A7s-II Overheating "PATTERNS"!

[Keith Moreau]

Originally Posted by Cliff Totten

Were you in 4K?

I just did 4 back to back 30 min recordings with no power down in between files. (only "stop" and "start")

This was in 1080, not in 4k. Sony seems to be OK with you doing this in 1080 but they don't allow this to happen in 4K without a full power down and boot up in between files.

in 4k and on USB power, I need to always separate the 30 min files with a full shut down, 1 minute wait and boot up again to get a second or third successful 30min recording.

If you are using an external recorder via HDMI, you of course can do long continuous event recordings with no issues.

I was in 4K 24P, never had to do a full shutdown or restart, only when I needed to change batteries, just used the single standard battery, no external power. This is a US model, I'm in the USA. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones but I feel much better about my particular A7sII, I was quite worried when I read this thread without testing mine. Good luck with yours and it seems you have some interim solution

[Cliff Totten]

So maybe the only difference with my test and yours was that I was testing under USB+battery power.

Do you happen to have a USB charger that you could test with your camera? If so, I'd love to see your tests results under USB+battery power. The Sony manual has a very short comment about USB power running warmer.

Thanks for your testing!

[Keith Moreau]

I would be glad to test more, although it might be a couple of days before I get to it. What is the procedure, is it simply having battery in the unit as well as plugging in a charger into the micro usb port? What amperage charger?
-Keith

[Cliff Totten]

Yup...leave battery in and plug in a USB charger. I used a 2.4 amp.

You should see a small power plug next to the battery charge indicator..

[Cliff Totten]

Wow....just tested out the latest A7S-II firmware. Looks like Sony has finally removed the "heat" restrictions that the A7S-II used to have.

I just made four back to back 29:50 recordings using USB power with no firmware forced shut shutdown.

Thank you Sony!! In the future, PLEASE don't worry so much about Alphas threatening the sales of your Pro models. The 29:50 time limitation that the Alpha's have is all the protection the pro market needs. Lets toss out the software encoded "heat" problem code and never use it again as a tool to separate the markets. (Fake "over heating" warnings are just lame and they drag the good Sony name in the mud for no reason)

Pretty please? ;-)

Thanks again Sony!

Love, CT