A lot of people don't have an issue with overheating so it might not be that much of an issue for most Z8 users. I had slight issues from time to time and started to investigate so I thought it might benefit others then too. Fantastic camera though and love it to bits.
Thanks a lot for the kind words. I have only been really posting properly over the last 12 months or so I have taken a few breaks in between so it's my own fault the channel isn't a bit bigger. Also the fact that I am not going for the really big viewing videos , like this video was never going to be a really popular one and it looks ages to make. I do this for the love of it and for a bit of fun also. Loads of subscribers would be nice but I am not too worried about it either. Thanks again 👍
if you twist a copper screw with a copper pad into the bottom hole, theoretically it will absorb heat and if you put a RedMagic Cooler 5 Pro behind the screen
The problem is the tripod mount screw doesn't really get that hot so it wouldn't really suck the heat out of the Z8 that well. I have a new video coming out in the next few days with a modification to help cool the Z8 and I explain that in a bit more detail then too. The RedMagic Cooler 5 Pro won't fit behind the screen on the Z8 which is a pity, there are other small phone cooling devices I might look at though if I can get one to fit. I have been keeping my eye out for a good one so if you find one please let me know.
I hope People at Nikon watch this. It would be great if they brought some connection points out of the body for connecting the cages to so we could take greater advantage of cooling the heat sink in the body with the cage.
Thanks Dan, appreciate that. Fingers crossed we all learned a bit more about keeping the Z8 coool now. I know someone that is replacing a few plastic parts on the Z8 to make it more thermally conductive to the camera cage. Early testing shows it does help a good bit. I will pop up another video on that one of these days maybe.
brilliant video! I have no idea how yo figured this all out! If i had to do a test like this I would not know where to start! Nikon should hire you ! Thanks for putting this video together!
Thanks Carey, it feels more like a documentary than a video.... How Kieran fell down the rabbit hole 😂😂😂. This was a nightmare to edit, so much footage just deleted 😂
I put CPU Thermal pad/heatsink cooling silicone behind the screen pulled out. I also put a strip of it on the bottom covering the plate. I no longer run into hot card warnings.
Great to hear that helped cure your overheating issues, what video settings are you using? The tests I tried in this video really push the camera to the extreme. Curious to hear what you are using and I have an even better way to cool the camera which I hopefully will be sharing in the next few weeks.
Thanks for a great video! It would have been cool (no pun) to test the Z8 with battery grip. The new Canon R5II has an active cooling fan built into it's grip.
Hi Nicolas, I will do one better than that in my next video, where I test out a new product coming soon for cooling the Z8 and this could be a game changer.
@@kieranhayesphotography That sounds incredible. I work in the Middle East and have struggled keeping the Z8 temperature down during the summer months. Can't wait to see your upcoming video!
@@nicolasdumont2879 fingers crossed this works so then. It arrived on Friday afternoon so I will be experimenting with it during the week and should have the video up next week at the latest all going well.
Intersting findings. I am wondering though. If you put on a cage, connect cables, use an external PD and pull out the screen, wouldn't it make the camera harder to handle? At that point, why not use an external screen and recorder? That would probably eliminate most heat issues. If you are using the Z8 for extensive video shoots, you would probably want an external recorder anyway. Conversly, if you only do a few short clips for B roll, you won't have any excessive heat issues.
TBH heat hasn't really been an issue for me as I do a lot of shorter recording and while the Hot Card warning does come up the Z8 continues to record with no issues. This video is mainly educational I suppose you would say as I also have an external recorder/monitor but not everyone is in the same position hence the video and the hope is it helps a few people out :-) Thanks for watching and have a great week.
Replacing the thermal pads with others with high thermal conductivity would transfer the heat better to the heat sink and faster from the hot zone. It would be interesting to know which thermal pads Nikon uses here (size / thickness) and whether it makes sense to replace them with "better" ones. (Maybe also in combination with your base plate heat sink invention.) Edit: Looks like "Fujipoly Ultra/extreme" are even better with 17 W/mk but very expensive. Also other options for good pads are Gelid Solutions GP-Ultimate, Kritical, Airhut, Thermalright Valor Odin, Extreme Odyssey II, Nab. All pads have about 15 W/mk.
From what I can see the big issue is the heat actually getting out of the body so I am eager to try the modified base to see how that goes. I will try the thermal pads after that then and see how that goes. Hopefully the new base plate will be enough to keep it cool. If not I will be looking at your suggestion to see how that goes.
Ya 4k30p, is a walk in the park compared to 8k 60p in N-Raw in high quality mode at ISO 4000 with a constantly moving subject . 4k 30p should be no issue at all to the Z8 thankfully 👍
@@Freep-m2l That is something I have never tried but those temps might be an issue alright. Having a good card is going to be key here. The Delkin Blacks or Prograde Cobalt cards are really good or the new ProGrade Gold gen 4.0 card is really good also. They don't run as hot so your camera doesn't heat up as much. I know at lower temps you can run for long times no problem at all in 4k30p in N Raw in high quality mode. The high temp here is the only thing I would be worried about.
