So far one of the primary concerns of users who already made the leap and switched to the Sony A7R II was the frustrating overheating issue that made the camera almost unusable in warm conditions or during extended shooting sessions. The A7R II simply shuts down after 15 to 20 minutes when recording 4K video internally due to severe overheating.
Fortunately, there was a quick reaction from Sony, as the company almost instantaneously rolled out a Firmware 3.0 update for the A7R II that brought a few significant improvements regarding the annoying fault. As usual, the best way to find out whether the issue is finally gone is to put the camera to a thorough testing one more time. Actually, Max Yuryev already did that as he summarises the results in the video below.
As some of you might recall, in the previous tests the videographer did with the Sony A7R II, he found that once the camera reaches 105 degrees Fahrenheit, it shuts down. However, after the recent firmware update, Max was able to record 4K video on the A7R II for more than two hours without any interruptions due to overheating.
Furthermore, he measured the temperature of the camera’s body again and found out that even when it reached to 110 degrees, the camera continued to operate flawlessly. The body was hotter, though, but it didn’t stop even after one hour of continuous recording.
After swapping the battery, Max continued with the test and managed to record for another hour. It’s safe to say that the latest firmware finally resolved the most serious flaw of the camera by far. Another fix the firmware brought to the table was related to the reduced brightness performance of the built-in LCD while shooting video in manual mode.
According to Max, Sony officially confirmed that the temperature limit was set too low when the camera was initially released. We can see confirmation of the above statement also in the video ahead produced by Jonathan Fuentes.
Meanwhile, the A7R II continues to be very popular among seasoned professionals and enthusiasts alike and for a reason.The camera provides a ton of excellent features as it utilises either the Super 35 crop mode, with no pixel binning or the full-frame readout while shooting 4K internally. Additionally, the a7RII benefits from the inclusion of the S-Log2 Gamma and S-Gamut settings as well as fully customizable picture profiles.
When you add the-the 5-axis SteadyShot INSIDE image stabilization, the superb low-light capabilities and the small and lightweight body you get an incredible feat of engineering that’s a dream come true for many 4K shooters. All in all, the camera is a true workhorse, and if the overheating issue was the major factor that was stopping you from getting one, you already have no excuse.
[source: Max Yuryev]
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I’ll bet using an external battery will help a lot. I can imagine one of the biggest issues is the simple generation of heat caused by a battery being drained.