Page 13 of the 5d2 manual:

"Cautions during prolonged use

When you shoot continuously for a prolonged period or use Live View shooting for a long period, the camera may become hot. Although this is not a malfunction, holding the hot camera for a long period can cause slight skin burns."

I have a 7D, though I've not tested it for prolonged video time. (My attitude is that the 7D is to be used only for video shots where you can control, and possible retake if you have to.)

However, I've had overheating issues with the Canon T1i as well, which uses the same APC sized sensor.

Huh, I didn't see 'built-in handwarmer' on the list of new features. It'll make winter shooting a bit more comfortable... :)


Charles, I know that deflated feeling.


I had it when playing with my new Pentax K7. It could not be treated like a video camera in connection with the temp issue and using the LCD like a normal video LCD. For live events or wildlife work where there is some waiting in between spontaneous shots, it gets tricky. I had to switch out of Live View and use the optical viewfinder to frame shots, then switch back to Live View and hit the trigger. Kinda like needing to pre-roll a tape for a few seconds before a shot. Cumbersome.

I returned the K7 for the 7D.

If Don Miller is correct-- "touch a button and it's ready to go" --then it may not be that crippling (except when near continuous shooting is required). Leave it in still mode, or at least keep LiveView off, then switch to video 'instantly' for the shot.

Looks like there are two heat sources, the processor and the LCD. Too bad they didn't design in a swivel LCD that would've simultaneously self-ventilated by being out in the open, away from the body.

The camera self-protects from meltdown, so I look forward to some experimentation when mine arrives, venturing into the Heat Zone, ie recording while the Temp Light is on, looking for a correlation between image degradation and heat. Falk Lumo, one of Pentax's beta testers, ran his K7 25 minutes while the Temp Warning was lit, in 27C ambient conditions.

Just went out for an hour shooting in about 85 degrees. Took a little more time to set up some shots using sticks. More time between takes giving the processors a little more time to cool and the temp warning never showed. 1080 24p.

I would guess that the heat sources are the sensor, LCD backlight, and the two processors.

If the LCD is dimmable, turn it down all the way. Use a hood or loupe (or HoodLoupe!) to see the LCD better. The 5D2 includes a light sensor that adjusts the backlight automatically. If the 7D has one, cover it with your thumb or with tape.

With the backlight turned down, the battery should last longer as well.

Maybe an external monitor is part of the solution. That turns off the LCD completely.

My finished video done despite the lockups and heat warning is here Shooting China’s 60th anniversary parade with the 7D, 5DmkII and Nikon D700 DSLR News Shooter

Hope I can figure out a work around for this, cool box maybe?? it shouldn't come to that.

Dan

What frame rate were you shooting at? Do you get lock ups at 1080 24p?

*edit* read the excerpt. So the whole day you were shooting 720 60p with 7D? No 108024p at all?

Randy, yes it was 720p all day for this one.

Dan

I wonder if the flash capacitor creates any heat?

Dan, have you seen heating problems when shooting 1080p at 24fps or just in 720P 60fps?

I was serious about the chemical cold pack.

I shoot with an external monitor in usually cool conditions and have never seen the warning. A camera on rails should cool better than one held in hand.

Is it possible to disable the LCD?

Amazing that some of the guys with preprod units didn't report this.

I don't see how you could shoot with the LCD disabled, except with a separate monitor and camera on a tripod. That would eliminate lots of hand held work.

If it's on a tripod why can't you use the viewfinder?

Plug in an HDMI monitor