T2i / 550D Overheat Test
 

Perform some tests on how soon the T2i will get overheat based on T2i along, T2i + battery grip, and, T2i + battery grip + external monitor.

Canon T2i Overheat Test | L.A. Color Blog

From the result, the battery grip and external monitor does help in reducing the time for T2i to reach it's overheat status. However, the difference is not significant.

great test, but are the times in hours minutes, or minutes seconds.?

it will be pretty sad it the T2i get over heat in 1 minutes and 4 seconds. =)

lol just checkin thanks ;)

Great test, Taky. I came up with very slightly better run times but couldn't tell you why. Did you let any of them go until they shut themselves down? I've been in some situations that baked my cameras and have gotten the overheating warning but never had one shut down because of it. That was one of my initial concerns even when I was only using the camera as a secondary angle.

It could be the surrounding temperature that makes the difference. I wouldn't want to bake my cameras.. so when the overheating icon appeared, I turned off the camera.

I did test the other day with mine with the battery pack in about 80 degrees temperature indoors.

The overheating light came on after 54 minutes. I kept recording for 4.5 hours and it was still recording fine.
I only stopped to change batteries and format the 16 GB card.

I did the same thing. I just had to know what to expect. From what I've read the quality of a still image can degrade when the sensor is overheating, but movie quality isn't affected. I also used the continuous recording test to run all my cards from start to finish to check for defects.

I keep meaning to do a T2i/7D overheating test. The other day I was shooting with both of them in an interview. Exact same conditions for both cameras (if anything the 7D was nearer to the lights).

After about an hour the T2i started giving an overheat warning. It never shut down and we shot for another 30 minutes, but the 7D never got the warning. I don't know if the warning on the T2i just happens earlier or what, I need to do a test and see which would shut down first.

I experienced this for the first time today shooting a 550D on tripod with RODE SVM mic on hotshoe

I looked up at the monitor and saw the flashing light - being new to the camera i figured it was the battery or memory warning but another tog told me it was the overheating warning

I cut off the camera and retired it for the day. Is the overheating for real or just a bug in the camera?? From the above post it sounds it may be ok to operate it and ignore this light?

I think it is for real and should not be ignored. I think i have heard this from one of the canon rep sometimes ago but i am not too sure.

t2i overheat
 

I've received the overheat warning on multiple shoots (90+ degrees on set with extended takes, worse in direct sunlight). In my experience it does create additional noise in the video. Also, if ignored my particular camera develops a "hot" red pixel that has to be addressed in post.

Letting it rest for 10 to 15 minutes brings it back to working trim. Turning the camera off between takes (while the director gives stage direction, etc) can extend the working time significantly.... at least when you have a chatty director :)

It got challenging while filming catholic ceremonies as they always last over an hour. It just happened on me but I have 3 cameras to take turns.

When that happens, I turned it off for a few minutes and it gets back to work again.

That is such a huge problem though!! I mean major design flaw in the camera if I want to ever consider this camera as a "second video camera" which is what I bought it for. My 5D mk2 has NEVER overheated and I have used it to video over long periods of time. The $800 seemed a cheap alternative to another 5Dmk2 but if it can't video over a longer period than 30 minutes i don't have much.

If I'm shooting a live band and their set has each song running into the next song I barely have time to stop and start recording. I don't have 5 minutes to let it cool between songs. If there is some aftermarket heatsync or fan let me know. I'm not into wrapping the little camera in ice packs.....battery grip help a lot? From reading here i've not really heard a consensus on that.

I can see my next interview asking everyone to wait while my camera cools off..... :-(

This is a still camera with video function after all.

yup. Kinda

Interesting. This is from the manual:

I use a battery grip -- which doesn't really help with the heat. It doesn't sound like the t2i is the right camera for your application...

I think I've come to that conclusion too. The videographer that sold the camera to me used for the price of a new one (they were hard to find at first) probably found this out too and that's why he sold it....ah well one to look for a better second video cam.

it's a real shame that panny screwed the gh1 hack community because a hacked GH1 delivering 44Mb/s AVCHD is every bit as good if not better than any of the Canon 50Mb/s MPEG-2 DSLRs. I've got both and can say the footage is truly stunning.

Beyond that, you get an articulating LCD, a fully useable EVF that is good enough to pull focus with in broad daylight (@ 2.8 and over), no recording limits, no overheating problems, and a much better and more efficient codec. It really is the best of the best right now, although I do prefer 1.6x to 2x crop factor.

FWIW, the Canons shoot h.264, not MPEG-2.

Yeah, Canon DSLR shoot H.264 in QT wrapper, not MPEG-2. It's superior than AVCHD.

It's Panasonic limited vision to block the hack. They might think by blocking the hack people will switch to their high end camcorder? I don't know. To me, I switch to buy 3 T2i instead.. :)

thanks jon & taky for that correction. I'm buying more 550Ds as well.

How is the heat problem not a deal breaker for you. It seems a camera that "has to rest" every 30 minutes due to overheating is not a viable video option.....My first and possibly last use was a concert where I set up the 500D on a tripod with RODE SVM mic and 24-105 F4L lens and basically started recording and between each song would stop and restart the camera quickly just as I'd done with my 5dmk2 - I then used the mk2 to shoot close up videos for editing later with the full song recording on the 500D. But off course after 30 ninutes of continuous shooting the heat warning appeared at which time i retire the camera for the day.
Maybe i just need to adapt to this and use it but right now i can't see how this camera would ever be dependable except for short clips.