Unfortunately, like many of the Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras, the a6300 has a few issues with overheating that results in some a6300 owners getting the dreaded overheating message shown in the image above. In this article, we will be taking a look at a number of things that you can quickly and easily implement to help prevent your Sony a6300 overheating, especially when using it to record 4k video for extended periods of time.
You do not have to implement all of these suggestions to fix the overheating issues with the camera, there are reports from photographs confirming that implementing one or two have helped but taking advantage of as many possible should work to your advantage.
Table of Contents
Upgrade The Memory Card You Are Using
In our opinion, without a doubt, the quickest and easiest thing that you can implement is to use a suitable high data rate memory card (Click here to check for product prices and availability) to help reduce the temperature of your a6300. The lower data rate cards some people commonly use in their cameras can often struggle to keep up when recording at the higher video resolutions.
Depending on what you are doing with your camera, a low data rate card can end up quickly becoming the largest heat source in the camera overtaking even that of the battery. Upgrading your card to one that supports at least a 200MB/s data rate can quickly remove this problem and prevent your overheating issues.
The video below goes into a little more detail of this fix as well as explains why it works in a little more detail. If our readers are wanting to try this fix then we would highly suggest they check out the ProGrade Digital SDXC UHS-II Memory Card (Click here to check for product prices and availability) that is used in the video below.
Invest In An Additional Battery
One quick and easy way to prevent this Sony a6300 overheating issue is to simply invest in a set of suitable compatible batteries for your a6300 (Click here to check for product prices and availability). Ensure that the batteries you pick up are NP-FW50 batteries like the ones linked above to make sure they are fully compatible with your camera.
Although they will provide the same battery power for your camera as your regular battery, having some spares gives you the option to swap out your camera battery every twenty to thirty minutes when working with 4k video footage. As this will keep cycling out the batteries when they warm up for cooler ones it helps to prevent overheating and can keep you recording longer.
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Update To Latest Firmware
Due to the overheating issues with the a6300 Sony decided to release a firmware update in mid-2016 to help tweak the way the software of the camera works to help reduce its heat output. We would always recommend that you keep your camera’s firmware up to date but we have lost count of the number of reports of camera owners who simply never got around to it.
It only takes a few minutes to update and this can be a very easy way to get your Sony a6300 overheating solved. Additionally, depending on what version of the firmware your a6300 is currently running, it can also improve overall functionality as well as improve the wireless security of your camera.
Move The Screen Off The Body Of The Camera
As the main overheating issue in the camera is usually based around poor airflow not being able to dissipate the heat the camera generates during use, simply moving the camera screen away from the body of the camera can improve the situation.
Simply set your camera screen up as shown in the image above when video recording and the increase airflow between the camera and its screen can help keep your a6300 cool. Behind your cameras memory card and battery, the screen can be the third highest heat source and taking this simple step can also help to reduce the overall heat the screen generates during a photography or video session.
Change Your Auto Power Off Setting To High
We would like to point out that unless you have updated your camera’s firmware to at least the mid-2016 version then this option will not be available on your camera. Once updated, simply go into your camera’s settings, select the suitcase icon across the top of the settings, navigate to tab three of options and then select the “Auto Pwr Off Temp” and you will have the option in the image above presented to you.
Change the setting from “Standard” to “High”. This will change the temperature that the overheating warning message kicks in at while still keeping your camera totally safe. Once the Sony a6300 had been released, Sony had access to much more data about the temperatures that the camera could operate at without issue.
The mid-2016 firmware update added this option to the camera’s settings that allows you to increase the cameras operational temperature while still keeping it within safe ranges that will not result in damage. Although this does not exactly treat the cause of the overheating issues like the tips above, it does increase the activation temperature of the message and shutdown procedure and keeps you recording longer.
Turn Airplane Mode On
Although a minor cause of the overheating problem, having a number of the a6300’s wireless functionality turned on increases the amount of power it requires at any given time while also increasing the heat generated. Simply taking a couple of seconds to turn airplane mode on for your camera is the quickest and easiest way to make sure that this is not happening during use.
In your cameras setting options navigate to the Wireless logo at the top of the settings menu, select Airplane mode and then change it to “on” as shown in the image above. Not only does this help to increase your cameras overall battery life but it also helps to deal with the overheating problem by reducing the power your camera requires to operate for regular use while also reducing the amount of heat it produces.
Turn Off Autofocus On Your Lens
Although we have not tried this one ourself, we have seen a number of reports from Sony a6300 owners reporting that using only manual focus on their lenses and disabling autofocus helped to reduce their problems with overheating. By disabling your lens of choices autofocus motor you also reduce the heat that it generates and transfers to the body of your camera.
In all honesty, we would recommend that you try as many of the options above before trying this one as some videography niches may need your lenses autofocus functionality. Additionally, the heat that your lens is able to transfer to your camera will be relatively minimal anyway giving the steps explained above a higher chance of success anyway.
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