Sony A33 (or A55) overheating when shooting stills |
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ifreedman ![]() Alpha Eyes group ![]() Joined: 24 January 2012 Country: United States Location: Hudson ValleyNY Status: Offline Posts: 4835 |
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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 |
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sybersitizen ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 04 August 2006 Country: United States Location: California Status: Offline Posts: 14428 |
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It happens sometimes. Not much you can do about it when it does except maybe open the LCD away from the body, which some people believe helps. BTW, SteadyShot (no longer Super) has nothing to do with it except at very long shutter speeds because that only works during the actual exposure.
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Bob Maddison ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 28 April 2011 Country: United Kingdom Location: Dorset Status: Offline Posts: 1102 |
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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! |
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neillp ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 11 April 2011 Country: United Kingdom Location: Epsom Status: Offline Posts: 183 |
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reality is it shouldn't happen, I had both and never had this problem.
Yes it maybe lens related and a process of elimination may prove this. A quick fix would be to make sure your camera goes into sleep mode after 20 seconds and turn off eve start as recommended. I do this on my A77 and then just leave the camera switched on most of the time. A quick half press of the shutter release button as you lift the camera to shoot and it is right back where you left it. I mostly do this for battery life but I bet it would also work for overheating. |
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Sony A99, Minolta 35-105. 50mm f1.7, 135mm f2.8 Tamron 70-300mm SP USD
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ifreedman ![]() Alpha Eyes group ![]() Joined: 24 January 2012 Country: United States Location: Hudson ValleyNY Status: Offline Posts: 4835 |
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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 |
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neillp ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 11 April 2011 Country: United Kingdom Location: Epsom Status: Offline Posts: 183 |
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I can't see dust on the sensor making any significant difference but no harm in cleaning :)
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Sony A99, Minolta 35-105. 50mm f1.7, 135mm f2.8 Tamron 70-300mm SP USD
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revdocjim ![]() Moderator Group ![]() Joined: 11 September 2006 Country: Japan Location: Mt. Akagi Status: Offline Posts: 8608 |
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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! |
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brettania ![]() Admin Group ![]() Dyxum factotum Joined: 17 July 2005 Country: New Zealand Location: Auckland Status: Offline Posts: 20650 |
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One possible cause...
If you shoot a lot of shots in a short period of time the buffer may fill and the camera heats up on the same side as the card. This is especially so with a slow card. Cards should be totally wiped/formatted in camera every few months. |
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revdocjim ![]() Moderator Group ![]() Joined: 11 September 2006 Country: Japan Location: Mt. Akagi Status: Offline Posts: 8608 |
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I format my card in camera every night! And I was using a top speed SanDisk...
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minolta_mutley ![]() Senior Member ![]() Joined: 01 August 2010 Country: Belgium Location: Belgium Status: Offline Posts: 870 |
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That's sad, i'm having an a55 too - never had this problem (never use it for video).
Do you have the latest firmware one the A55? What kind of memory cards do you use? (it's due to the fact you where using fast burst that i'm asking myself why this happened) - and one of the things to check is the writing speed of the memory-cards. |
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brettania ![]() Admin Group ![]() Dyxum factotum Joined: 17 July 2005 Country: New Zealand Location: Auckland Status: Offline Posts: 20650 |
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But you were "in fast burst mode and AFC". |
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stiuskr ![]() Moderator Group ![]() Joined: 01 September 2006 Country: United States Location: West Virginia Status: Offline Posts: 11453 |
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Do you have a second battery? If so try swapping them out the next time.
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Rob Suits Jr.
a99M2 a99 a77 a700 KM7D|Min24/2.8 Min35/2 So50/1.4 So50/2.8 Min85/1.4G Tam90/2.8 Tam180/3.5|Tam17-50 CZ24-70G2 KM28-75D So70-200G1 So70-300G So70-400G1| SonyF60 AD200R2 |
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ifreedman ![]() Alpha Eyes group ![]() Joined: 24 January 2012 Country: United States Location: Hudson ValleyNY Status: Offline Posts: 4835 |
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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 |
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antto ![]() Newbie ![]() Joined: 11 August 2012 Country: Bulgaria Location: 127.0.0.1 Status: Offline Posts: 37 |
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so far i have had my a55 overheat just once, but i wasn't doing anything important
i keep SteadyShot and all the other fancy stuff OFF btw my hands are usually cold, might sound funny but could be important since you cover the thing with your hands all the time i have 2 memory cards, both are 8GB Class4 (so, not uber-fast) i shoot mostly in Aperture Priority, with manual focus (Continuous AF in video sometimes) ifreedman: it's a CMOS sensor btw, not CCD i wouldn't recommend opening the body to cool the sensor down as a solution, i had some dust in there and i felt so bad, it wasn't easy to get it off of there neither, at one point i even thought i scratched the sensor cuz that thing didn't seem to "wipe off" ![]() |
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