Question about doing long exposures

I was wondering if doing long exposures will eventually do harm to the camera? For instance, will it overheat, burn out or degrade the imaging sensor, etc.

I want to build a barn door tracker and give a go at some longer exposures and use my 70-200 lens.

Thanks in advance...
Al

i havent heard of this happening since the 300d was 1st used for AP- i would say your 100% safe here- 'but' i dont know how solar imaging would be though

If you're using a quality camera such as a Canon, my experience is that it's not the length of the exposures so much as the number of exposures. Several of my better images were made by taking 3 to 5 minute exposures, but 80 to 120 of them per object. My first 40D had about 5,000 clicks on it when I bought it, and about 45,000 when I sold it. It was also sent in for a shutter repair job sometime around 30,000. There are other factors to consider such as water entry from dew formation and maybe heat build-up that could affect the circuitry eventually, but I never experienced a problem in either of those areas. I hope this info helps you to make an informed decision.

Greg

Thanks everyone for your answers. Since so many people do it, I would have thought there would be some talk about it somewhere. A co-worker brought up the subject after I told him I was going to build a barn door tracker and just wanted to make sure.

Thanks again...
Al