Sony Alpha 5100 Troubleshooting

The camera will not recognize the memory card.

For the Sony Alpha 5100, SDXC memory card (64 GB or more and Class 10 or faster), SDXC memory card (64 GB or more and UHS-I-compatible) or Memory Stick XC-Hg Duo media are supported. This camera supports UHS-I-compatible SD cards. So make sure your memory card is compatible with the camera.

Ensure your memory card is compatible with your camera. This camera supports most Sony SD cards and memory sticks.

Make sure the memory card is inserted with the label side face up, and is inserted straight into the camera and not at an angle. There’s a small diagram of the correct orientation of the SD within the actual slot for it.

The flash will not work while the camera is taking pictures.

The flash does not open automatically when the camera takes pictures. There is a button that needs to be pressed on the top of the camera with a lightning bolt on it. That button opens the flash for use.

In order for the flash to go off, the camera needs to be set in a mode to allow the flash to trigger. To change the flash mode, go to menu, camera settings, then hit flash mode.

Users can’t access camera menu.

In order to fix this issue, shut the camera off and take the battery out of the camera for at least 10 seconds. Then, put the battery back in and turn the camera on again. The menu should be accessible now.

For the camera, sometimes the buttons got “stuck” and become non-responsive with commands. This problem happens because sometimes the camera gets stuck in “half shutter” press. The physical button was not stuck, but the camera was tricked into thinking it was in half-press mode, wherein it was only focusing and none of the other feature settings are available. Remove the back plate and the top plate (guide here) to gain access to the button and clean around the button to allow it to release fully.

The camera frequently overheats during use.

Make sure you are not using your camera in extremely hot conditions. To get more time out of your camera, make sure to cover the camera in a cloth or keep it in a bag while not in use in order to prevent overheating or damage to the camera.

These Sony cameras can overheat in less than 10 minutes and will then automatically shut down before we can even reach 20 minutes. This can be quite the dilemma especially when you’re trying to record a longer video or patiently waiting for the perfect shot. This problem arises from the information being saved on it’s interior SD card. If we remove this component of the camera and instead run a HDMI to a separate hard drive or computer etc. Once this had been done, the Sony Alpha 5100 should last exponentially longer due to less actual data transferring happening inside of the device. Remember to check your camera’s setting to make sure the images you are taking are being exported in 1080p or whatever you prefer.