@@kieranhayesphotography I have a lot of restaurant clients and spend a lot of time in hot kitchens some very hot. Never had issues with 4k/30 -120 and I’ve recorded for long periods.
@@skurt2752 That's interesting, are you recording in N Raw in high quality mode or what codec are you using? I have always had slight issues with N Raw in HQ mode in warm environments.
Great video, must have taken quite some of your time. Since a lot of the temperature is going to the baseplate of the camera, wouldn't it be fair to not have it sit on a table, on some fabric which probably does not remove much of the heat? Having the camera in your hand during all these test is undoable... but maybe a tiny tripod? Of a large tripod, to suck out the heat from the baseplate?
Honestly when I started this video I didn't think there would be that much heat coming out of the base. I kept it the same then though so every test would be in the same conditions, for me it became more about understanding the cooling and trying to find a way to keep it running cooler consistently towars the end. It's a very fair point though and would of course effect the run time before the hot card warning came on and I would never do that in real life. Anyway I hope it helped a bit and thanks for watching and for the feedback also.
Pulling out the monitor and opening the battery hatch and the card door helps. Trying to figure out of the Ulanzi cooling fan can be attached to the camera with the monitor pulled out. If it can, that should work to allow 2 hours or more of 4K 60 recording which would be practical.
Hi James, Yes it does help a bit alright. The cooling fan should help another bit too, there is someone I know that's working on a way to help dissapate the heat from inside the camera more to the cage, hopefully there will be more of an update on that soon.
@@kieranhayesphotography Ulanzi replied that their fan will not fit on the Z8. I have an idea myself for a cooling device by making a dummy battery out of thermal materials like silver and steel, and putting a fan in it blowing down from inside the dummy and-or a screw for a heat sync wire to a cage or a glass of ice water for that matter. The camera then runs on a PD power bank through the dummy. This would really work and would add enough recording time to make the camera a lot more practical for the field and for those shooting paid actors etc. I have no idea how to get something like this made. But if you do, maybe pitch the idea. I'll even buy one if it gets made.
Hey James, I was originally looking at something similar, the issue was that most of the dummy batteries didn't work with the Z8 but the Neewer dummy battery does now I am told. I then considered using the USB PD power option and popping the fan over the open battery door. I stopped there though as someone else has designed and physically made a new metal base plate (only the part around the tripod mount) that replaces the original plastic piece, it simply unscrews and you fit the metal piece then. The importance of this is it's connected to the internal heatsink in the camera so it helps to suck heat away from the processor via either an l bracket or camera cage. His initial results were very promising and there was a market improvement in recording times. I must ask him over the weekend how he has gotten on since as the real beauty is this is a very neat fix and it looks really well. I must try and get one off him if he has made more and try it out.
@@kieranhayesphotography Thanks! I want one of those myself if you can get some. Also I was considering this. One problem I have had is the monopod mount always slides around. I fixed that by using a piece of foam from filter packaging that acts like a gasget sort of, and holds the little monopod mount, Arca Swiss, better. Yesterday after watching your video, I wondered if you could get a piece of a thermal pad and use it as a gasget between the camera and the tripod/monopod mount and maybe it would help transfer more heat to the monopod. Or even put a piece of thermal pad against the camera behind the monitor. If one has a cage I suppose you could mount a small PD powered computer fan on it and point it behind the monitor or up into the battery compartment.
i think the replacement plate is going to be the best option really and if you use a cage or an L bracket it will really transfer the heat then to that and suck it out of the camera body. Hope to get an update on that replacement base plate soon.
Just add s tiny blower attached to a usb pd brick snd direct the air towards the back of the camera with lcd popped out. It makes a big difference to have active cooling if you need long recordings and dont want to spring for a z9.
You are the second person to suggest that now, thanks for the input. I must try that and see how it works. I have a few cooling fans hanging around. Are there no over heating issues then in 8K for long recording then?
You should change your thumbnail to a half and half image of the thermal picture and the interior tear down photo and then a portrait popup of Kieran Hayes with a suprised face.
Don't get me started on thumbnails 😂😂😂 I would probably be given out to as I was misleading people. Great idea though and hey now I have someone to blame for it 😉 Thanks again for the feedback and for watching 👍
Hi I used the ProGrade Gold Generation 4.0 512GB CF Express type B card. The trick here is to go for the Generation 4 card as it's more efficient and has a higher bandwidth also.
FYI ProGrade Digital Memory Card - CFexpress 4.0 Type B for Cameras | Optimized for Express Transfer of Files & Large Storage | 512GB Gold Series $179.00 Sus. Sustained Write 2400 MB/s - Read 3400 and 2TB Gold Series $799.00 Amazon. FYI Harder to over heat Nikon Z8 Reply
Do you think the ZITAY Cf express B to external M.2 adapter would help with the cooling? My thinking is it will run cooler since the camera is writing to the m.2 externally ( and the door has to be left open anyway)
I haven't used it on the Z8 or know anyone that has used it yet but this could help alright. I would have slight concerns about having the door open and the wire then too of course but if you use it in a rig it could work well alright. I know someone that is testing a few cooling plates for the Z8 that seem to work well. I hope to get a bit more of an update on that soon.
