Nikon Z8 Hot Card Warning

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Jim DeLuco

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I received a "Hot Card" warning. The camera never locked up. I was shooting 15 fps but in bursts. I was not shooting long bursts at all. The part of the camera that was warm was not the location of the card. It was the lower left, under the access doors. I've seen discussions about some cards may shoot "cooler" than others. I've only had the camera for six days and am concerned about this. Because of the location of the warmth I don't believe this is a card issue. I am using a Sandisk Extreme Pro CF Express card. Has anyone seen this in the Z8 or Z9?
 
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Jim DeLuco said:
I've seen discussions about some cards may shoot "cooler" than others.
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Yup, as posted above the Sandisk Extreme Pro CFE runs quite a bit hotter than some of the faster cards. FWIW if you don't shoot much video I'd recommend the Delkin Power cards as reasonably fast cards that run pretty cool and are relatively inexpensive.
 
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I can vouch for angelbird being good 'budget' choices too. Even the 512 gig se can handle 8k60 video, and hasn't yet gotten super hot in my z9 yet. I'll be at an airshow soon though, so we'll see how that goes...
 
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I experienced this on a shoot last weekend with a new Z8, using Delkin Black 325GB CFe cards.

I've been using ProGrade Cobalts in my Z9's since I got my 1st one on release day and never saw a heat warning.

While the Delkin Blacks were on sale, I bought several but this was really the 1st time I've used them although my wife has been using them and not mentioned the heat message in her Z9 or new Z8.

Like Jim, the Z8 did not shut down and I was shooting approx. 1 second bursts (never more than 2 sec) while photographing a canine agility event. I also noticed the body was getting quite hot (not warm) on the lower left (as viewed from the back of the camera) area of the camera. I figured this was probably where the CPU's are.

Towards the end of the shoot, in addition to the "Card Hot" message in the EVF, the thermometer icon came on too (both icons were illuminated).

FWIW, it was a very hot (100°F+) afternoon and was an outdoor event.
 
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i would do a full format in computer, then do a format in camera just to be sure. i don’t think the behavior is normal for the delkin card. hard to say about the ambient temp tho since that is very close to the upper rating of the camera.
 
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PhilM said:
I experienced this on a shoot last weekend with a new Z8, using Delkin Black 325GB CFe cards.

I've been using ProGrade Cobalts in my Z9's since I got my 1st one on release day and never saw a heat warning.

While the Delkin Blacks were on sale, I bought several but this was really the 1st time I've used them although my wife has been using them and not mentioned the heat message in her Z9 or new Z8.

Like Jim, the Z8 did not shut down and I was shooting approx. 1 second bursts (never more than 2 sec) while photographing a canine agility event. I also noticed the body was getting quite hot (not warm) on the lower left (as viewed from the back of the camera) area of the camera. I figured this was probably where the CPU's are.

Towards the end of the shoot, in addition to the "Card Hot" message in the EVF, the thermometer icon came on too (both icons were illuminated).

FWIW, it was a very hot (100°F+) afternoon and was an outdoor event.
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My experience was also outside and a hot/humid afternoon...about 87 degrees. The one thing I did not do was to remove the card when I got the hot card error to see if the physical card was hot. I believe that the Hot Card error is a misnomer and that the cpu is getting hot. If I get another hot card error with the new card before my 30 days I'm going to return the Z8 for a refund and wait 'til the mirrorless technology matures a bit more to the point it can be used comfortably for wildlife and sports photography.
 
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i think it’s worth checking to see if the card is physically hot although i have no reason to believe the warning is not correctly reporting that info. however make sure the green card activity light has gone out.
 
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Jim DeLuco said:
My experience was also outside and a hot/humid afternoon...about 87 degrees. The one thing I did not do was to remove the card when I got the hot card error to see if the physical card was hot. I believe that the Hot Card error is a misnomer and that the cpu is getting hot. If I get another hot card error with the new card before my 30 days I'm going to return the Z8 for a refund and wait 'til the mirrorless technology matures a bit more to the point it can be used comfortably for wildlife and sports photography.
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I can say a lot of people are using z8s for wildlife, and the tech is fairly mature. Maybe the z8 you have runs a little hotter, but being in an environment where you can't sink heat as effectively while dumping as much data as the z8 is capable of means you're going to run into problems faster than the z9 (which sinks heat much better).

I think it's safe to say this isn't a widespread issue, or we would see many more complaints about it that aren't due to the specific cards being used (and using SD cards at the same time, but that's a different topic).
 
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Jim DeLuco said:
My experience was also outside and a hot/humid afternoon...about 87 degrees. The one thing I did not do was to remove the card when I got the hot card error to see if the physical card was hot. I believe that the Hot Card error is a misnomer and that the cpu is getting hot. If I get another hot card error with the new card before my 30 days I'm going to return the Z8 for a refund and wait 'til the mirrorless technology matures a bit more to the point it can be used comfortably for wildlife and sports photography.
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I did pull the card out to see and it was definitely hot to the touch.

