Overheating of Sony a6300 (shooting stills)?

Not quite two months ago, I purchased a new Sony a6300 body. (I've had the a6000 for several years and love it; it will now be my backup body.) Of course, I shot with the a6300 after I bought it, and everything seemed fine. Another great camera.

However, I was just on a road trip, a couple of days of which were hot (80s-low 90s) and/or very sunny, and when I was shooting with the a6300 on those days, the "overheating warning" icon (orange thermometer) popped up on the display. I was surprised by this, since I was not shooting video (maybe 10-20 seconds in a hour or so of having the camera on), and the research I had done on this camera suggested the "overheating" problem occurred while shooting video (for more than a few seconds), and had been dealt with by firmware updates. (The firmware version on my a6300 is 2.01, which seems to be the most current according to Sony's web site.)

When the "overheating warning" icon popped up, my camera did not shut down (apparently the older firmware did shut it down), and I could still shoot. But I turned the camera off and removed the battery for a bit, then put it back in and everything seemed to be okay. I had no problems on other days, including extensive shooting on a cloudy and cooler day between the hot and sunny days when that warning icon popped up. It's almost as though the camera did not want to be in the hot sun!

Anyone have any thoughts about this? Might I have a bad camera that I should call Sony about? (I bought it from B&H; it's beyond the 30-day return period.) Anything I should be turning off that could exacerbate the issue? Or, should I not worry about this?

Thanks in advance for any comments, suggestions, etc. I always appreciate the help on this forum!

Not quite two months ago, I purchased a new Sony a6300 body. (I've had the a6000 for several years and love it; it will now be my backup body.) Of course, I shot with the a6300 after I bought it, and everything seemed fine. Another great camera.

 

However, I was just on a road trip, a couple of days of which were hot (80s-low 90s) and/or very sunny, and when I was shooting with the a6300 on those days, the "overheating warning" icon (orange thermometer) popped up on the display. I was surprised by this, since I was not shooting video (maybe 10-20 seconds in a hour or so of having the camera on), and the research I had done on this camera suggested the "overheating" problem occurred while shooting video (for more than a few seconds), and had been dealt with by firmware updates. (The firmware version on my a6300 is 2.01, which seems to be the most current according to Sony's web site.)

 

When the "overheating warning" icon popped up, my camera did not shut down (apparently the older firmware did shut it down), and I could still shoot. But I turned the camera off and removed the battery for a bit, then put it back in and everything seemed to be okay. I had no problems on other days, including extensive shooting on a cloudy and cooler day between the hot and sunny days when that warning icon popped up. It's almost as though the camera did not want to be in the hot sun!

 

Anyone have any thoughts about this? Might I have a bad camera that I should call Sony about? (I bought it from B&H; it's beyond the 30-day return period.) Anything I should be turning off that could exacerbate the issue? Or, should I not worry about this?

 

Thanks in advance for any comments, suggestions, etc. I always appreciate the help on this forum!

I used my A6300 to shoot a wedding for a family friend on a hot June day in Atlanta a couple of years ago. I shot maybe 800-900 images over a three hour period on a 103° afternoon with 95% humidity and never got a hint of overheating. I mean, the camera didn't overheat...I ended up throwing away the sweat-soaked tie I was wearing but the camera had no issues.

You may have a quirky body. Perhaps test it with an extended video to see if it overheats quickly?

Dave

Hi,

I've got both the a6300 and the a6500, and have not had a problem when shooting

either camera for extended period of time.

I have had the overheat warning icon twice, but each time I'd left the camera on or

accidentally turned it on when putting it in my backpack. When I pulled it out it was

Hot and I knew immediately that it'd been on. It's a shame that it doesn't turn itself off after

being inactive for a min or so.

I'd keep a close eye on it, turn it off when not using. It shouldn't malfunction like that

during normal shooting, even a long video If it keeps doing it I'd sure call B&H they're

very good at taking care of things.

Good Luck !!!

