Hi, has anybody filming with a 7d experienced overheating of the camera. I am new to 7d filming and it was a bit of problem when it showed the warning halfway into an interview. My solution so far is to slot in a fresh CF card and change the battery as they tend to be extremely hot but can anything be done at all other than getting another body?. has it happened to you?

I have read various comments about the overheating issue with the T2i and 7D. Some claim that an external battery grip and the use of an external monitor reduce some of the heat inside the camera. I've also read where some claim it doesn't.

I believe it does help. Just purchasing an external battery grip help me a little. I'm going to get an external monitor next.

As you are probably aware, if shooting outdoors in direct sunlight it is best to keep the camera shaded.

Thank you Tom - I will do exactly that. I think an external battery grip could take some heat off the camera.

Dinesh - Please take note that I stated I believe a battery grip helps - and so does an external monitor, but I am not sure it eliminates overheating completely. Some have said it does, some have said it doesn't.

If you shoot hand held a lot that can be a problem I have found. Where your right thumb naturally rests gets very hot and keeping your hand there for extended periods I think stops some heat escaping. Thankfully shooting in the UK heat is rarely a problem. I have heard of people using icepacks in tea towels, or having 2 bodies, (swap out the overheated one). Hope that helps some.

Thanks Tom and Ian - I suppose it does not solve the problem completely - maybe getting another body will be the most sensible idea with a guarantee of dealing with the problem. I suppose Canon will solve the problem after I have bought the second body :-)

Canon 60D does not overheat, that is what everyone is saying.
Also i dont think the T3i / 600D overheats either.

The articulating screen i think helps, getting that away from the body helps dissipate heat, or maybe Canon just achieved better heat-management with these later bodies.

so.. consider maybe getting a 60D or t3i/600D as your next body. I'd imagine filming in India the heat management issue is a problem.

Also people have successfully used 'coldpacks' to keep the camera cold. I am sure i have read about this here on Dvinfo.net

EDIT: yes here is the link to the cold-packs that you can use to help keep camera cold. Tape it or rubber-band it to the camera when taping long sessions, and it should keep the camera running. OK its not something you want to do ALL the time, but when you *need* the camera to keep working, it can be done :
By Dezign First Aid Introduces Urea Based Instant Ice Packs (http://www.bydezignproducts.com/icepacks.html)

also read here :
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eos-7d-hd/480517-7d-overheating-solution-report.html

The camera definitely overheats a lot. I'm in a place in Asia that's very hot and humid and the 7D is much much worse towards overheating than the 5D, for example. The only solution I've found is to shut off the camera whatever possible.

I know a lot of people say that switching LCD off does not make any difference, but my 7D never overheats on stedicam, when I use only external LCD, I mean 2 hrs +, and the same unit gives me that red warning after approx 40 min with LCD on.

You could also try turning down the LCD brightness, as long as you are using a viewfinder/hood in sunlight. It's not proven to work but hey, anything that might help is worth trying. I have my 550D LCD brightness turned right down and I've never had the camera overheat, even in direct sunlight on hot summer days after several hours.

On firmware 1.2.4 my 7D never over heated, compared to all the other firmwares. And I keep my 7D on at all times. Now with 1.2.5, I do get the occasional over heating problems now and again. But mostly when it was EXT. day shoots in the sun, during the heat waves in NYC.

I have had one overheating experience with my 7D, using the latest firmware and the canon battery grip (which some people swear helps prevent the issue).

Thank you all for your suggestions - its very kind of you to give your inputs.

I recently lost a client due to the overheating issue of the 7D.
He did his research and contacted me to tell me about it.

I have never had this problem but I guess it is not that unusual.

Some T2i/550D owners have reported the media card being very hot when they got the overheat warning icon on their cameras. In all cases they were using "bargain brand" media. Performance got better when they switched to something like SanDisk.

That model uses SDHC media and I have no idea if the same could apply to CF media.

I have a 7D as well as a T3i and 60D. The articulating LCD on the T3i and 60D seems to help the overheating by allowing heat to "escape" the body easier. I don't try to run any of them for long periods, most of what I do is in sequences of short "takes" with the camera being shut down while setting up for the next scene/take giving the internals time to cool down. I've never even seen the overheat warning on the 7D.

The only time I've seen it on one of mine was with a T1i (sold it when I got the 7D), I was trying to get the highlights of an hour long event out in the Texas sun and kept the camera in "standby" when not filming so as not to miss a quick start. Got the overheat warning as I was recording the last part of the event so I lost nothing anyway.

i have had tons of overheating issues shooting indoors in a hot studio - luckily we were shooting long form narrative that needed some breaks with no client around looking.

I plan to upgrade the firmware, but I dont think ill get the batterygrip as it wouldnt work with the mounting rigs I usually use.

We try to keep a fan on the camera in studio when we can - we use an external monitor most of the time - i have not noticed any different between using that and the monitor when it comes to overheat.

Those really long takes makes it heat up fast - I dont know if this is the right camera for covering live events

I went out and brought a 60D, It has never once overheated like my 7d does and once you got with a swivel LCD you will never want to go back.

I would say that the 7D isnt for interviews or live events. It should also be cooled down before you shoot any narrative sequence / action sequence that you cant repeat.

I love my 7D, but I think that might be a good rule for picking the right tool for the job. I have a 5D to compliment the 7D.

I would say that the 7D isnt for interviews or live events. It should also be cooled down before you shoot any narrative sequence / action sequence that you cant repeat.

I love my 7D, but I think that might be a good rule for picking the right tool for the job. I have a 5D to compliment the 7D.

I have shot approximately fifty weddings and a dozens of long form interviews and other live events with 4 7D's. I have only encountered the overheating warning twice. Both of those incidents were in extreme outdoor heat and please note that in both cases, the 7D's kept recording.

It's funny I saw this thread come up again and what's weird is I haven't had an overheating issue in about 12 months, even had a shoot last summer when the glue melted for my lcdvf viewfinder and I was shooting constantly. Fingers crossed it keeps going like this.

My 7D had the overheat icon for the first time over the weekend.
Granted, I was shooting in 38C+ heat in Sydney... scorcher of a day.
At least the 3M sticker from the LCDVF didn't come off...

In the end, there's nothing we can do.
I'm yet to have the camera shut down on me.
I've used a 5D mk2 and it's shutted down before!
My 60D is yet to go through this torturous journey with me... maybe next time?
But being a plasticky body, I don't think it holds heat that well, so the build up of overheating might be less of an issue.

My 7D had the overheat icon for the first time over the weekend.
Granted, I was shooting in 38C+ heat in Sydney... scorcher of a day.
At least the 3M sticker from the LCDVF didn't come off...
.

That was a scorcher, yeah the lcdvf sticker coming off was actually a real pain in the arse ;)

I just shot a one hour concert with both my 7D and 5D - neither overheated this time. I manually controlled both.

A couple of months ago, I was shooting closer to the stage lights and had the 7D controlled by an IR remote to auto-resume every 11.30mins did over heat (or stop) once.