I'd say giving up on mirrorless may be a marginally reactionary. The Z8 performed flawlessly, and never missed a beat despite the hot card, body & indicator. Too many upsides for me no to proceed with it.

For shoots like the one I was at last weekend, the z9 is the better option simply due to battery capacity and card slots.
 
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Did you also have an SD card installed and if so how was it set?


PhilM said:
I did pull the card out to see and it was definitely hot to the touch.

I'd say giving up on mirrorless may be a marginally reactionary. The Z8 performed flawlessly, and never missed a beat despite the hot card, body & indicator. Too many upsides for me no to proceed with it.

For shoots like the one I was at last weekend, the z9 is the better option simply due to battery capacity and card slots.
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Jim DeLuco said:
I'm going to return the Z8 for a refund and wait 'til the mirrorless technology matures a bit more to the point it can be used comfortably for wildlife and sports photography.
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i think you'll be waiting... indefinitely. the z8 does a decent job with heat and the z9 does better. when you get to extremes in weather, you are going to have to make allowances for gear, regardless of the gear. and you are going to have to make sure your accessories such as the cards are appropriate for what you want to do. the card you are running isn't a great card in the context of today's usage. i had a similar lexar card which now is simply a card that holds my saved settings.
 
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PhilM said:
I did not. I haven't used them in years, so I have none that are fast by current standards.
I guess overflow to a slow card would have been better than STOP and missing a run while I changed it.
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I was curious as to the conditions for the hot card warning regarding slot 2, nothing more. In fact I don't have slot 2 filled either and have no plans to do so....figuring I could swap out the CFe during a slow time. Now maybe one solution to the hot card issue is to simply remove it and put in a "cool" :cool: card and keep shooting if conditions permit...
 
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I have to eat a little crow and get a bit defensive. I shot about 1100 images this afternoon and the left bottom of the body got a little warm. While there was not Hot Card warning I did remove the card and it was hot. My frustration has been that this is my first mirrorless camera. I've shot medium format film digital with DSLR's for about 30 years. Weddings, events, etc. I have looked thru the viewfinder of mirrorless camera's a few years ago and decided to wait for a while. So, the learning curve is a bit frustrating and right off having to deal with Camera Raw not recognizing the file threatened to have to change my workflow (I did install a workaround). Yes, the more I work with the camera the more I do like it and I am getting some very good images (attached). I just have to give it more time. Thank you all for your support. I can be found on Instagram at "jamesfdeluco"
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My Sandisk CFExpress comes out of the Z8 hot sometimes. Same for the card reader, a Sony connected by USB-C cable to Macbook pro M1. More troubling, while I was importing to Lightroom a couple times the process suddenly failed and Lightroom no longer recognized the card as connected to the computer. The card reader still had a light and recognized a card was inserted however finder did not see it. When I removed the card the OS did generate messages that the card was improperly ejected. I was shooting an event at 15 fps capturing A LOT of raw images. This was probably the largest amount of data I ever attempted to review and read in at once. The card was very hot. I hope this isn't an indication of problems to come with this card, it's fairly new. Anybody else experience similar problem importing?
 
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Hello. I just got a card overheat warning on my new Z8 using a 128GB Sandisk Expreme Pro card from B&H and Sandisk V90 Extreme Pro in the second slot. No burst or video. Just one shot every 5-10sec outside for 45min in 90DegF weather. Came inside in A/C and about 30min later got the hot card warning. All functioned well but the Z8 was very warm (Not hot) to the touch. Using another brand for several years have never gotten an over heat shooting stills even in 90+DegF heat. Then again wasn't using a CFX-B.
 
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Jettubby said:
Hello. I just got a card overheat warning on my new Z8 using a 128GB Sandisk Expreme Pro card from B&H and Sandisk V90 Extreme Pro in the second slot. No burst or video. Just one shot every 5-10sec outside for 45min in 90DegF weather. Came inside in A/C and about 30min later got the hot card warning. All functioned well but the Z8 was very warm (Not hot) to the touch. Using another brand for several years have never gotten an over heat shooting stills even in 90+DegF heat. Then again wasn't using a CFX-B.
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Yes, the sandisk is a known hot card. See my link above.
 
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I've been ripping an roaring with the Z9 for 15 months, and Z8 since the first shipment - never a heat warning. Nothing.
My card readers (I have a couple Delkin 56's) get hot and heat the installed card as I use them, especially the one connected to the laptop. Never had any warning or heat concern from the Z's.
 
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Cameron T said:
I think the z8 is fine, if you use a cooler running card. I've only seen a few complaints about the issue, and most are card related (because they run super hot, such as sandisk)
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same here. admittedly not a lot of trigger time with the z8 since it went back, but i also don't expect any. once i noticed how hot my old cards ran (in my card reader with my z9), i stopped using them in favor of the newer breed of cards and have never seen a hint of heat related issues since.
 
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