Sony A33 (or A55) overheating when shooting stills

Hi,

I've long known about the overheating for my A33 issue when IS is on and taking video.

But now I've experienced overheating a few times when shooting stills.
It's only happened on warmish but not overly hot days (around 80 F, 27 C). I imagine that I could help avoid this by turning off IS, but I don't want to have to do this all the time. It never bothered me last summer, but this summer it has. The first time was after shooting several hundred pictures in a pretty short span of time for a wedding. But the most recent times it happened much more quickly, with far fewer shots taken. Have any of you run into this issue? Any suggestions?

A couple other thoughts:
Might the lens I'm using have any affect on how quickly the sensor heats up?
Any suggestions to cool the sensor?
Anything else that might cause the sensor to heat up (in one case, surprisingly quickly)?

Is there any way to influence when SSS is working hard and when it knows not to do anything. Example, I'm carrying around the camera without focusing it, so SSS shouldn't need to do anything (although maybe it does anyway).

Thanks for your thoughts!
Ian

Is Eye Start switched on? On my A700 I find that when the camera is close to my body the camera is focusing continually. On my earlier Minolta Film cameras, this would only happen if I held the RH grip which had electrical contacts embedded. In the A700, these were omitted for some markets as they were made from a nickel alloy to which some people are allergic. I presume that the same has happenned with the A55 and A33.

On my earlier cameras I found that, in general, the Eye Start offered no particular advantages in most situations and I just turned it off, only turning it on when it had an obvious application!

Thanks for the suggestions. Thinking about the features I have turned on this year that I probably didn't use last year -- I now often use wide focusing (instead of spot) and face detection on. Maybe these are causing the camera to focus more frequently. Power Save was set for 60 sec, but I just switched it to 20. Eye start has always been off.

Any chance sensor dust could affect things? I noticed some spots not too long ago that I've been meaning to clean (only visible at very small apertures), but I assume they're probably on the mirror. But I suppose they could be on the sensor.

Much appreciated!
Ian

Last fall I had sold my A700 and the A77 hadn't been released yet so I had to shoot several volleyball games with my daughter's A55. It constantly overheated! By the end of the first set or midway thru the second set it would overheat for sure. I would have to turn it off and let it cool down. As the match progressed it happened more and more frequently. By the end it was off as much of the time as it was on! It was really quite problematic and I considered taking it in to Sony but since my daughter never uses it quite that intensely it has never overheated for her so I decided to let it be.

For the record, I had eyestart turned off, was in fast burst mode and AFC. I tried keeping the LCD away from the body but it made no difference. My hunch is that some bodies are worse than others...

Oh yes, after a couple weeks I got my A77 and have shot lots and lots of volleyball and basketball and track & field and it has never overheated!

I format my card in camera every night! And I was using a top speed SanDisk...

revdocjim wrote: I format my card in camera every night! And I was using a top speed SanDisk...

But you were "in fast burst mode and AFC".

I, personally, haven't ever tried reformatting my card. I can try that sometime. I've never heard the battery suggestions, either. Why would a fresh battery cool down the camera or prevent further heat build-up? (Other than the first battery might be a bit warm).

The problem occurs when the CCD overheats, right? SO if it gets overheated, the question also becomes, is it possible to cool down the CCD. It seems that removing the lens and even flipping up the mirror might help cool things... although it would be a bit dangerous to do. Even blowing some air might help, although again be careful... just thinking it through...

Ian