Take Care,

Craig

I too can't say I've ever had any issue pop up - I did one time see the overheating warning come up on my older A6000, shooting out in the Everglades on a 100 degree day in direct sun for hours with no shade, shooting birds in flight where I was firing bursts of 8 frames-per-second over and over again...and the camera never shut down...it just had the temperature icon come on. That was pretty extreme shooting conditions. My A6300 has been used extensively in those same conditions and hasn't had the temp warning come on. They did raise the threshhold a bit with newer firmware which mostly applied to video shooters, and there's even supposed to be a menu item where you can have the camera be allowed to get hotter to the touch without shutting down - it will still force a shutdown if it's in danger of causing damage to the camera, but otherwise will allow a bit more heat to build before it hits the shutdown point.

There have always been threads going back years on the Sony boards where an extremely small vocal minority report overheating in stills - in most cases if you really dig through those threads, you find it was 1 or 2 users who re-posted over and over about it, which made it sound like a much wider issue - then the Sony-haters picked up on it, and started repeating it at any opportunity until it became a bit of an urban legend - where now 'overheating' and 'a6300' seem to be regularly paired, even though the actual incidence was extremely low, and almost all related to video shooters. If yours didn't shut down, then you might have just hit an anomaly - a perfect storm of direct sun heating the body, settings, use, and temperatures, that made the camera go just a bit higher than the normal range and turn on the temp warning. It's good that it didn't force a shut-down though - so I don't think I'd worry much if I were you. It's possible to get a lemon with anything - if your camera was shooting strictly stills and actually shut down due to heat in those conditions, I'd definitely look to return/replace as that would NOT be normal.

Where I live, temperatures are rarely LOWER than 80 degrees, even at night, for much of the year...we're currently in the low 90s and will stay in the low to mid-90s with extreme humidity for the next 5+ months...and when I go out wildlife and bird shooting, I spend 3-5 hours standing in direct sun with no shade with my A6300, firing off 8 frames per second frequently. I wrapped my black FE70-300mm lens in white gaffer tape, and put a strip on top of my A6300, just to keep the metal from getting too hot to touch...not from the camera heating up internally, but from the black metal bodies getting so hot under the sun. It's one reason I was so happy they made the FE100-400mm GM lens white already!

... I spend 3-5 hours standing in direct sun with no shade with my A6300, firing off 8 frames per second frequently...

At that rate, your camera may outlive you!

Not sure when I started hating heat but a year and a half living in Georgia and that wedding shoot reminded me that I truly do.

Maybe I should quit envying your lush environment and give thanks that our hot, brown summer landscape and dirty brown birds don't tempt me out into the heat.

:)

Dave

Thank you all for the comments above, and for your experiences with this camera.

Just to see what would happen, and as Dave suggested, I shot 4K video this afternoon to see if/when the temperature icon would pop up. It took nearly 19 minutes. (Still, the camera did not shut itself down at that point, but the body had indeed been getting progressively warmer from about the 15 minute mark.)

Does anyone think the temp icon appearing after nearly 19 minutes of continuous 4K video shooting indicates a problem? That seems pretty extensive to me, and it's certainly not a use to which I will put this camera. I'm more concerned about figuring out whether this specific body has an issue or whether, as zackiedawg said, I might have just hit a perfect storm of sun, temperatures, etc. on those two days.

Again, I truly appreciate all your thoughts.

I know that with some Go Pros - there is a tendency for the camera to become very warm when shooting high resolution videos. Now, I don;t know, but that may be your problem?

I just wanted to close the loop on this -- I did speak with B&H, and they offered to (and did) exchange the camera body, considering the first one to be "defective." It was helpful, in discussing this with them, to be able to report the experience that others have had with the a6300, so thanks again to all who responded. Great customer service from B&H.

I just wanted to close the loop on this -- I did speak with B&H, and they offered to (and did) exchange the camera body, considering the first one to be "defective." It was helpful, in discussing this with them, to be able to report the experience that others have had with the a6300, so thanks again to all who responded. Great customer service from B&H.

That's what friends are for...even disembodied, text-only, virtual friends!

;)

Dave

That's what friends are for...even disembodied, text-only, virtual friends!

 

;)

 

 

Dave

Agreed; thanks again, Dave!