Re your important question "are there really people out there with 7Ds that don't do this" I've done some more testing today.

Identical envrionmental conditions to post I did above (indoor, mild temps etc.) except in this case I has the Eos 7D Utility on my MBP going with the USB connection - so I had live view on the 7Ds screen (as well as on the MBP screen). Starting from a cool/off camera I filled my 16GB Sandisk Extreme III card with 1080p 25fps video until I got the card full termination. I tried to get near enough successive instant starts of recording as soon as the previous 4GB clip closed out. No overheating icon at all...maybe I'm just not shooting for long enough yet - judging by some of the posts above I need it going for much longer. IS was on for the first 4Gb clip (as I forgot), then off (as it was just resting on a table top).

I've another 16GB card arriving in a few days time so then maybe I can get the thing to come on after running for much longer (if I'm unlucky!) - I'll try then and report back again.

I got my first heat icon today, this was probably after about 1 hour of shooting. I don't think it affected the recording.

thanks all for the info... interesting stuff...

<childish snigger>

My 7D overheated after shooting less than 20 minutes in 1080 30P continuously. Prior to that, I was shooting for about 30 mins off and on.

I let it cool down and it overheated again and once more after about 5 minutes breaks in between.

1080 24p didn't give me these kind of issues.

Hmm.......it's my "main" 7D being that I shoot with it the most so I wonder if the proc's thermal paste wears down over time?

Relevant settings are LCD is on 1 notch above middle, 1080 30p, canon brand battery, monopod mounted, 80 degrees ambient air in slightly humid hawaiian weather, and about 1250 iso, 40 shutter, and 2.8 ap.

Hope this helps with something. Don't want to go to Canon yet as I need the 7D to shoot quite a bit more stuff.

is anyone using the battery grip? I haven't had time to test but I'm using the battery grip and I wonder if it helps keep some of the heat away from the main body?

Just a thought.. no heat icon so far but I haven't been running it as ragged as you guys testing.. I'll try the test tonight.

Wow! No way I could fill a 16GB card with non-stop (you know what I mean) shooting. Interested to see what your other tests show.

Canon here is baffled! As I say, I'm on my third and they are all essentially the same. 30 - 40 mins depending on the ambient temp.

This maybe a bit behind the times but I've recently purchased a 7D to use along with my 5D2 and ran into the overheating issue when I used it for the first time on a shoot yesterday.

I was shooting in an air conditioned building, not very hot at all. I was using a marshall HDMI monitor so the LCD wasn't on and used the camera on and off all day. I was shooting at 1080/25 and recording to a 32GB UDMA Sandisk Extreme card. At one point in the day though I was shooting an interview and after around 15 minutes of continuous use the temperature warning light came on. I had no choice but to leave the camera running and the footage looks fine.

It's a bit worrying that this happened in non-extreme temperatures though, I'm planning on using the 7D at an event in St Tropez in May and now I'm a little concerned about this issue.

The 5D was fine all day.