RX100 V, good camera ? Great hotplate !

[Papiskokuji]

Hello !

This is my first post here. I read this great blog and forum for years now, just never had the chance to participate (this is about to change :).

I wanted to share with you my experience with the Sony RX100 V I just received today and ask for your advice. I'm familiar of course with the over heating issue of Sony cameras even though I never really experienced it on a shoot (used to own a A6300 and a RX100 IV), maybe had I once or twice the warning indicator poping up.

I was quite happy with the RX100 IV for the images it could deliver in such a tiny package. Yet when the RX100 V was announced, I got excited by the possibility of having the A6300 autofocus performance in my RX100 tiny body. So I returned the mark IV and ordered the new model. Long story short, it came in the mail today and let me tell you about my experience... I turned it on, mess with the menus for a minute or two, then, with no memory card inserted, I just tried the autofocus by pointing my camera at random things in my living room for a minute and the camera went so hot, the temperature indicator poped up, the screen dimmed instantly and I think if I had to record something or just continue like this, it would have shut off ! It's insane ! Maybe there's something wrong with my unit... My settings : autofocus sensitivity : fast, S-Log2 with gamma assist... Maybe it's more demanding, but still... It just shouldn't happen ! I wasn't even filming !

Shall I try another unit or go back to the mkIV ? Does someone have the mk V ? I'm trying not to be a canon or sony fanboy/basher, every camera has its pros and cons, but I must admit that this is intolerable for a 1150€ device.

 

P.S. Here's a commercial I did for the web with the A6300 and the Came TV Single. (I'm not responsible for the color grading :/ ) : 

 

[Papiskokuji]

So I tried to record a video. Very quickly the temperature indicator shows and the screen dims. I could record 5 minutes. Second take, only 37 seconds... Then turned off the camera. And on again after a few minutes. Temperature indicator appears. Length of the first take : 57 sec. Well the camera was still hot from the previous session but still...

[liork]

Welcome.

46 minutes ago, Papiskokuji said:

I turned it on, mess with the menus for a minute or two, then, with no memory card inserted, I just tried the autofocus by pointing my camera at random things in my living room for a minute and the camera went so hot

Looks like you've got a lemon. Its not normal, I never had it with the RX100 IV.

[Cinegain]

28 minutes ago, liork said:

Welcome.

Looks like you've got a lemon. Its not normal, I never had it with the RX100 IV.

He didn't either. He mentioned that. But he does with the V.

Dunno. Could be though. To me it just shows once again you can't rely on a Sony. It shows that they want to kill it on paper, but it's like having a piñata and stuffing it with more candy than it can take. It will start to show tears and at some point it will burst. What they need to do is either change the materials they're working with to hold it all in... or make it slightly bigger already. But they're stubborn... and then stuff like this happens. I wish they would see that already and act accordingly, but they're like 'hey, people are still buying them, even if we up the price with every new model every couple of months, this is the best business model ever!'.

[Andrew Reid]

Does it still have the 3 minute limit in 4K?

[Papiskokuji]

It still does have the 5 minute limit in 4k (it doesn't bother me much as I use it as a travel camera). And as Cinegain mentionned, I had no such issue with the mk IV.

[Andrew Reid]

Strange, hope you get it to work as expected.

I don't think the sensor or image processor is radically different to before, more RAM on the back of the stacked sensor perhaps so maybe that is causing more heat? But it shouldn't be doing what you claim it is.

[wolf33d]

There is a test on youtube

it heats faster than the 4

this is sony improvement from a camera to another lol

I believe the AF is the cause since it is the only change 

[Papiskokuji]

4 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Strange, hope you get it to work as expected.

I don't think the sensor or image processor is radically different to before, more RAM on the back of the stacked sensor perhaps so maybe that is causing more heat? But it shouldn't be doing what you claim it is.

