20D CMOS sensor "shelf life"

[jscotti]

Having witnessed the degredation of electronic sensors (for example in video cameras) due to things like cosmic ray damage, I got to wondering what the lifetime of modern digitcal camera sensors really is, especially something like the CMOS sensor in my Canon 20D. Even if you leave your camera unused on the shelf in the closet, it is still exposed to the various radiation and cosmic ray damage. Film, particularly high ISO film, suffers similarly, so it's not a new phenomenon to digital. Just wondering if anyone out there has any data on such things to share? I suppose subjecting your camera to repeated airport x-ray examination could have some similar side affects?

Jim.

[ron chappel]

It's something used to think/worry about when i was poor and seriously considering a secondhand DSLR
I never did hear any horror stories with canon.The shutter wears out but that seems to be pretty much it.

I have talked with an owner of a fuji S2 pro that has had the sensor replaced.Apparently the fuji's had a problem but the company replaces the sensor completely free of charge (even out of warrantee i believe)

[Salleke]

Having witnessed the degredation of electronic sensors (for example in video cameras) due to things like cosmic ray damage, I got to wondering what the lifetime of modern digitcal camera sensors really is, especially something like the CMOS sensor in my Canon 20D. Even if you leave your camera unused on the shelf in the closet, it is still exposed to the various radiation and cosmic ray damage. Film, particularly high ISO film, suffers similarly, so it's not a new phenomenon to digital. Just wondering if anyone out there has any data on such things to share? I suppose subjecting your camera to repeated airport x-ray examination could have some similar side affects?

Jim.

Hello Jim, (remind me of a song from jears ago but I don't remeber the singer ...:) ) if you store your camera on a shelf
and wait untill cosmic rays will degrade your sensor than I think that you will not live that long to witness this event.
Even if you pas true an airport x-ray machine every day for a few seconds it will not harm your camera, your sensor or your memory cards.

If the earth is not hit by a meteor ar another strong cosmic ray transmitter (Quaser) it's impossible that your CMOS sensor,
or for that matter other sensors, will degrade in our lifetime, on a shelf.
And if we would be hit by such an event the last thing on our mind will be the sensor from our camera's ... ;) .

So don't worry about this. Like the other member say: worry about a problem when it occours and meanwhile enjoy your camera on or of the shelf...:) .

[jscotti]

Hello Jim, (remind me of a song from jears ago but I don't remeber the singer ...:) ) if you store your camera on a shelf
and wait untill cosmic rays will degrade your sensor than I think that you will not live that long to witness this event.
Even if you pas true an airport x-ray machine every day for a few seconds it will not harm your camera, your sensor or your memory cards.

If the earth is not hit by a meteor ar another strong cosmic ray transmitter (Quaser) it's impossible that your CMOS sensor,
or for that matter other sensors, will degrade in our lifetime, on a shelf.
And if we would be hit by such an event the last thing on our mind will be the sensor from our camera's ... ;) .

So don't worry about this. Like the other member say: worry about a problem when it occours and meanwhile enjoy your camera on or of the shelf...:) .

Well, you may not worry about a meteor hitting Earth, but I do - I'm a planetary scientist when not taking pictures with my 20D, so I am concerned about detector degradation all the time.... Not to mention asteroid impacts....;)

Don't worry, I do quite enjoy taking pictures with my 20D and it has yet to sit on the shelf in the 2 months since I got it. I'm certain I'll wear out the shutter long before the sensor gets too noisey to use, but I do take astrophotos with it and in long exposures, I sure see lots of dark noise. The Astronomer in me wants to take dark frames and flat field frames to fix those problems. It's tempting to think about quantifying the noise characteristics of my camera, but I don't want to take too much of the fun out of it.

Jim.

[lostdoggy]

Do you wrap your head with foil to stop them from reading your thoughts???

[Simon Spiers]

I have a Fuji S602 and have taken over 10000 pictures most of which where pointing at the sun. The images are still as sharp as the day i bought it. Bare in mind that the canons sensor is protected by the mirror in the rest position where the Fuji is not.

[malla1962]

worry?i dont get paid enogh to worry about anything.:lol:

[Salleke]

Well, you may not worry about a meteor hitting Earth, but I do - I'm a planetary scientist when not taking pictures with my 20D, so I am concerned about detector degradation all the time.... Not to mention asteroid impacts....;)

Don't worry, I do quite enjoy taking pictures with my 20D and it has yet to sit on the shelf in the 2 months since I got it. I'm certain I'll wear out the shutter long before the sensor gets too noisey to use, but I do take astrophotos with it and in long exposures, I sure see lots of dark noise. The Astronomer in me wants to take dark frames and flat field frames to fix those problems. It's tempting to think about quantifying the noise characteristics of my camera, but I don't want to take too much of the fun out of it.

Jim.

It must be very exciting being able to take astrophotos. I'm am thinking about that to
and one of these days I go out and find me a little second hand telescope to trie it myself.
It will never be on your level, I'm a little amateure, but it must be very rewarding to enyoj doing it.
BTW, must we really worry about some big rock hitting earth soon? Do you worry about that?
:lol: :lol: :lol: (Joking, but...;) )

[zacker]

Jim... Then we expect you to get some good shots of an asteroid smashing into us when it happens!

Seriously, I wouldnt worry too much, esp. if your camera is on the shelf that long, this means you dont use it much?? Why worry.. if its gonna happen its gonna happen.. right? I say F*** It.. live now and dont worry about what you cant control.
-zacker-

[jscotti]

It must be very exciting being able to take astrophotos. I'm am thinking about that to
and one of these days I go out and find me a little second hand telescope to trie it myself.
It will never be on your level, I'm a little amateure, but it must be very rewarding to enyoj doing it.
BTW, must we really worry about some big rock hitting earth soon? Do you worry about that?
:lol: :lol: :lol: (Joking, but...;) )

Well, most of the astrophotos I've taken have been with my 24mm f/1.8 lens - the Milky Way is almost too bright in only a 30 second exposure! I don't count the professional photos in the same bin.... Can't wait to try out my camera on a meteor shower next month. I don't have a telescope at home so taking tracked images is not in my capability at the moment without borrowing a friends....

As for rocks hitting Earth, the probability is very low, but the side affects are very bad, so it is prudent to survey the sky and find all of the dangerous asteroids, which is what we are doing. Once we find them all, we will know if there is anything imminent. We're about 3/4 of the way through the civilization (and larger) threatening asteroids now, so you can sleep easier..... :-)

Jim.

[jscotti]

Jim... Then we expect you to get some good shots of an asteroid smashing into us when it happens!

Seriously, I wouldnt worry too much, esp. if your camera is on the shelf that long, this means you dont use it much?? Why worry.. if its gonna happen its gonna happen.. right? I say F*** It.. live now and dont worry about what you cant control.
-zacker-

Well, if we were to find one that was going to hit us, most likely we will have decades to do something and I am confident that we would be able to design a system to deflect such an object away from a collision course, so we won't have to just sit back and let it happen.

BTW, we just wacked comet Tempel 1 with a copper loaded spacecraft impactor and I got some decent images of that comet both before and after impact with our 1.8-m telescope on Kitt Peak last week.

Jim.