One of the most annoying problems of the NEX-5N is the overheating issue. A very (non)practical solution is to use a cooling fan! Just check the video I posted here on top 🙂 I hope the upcoming new NEX-F5 will not have that kind of problem anymore!
And here are some other NEX-5n, NEX-7 and VG-20 reviews:
Can the superexpensive new Leica X2 beat the Sony NEX-5n? Focus Numerique (Click here) posted a noise comparison. The difference is negligible. You just pay that Leica name on that camera 🙂
Our reader Randy made aLens test from Nikon and Mamiya lenses on the NEX 7 on Flickr (Click here).
Charles from Videoacademy (Click here) put the world up side down. The question was, id the Vg-20 videocamera good enough for still photography?
Crazy Comparison! Nikon D800 vs Sony NEX-7 vs Olympus E-M5 by Steve Huff (Click here).
23 Responses
Oh man! Can’t wait for the NEX-F5!!! Please give it a 1/4″ tripod mount and hdmi-in port!!!!
Hey im glad you found my video. And yeah tell me about it. I was using the 5n as a B cam to get another angle on a shoot I did for Intel here in Puerto Rico last month and without this fan I would of missed some great moments. I so hope their next camera will not have the over heating prob.
My original NEX-5 never overheated, but my NEX-7 does so after only minutes of shooting… I imagine this hacked up job using a fan will make for lots of noise…
No their is no audible noise it is very quiet. even if you put your ear up to the fan you can just barley hear it and I mean barley. The mic never pics it up. Basicly for me its use the fan or dont use the cam. Ill use the fan.
Nice N5 cooling fix… but I must question how Sony isn’t being held responsible in some way for advertising capabilities that cannot be achieved with stock setup.
It seems so disingenuous.
Is the overheating the camera itself, or the memory card?
Maybe a faster card would help.
Randy’s “lens test” is merely 1000pxl, unless I’m missing the 6000pxl original files somewhere. I’m confused as to what this is supposed to be “testing”. Contrast comparison maybe? No info on WB so it can’t be a color comparison.
I’m glad he’s having fun with vintage glass on NEX.
Huff’s comparison is telling. The NEX/Zeiss Combo is clearly producing the most neutral color of all. No yellowing in the greens whatsoever. That’s gorgeous, and highly manipulative for post work. The D800/Zeiss Combo is pretty neutral as well, but not as clean as the NEX/Zeiss. And the D800/Zeiss doesn’t seem to produce any more legitimate detail. That camera is really squeezing the lens.
FYI… Have you all seen DPReviews 5DMKIII review? I suggest looking at page 28 for RAW comparisons between a900, D800, 5DMKII & III. Set the iso at 1600 and compare. To my eye, the a900 has less noise than any of them, and shows as much or more detail than all. The a900 doesn’t start to lose any battles until 6400iso. Between 100 & 800iso, I think the a900 looks better than both Canons, with more details. The D800 is just barely barely squeezing out a little more detail than a900 at lower iso. Particularly noticeable (barely) in the mini globe up top and the feathers far right.
Now exchange one of the Canon blocks for NEX-7. At lower iso it looks sharper than any of them (more DOF). Starts to lose at around 400iso.
Great show Sony!
sush! The D800 is greatest camera ever period. You cannot dare to compare it with failed A900! And A900 cannot shot more details, it’s physically impossible!
lol.
Hehehe, nice findings 🙂 though I don’t fully agree with all of them.
Did you see the comparison? This is not the first time that people trying to compare 36mp sensor with anothers in order to see more colors and details and…colors so so, details…suppose to be more of them.
Yea, I did, and somehow I see more details in D800. The difference isn’t big, certainly not as big as difference in number of megapixels would suggest, but I do think that D800 have more details in RAW (I don’t care about JPGs – never use them).
I also dare to say that at ISO 100 Canon makes shots with more microcontrast, but this might be an issue with lens – 50mm f/1.4 isn’t the best one out there (if not: one of the worst 50mm f/1.4 lenses on the market currently). I’d much more prefer if they tested Sony cameras with Zeiss 135mm ZA which is arguably the sharpest lens for A-mount. (sadly: all of the Sony samples on dPreview suffer from using 50mm f/1.4 🙁 )
It depends very much which part of the studio scene you’re looking at. Somehow, I find this comparison a bit flawed. Look at the purple/green/white fabric left of the whit plus in the middle: The A77 is sharper @ ISO1600 (JPEG) than the A900, 5D mkIII, D800. Move to the queen’s face on the play card: The D800 looks ugly again. In other areas its the other way around….
What overheating issue? I’ve been using my NEX-5N since it came out, Hours of HD Video and thousands of pictures, stone-COLD-rockin, as always!
That’s great to hear!
Nice. I’ve had some overheating issues while recording indoors at night.
If you want an easier workaround, disable the ‘Touch Screen’ feature in the Settings and you wont get any overheat anymore.
It is not wonderful for such a pricy camera but it works.
Ditto the 5N “overheating” issue. I too disabled the (IMO completely useless) touch screen and have no overheating issues. In Australia. In direct sunlight =)
BTW another – obvious – tip. Flip up the LCD screen a little to allow air to circulate around the rear of the camera. I use the OLED viewfinder (sunshine makes the LCD screen useless outdoors), so the actual angle of the LCD screen doesn’t bother me.
YMMV.
You must not use manual focus lenses.
I also made the exact same rig from a cooling fan cannibalized from an R/C car motor cooling shroud but have not had a chance to use it yet. Have you tried tilting the screen, no fan and the fastest Sony Memory Stick? I’d be interested to see your results.
Oddly, I did a similar “in car” test driving home from an electronics store after my 5N drove me nuts at my son’s soccer game overheating. Someone on DPR suggested the new card and reported no overheat after it was installed. The camera was very warm to the touch since I left it in the car when I went in to buy the new stick. I installed the new MS and I filmed my drive home. Oh, and the battery was about 90% since I had just swapped it out. As one more point of data, I had not removed the sticker yet.
During my drive I also got the heat warning about the same time but it never shut down…in fact it actually stopped showing the heat warning lamp off and on during my test. To be fair the inside of my car was nowhere near 100*F+, but I bet every bit of 90*F and it was *super* humid that day (I live in Okinawa). At any rate, I haven’t filmed more than a few minutes since then but I’m sure with the fan and everything else I won’t be having an issue.
R/
D
I firmly believe a new card makes a WORLD of difference
When the overheating isn’t an issue anymore, I’d like to see a hack for the 29 minutes barrier 😉
Maybe Sony could provide one, or would that still be an infringement on customs rules? 😉
there’s hope
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/05/18/WTO-looking-at-moves-to-remove-30-minute-limit-from-digital-cameras
This is an absurd!!!
If I would have bought the NEX5N and had overheat problems I would demand to have my money back!
Sony is the one who has to find a way to solve this!
Thanks for posting some ways to try and get this camera not to over heat with out my fan mod. I have tried some of the tips that were posted here. I will try a few more and see if I can get my 5N not to over heat without the fan mod.