I think there's more operations going on with the mark V : 4k downsampled from the whole sensor now, gamma assist, crazy responsive autofocus (feels even better than the A6300). I think all this contribute to heat up the camera faster. I'm specially disappointed by the screen dimming very quickly during a take. I'll make some tests in HD.

I also read or heard somewhere that because of all these new features, battery life was a bit shorter. Then the faster heating up would make sense... More power drained from the battery, more heat.

But it's still a useful little device for gimbal work or travel, and the autofocus capabilities are so so impressive. I also have little hope they'll reduce the overheating issue via a firmware release.

[Orangenz]

Two questions for you:

Do you have Pre-AF turned on?

Do you have End Trigger for HFR turned on?

[Papiskokuji]

5 hours ago, Orangenz said:

Two questions for you:

Do you have Pre-AF turned on?

Do you have End Trigger for HFR turned on?

Well, I have turned off pre AF, as I know it drains battery. But all my tests were in movie mode with auto focus, so the camera overrides this setting and focus constantly. It still shouldn't be a problem. (A undesirable work around, would be to switch from photo to movie mode between takes)

And I had no time to mess with HFR. I know the end trigger is also supposed to drain battery faster as it fills up the buffer until you hit record. I also turned on "airplane mode".

Anyway, I had more time to play with it. I find operations not much faster than with the mk IV. It is definitely less stable than its predecessor, but once again the autofocus is so impressive. That feature alone might make me keep it I think, despite all these troubles.

And I had an answer from Sony France support. Not quite the one I expected : "contact your seller and try another one". Which I did before sony so kindly advised me and it's more or less the same experience.

Can't wait to hear other rx100 v owners take on this one !

[Andrew Reid]

12 hours ago, Papiskokuji said:

I think there's more operations going on with the mark V : 4k downsampled from the whole sensor now

I think this was the case with the IV as well. In fact RX1000 series has for a long time done a full pixel readout from the 20MP sensor, even for 1080p. I call that 'oversampling'.

There's still a slight crop in 4K mode compared to full sensor width too, no?

From what I have heard...

I have not yet tried the camera and not sure I will bother.

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gamma assist, crazy responsive autofocus (feels even better than the A6300). I think all this contribute to heat up the camera faster.

Unlikely AF system contributes to heat

New sensor and more DRAM on the back, maybe.

Quote

I'm specially disappointed by the screen dimming very quickly during a take. I'll make some tests in HD.

The other Sony cameras do that too. Super annoying as it means you can barely see the screen at all in direct sunlight.

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I also read or heard somewhere that because of all these new features, battery life was a bit shorter. Then the faster heating up would make sense... More power drained from the battery, more heat.

They should have put the whole thing in a slightly larger LX100 style body with larger battery.

Does it really need to be so small and fiddly... NO.

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But it's still a useful little device for gimbal work or travel, and the autofocus capabilities are so so impressive. I also have little hope they'll reduce the overheating issue via a firmware release.

Or maybe in a new model 4 months later. GRRRR

[tugela]

7 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

 

Unlikely AF system contributes to heat

New sensor and more DRAM on the back, maybe.

 

In this case it may well do that. The main change in the camera is the new AF system. It uses many more AF points, which means that the processor has to do an order of magnitude more work (if you are using all of them - however, I don't think that is the problem). More importantly, faster focusing physically means that the motors have to respond faster and the rate at which power is drawn from the battery is faster. If you are using CAF it is entirely possible that may be contributing to heat buildup. If he has it in movie mode and is using CAF, the waving the camera around while not actually shooting is going to cause the motors inside to go into overdrive to keep up, which has to be generating significant heat. Power does not come for free.

Based on my experience with the RX100M3, you get more flexibility shooting footage in photo mode rather than movie mode anyway (you don't need to be in movie mode to record video), so I would suggest that the OP do that instead. That way the camera is only focussing when you are shooting.

[Orangenz]

Hmmm, went through one and a bit batteries while recording HFR for a couple of hours. Longer battery life than I was expecting and it stayed very cool the whole time.