NEX-5N doubts

[Rafael Lopes]

Hi,

I will help a friend of mine on a documentary by shooting some interviews for here with my NEX-5N and I have some doubts.

- How many minutes can it record uninterrupted before turning off due to overheating?
- After it turns off due to overheating how long do I have to wait before starting to record again?
- How many batteries should I be looking at for recording a full day?
- Ho many SD cards should I be looking at for recording a full day in full HD 24p (24mbps)?

cheers

Rafa

[Michael Kraus]

According to this guy the 5n should be able to handle at least 20 minutes straight. More than enough time for most interview scenarios. Sony NEX-5n Overheating Issue is Not Really an Issue

I'd suggest having 3 batteries and a charger if you want to go interrupted. Start charging the dead battery the moment it dies and come to the shoot with all batteries charged.

Honestly, more info would help others to help you more. "Full day" is rather vague. How many hours are you expecting to record? As a (very) general rule I believe you can expect about 11 minutes per GB.

[Rafael Lopes]

By full day I mean that we will probably spend the afternoon interviewing people (lets say 4 hours) and capturing exteriors during the morning (lets say 4 hours).

My main doubt is how long do I have to wait after I reach the first 20 uninterrupted minutes before I can start recording again. These are emotional interviews, so if I record 20 minutes and then have to wait half an hour before I can record again it may be a problem.

[John McCully]

Rafael, I have a NEX 5n and my short comment is, great camera, lovely video, especially given the price, but I would not consider using this camera in the situation you describe. I have experienced the overheating event after shooting for about 5 minutes on a day when the temperature was about 22 C. I pulled the LCD away from the body and almost immediately began shooting again. You make the point that these are emotional interviews and interruptions might be problematic. Given your location (must be nice) I have to believe you will have interrupts not infrequently which will seriously risk compromising the production.

The link provided by Michael should be read with caution. To me it is curious logic to suggest that something is not an issue (short recording time) because they deal with that same issue when using other cameras. Given your plans short recording time (whatever the cause and whatever the camera) is likely to be an issue and the risk of compromising your production is high.

If I were you I would look for another camera for this situation. The NEX 5n shoots great video but in your intended situation hardly a sensible choice, unless you absolutely have no alternative. You say you own a NEX 5n. Have you not already experienced the overheating phenomenon yourself while recording video?

[Rafael Lopes]

As I use the camera for stills 99% of the time I haven´t shot extensively with it. I shot a a band rehearsal for about 7 minutes straight and didn´t have any issues.

I´m actually wondering if the NEX-7 is any different from the NEX-5N when it comes to overheating.

[Buba Kastorski]

the longest i shot with NEX5n was 1,5 Hrs, the camera was aunattended, I just set it and let it run, it was warm, but no overheating warning, I stopped recordig cuz the card was full, if not that it would probably run much longer, but when you use your camera, i mean you change focus, aperture, ISO it ends to overheat much faster, approx 20-25 min; when it overheats i stop it and turn camera off, after 5 - 10 seconds i turn it on again and it runs for another 20 min,
for the 8 hrs of shooting you need at least 6 batteries, i would get 8, and for the highest quality 28mbps footage i would get 110-120Gb of media 2x64Gb SDXC cards will do

[Rafael Lopes]

Originally Posted by Buba Kastorski

the longest i shot with NEX5n was 1,5 Hrs, the camera was aunattended, I just set it and let it run, it was warm, but no overheating warning, I stopped recordig cuz the card was full, if not that it would probably run much longer, but when you use your camera, i mean you change focus, aperture, ISO it ends to overheat much faster, approx 20-25 min; when it overheats i stop it and turn camera off, after 5 - 10 seconds i turn it on again and it runs for another 20 min,
for the 8 hrs of shooting you need at least 6 batteries, i would get 8, and for the highest quality 28mbps footage i would get 110-120Gb of media 2x64Gb SDXC cards will do

The more I read about this the more I feel each NEX-5N has its´ own limits. I´ve read about people who got an overheating msg after 5 minutes and some people who never got it at all after shooting for hours. One thing that seems to be consensual is that having the LCD up makes a big difference.

[Buba Kastorski]

Originally Posted by Rafael Lopes

The more I read about this the more I feel each NEX-5N has its´ own limits.

i am afraid this is true, friend of mine exchanged his 5n because his camera was getting overheated every 40 min or so, but that replacement unit now is getting overheated even faster, but he's heavy user, i mean he's constantly changing settings and work with the touch screen,
and yes, i believe overheating issue has to do everything with the LCD, for example my 7D, before i got rid of it, was getting overheated very easily, but never with external LCD, even outdoors, on very hot summer day, and btw, when I ran my 5n for 1,5 hrs, LCD was down, but I never touched the camera during that time.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Electronics generate heat... heat BAD for electronics... knowing how to redirect/dissipate heat is part of the design AND more importantly the USE of electronics.

You don't block vents on a computer if you want it to work for very long, so too you have to respect that these "consumer" electronics are now effectively nanocomputers with heat generating displays attached (remember how hot tube TV's got!?). Just simply allowing for proper airflow, and perhaps some additional cooling is something I think you need to consider with these "big chip" cameras... even then, heat is an enemy, and ambient temps can make things worse.

[Douglas Grillo]

My 5n overheat using external monitor too! not problem at all taking pictures , but in video mode do overheat. is a big sensor inside a little box, with continuous recording, what do we expect?

[Rafael Lopes]

I´ve spent 2 days shooting intensely with the NEX-5N and there is really no rule for the overheating. At one point we were interviewing a person with MF lens and I got the overheating light after less then 5 minutes shooting (the camera shut down 1 minute after the warning went off). The next day we shot a 30 minute interview and the camera was just fine.