I have tried a few different cooling fans and they do help. I will do a part three to this video on a few weeks with another slight modification that's super easy to do and won't affect warranties etc and also talk about the cooling fan too and hopefully I will have enough reliable data then to show direct comparisons and how much of an impact they have had.
I removed the rubber from my L bracket and add a big thermal pad between it and the bottom of the camera. The L bracket got as hot as the exterior of the camera. In my case 35deg Celsius.
I was seriously thinking about doing that, its one of the things I noticed on the Neewer Z8 cage is that the rubber pad is a lot smaller then on my SmallRig Z8 cage, I haven't tried it yet to see if that makes any difference though. Really good idea about the thermal pad though.
@@kieranhayesphotography one thing regarding the hdmi cable. The outside metal part of the hdmi cable is over a thick plastic part. While the hdmi male connector makes contact there is not much heat conducted to the outside.
@@MadManTnT that was my initial concern so I checked the temp of the HDMI connector was at 41.5 degrees and the external metal shield on the HDMI plug was at 38 degrees, I tried a plastic connector and it was hopeless obviously. There is no electrical conduction between the HDMI earth and the metal shroud but there seems to be reasonable thermal conductivity. It could be better of course though. That's why I am wondering if someone has found something better. More curiousity then anything else.
@@MadManTnT I was seriously considering doing that to see if it helped, or do a HDMI and USBC cable with the surface area of the HDMI port that would obviously be the better option though.
Man… prograde is a very hot card. I’d say second hot after lexar. Tried it only once and will never use it again, really. SE and MK2 are way better and for example, I do a full 2 tb on 8/60 without the overheat. Never used 4tb but people say it’s even better.
I am presuming the Prograde card you tried wasn't the Gen 4.0 card which is the one I am using and talking about here. When you say you can fill a 2tb card with no hot card warning is that in NRaw in high detail mode and with a constantly moving subject at ISO 4000 like I was doing in these tests. That will really stress the camera and cause it to overheat. In all the tests I have done I have found the Prograde Gold 4.0 card to be a very cool card. Maybe you had a faulty one? What capacity was the card that you used?
@@kieranhayesphotography prograde was 4.0 from amazon. It was a real disappointment. But I can say that for angelbird (mine are also from amazon) I never used such a high iso, for my needs, 100-400 maximum is the best… I can also add, that after the first few tests of the long videos, I never did such a long recordings, for me, 1-5 minutes of video is enough, than a few seconds (up to a minute) of changing a shooting plan and continuing. And never open the card and battery slots during the video🤷🏻♂️. In total, I tried 4 brands of cards - third and fourth were Delkin and lexar. I can say that lexar is a garbage, Delkin green is not working, Delkin black is fine but terribly expensive and has no 2 tb
I would say the card you got was either faulty or not a genuine 4.0 card. I know several people using the Gen 4.0 cards and they have had nearly exactly the same experiences as me with them. Regarding the ISO the reason for using ISO 4000 is that it's the second base ISO for NRaw and it works the camera hard and causes it to overheat more. Incidentally the first base ISO for NRaw on the Z8 is ISO 800, so ISO 800 is the lowest ISO I would ever use for the best results you can get from the Z8. In your tests were you using NRaw also and recording in high detail mode?
@@kieranhayesphotography Well, 4k120 was easily written to the card without any problems, but at 8k60 glitches began. I wrote to you the basic ISO with which I work at different resolutions - I shoot cats and here everything is very different - at high ISO values problems begin with transmitting video of fur, especially if the color is silver. Everything on my pages was shot on an iPhone for now, since I have assembled a grip that involves use on large areas, and am still waiting for the new rooms to be ready. But while I’m shooting for myself, testing the possibilities of camera, I basically already understand everything. I’ll send you the settings I’m working with later, when it’s next time to shoot.
Hello May I ask you which PC u editing videos in 8k , I wanna buy this camera but I don't know if it's ok with my PC MacBook pro 2019 32 Gb ram 1tbssd and RMD Radeon pro 5500M 8gb
Very true, that would certainly solve the overheating issue but I personally don't like the size of the Z9 it's too bulky to be hand holding for 6 to 8 hours a day. I tried it and wanted to use it but I waited for the Z8 and I much prefer it's shape size and weight. Funnily as I live in Ireland I don't have a lot of issues with the camera overheating so this video is more for other people than me :-)
@@kieranhayesphotography yea if you dont record any videos then nothing to worry about, but just depends if youd rather have it overheat during a project, or you rather deal with bulkier camera
@@CincyPhotography thankfully all of my video recordings are short enough. 20 minute clips at a time which is no issue. Not knocking the Z9 at all but I am mainly a photographer that shoots some bts stuff for companies and the Z8 does a great job for that.