :)

Cheers!
 
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Was super high on the a6300 until I saw the severe RS and the overheating. Just cancelled my order. I'd rather add a Ninja Assassin to my A7s than deal with such a wobbly image.

IQ and AF looks seriously impressive, until Sony improves RS I'm not buying another Sony cam.
 
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