Live View sensor damage?

I've done a quick search on the subject, but found nothing to consistent... Approximately how long can I keep Live View on without damaging my sensor? BTW I have a XS... I plan on shooting Balet and T-Ball pictures for my daughter and it'll be hard enough to view through viewfinder, so i was planning on just using live view??? any ideas???

Don't point it at the sun...

Live view on my 7D flips the mirror back down after a minute without any action, as the camera goes into standby mode. How long have you got yours set before it goes into stadby.

No real limit unless you're pointing at a very strong light source, like the sun. You have a bulb setting on your camera and you can use that in live view, so obviously thats not a problem.

I'm guessing it depends on the magnification of the lens... I imagine a 1200mm lens pointed at the sun could cook a sensor fairly quick...

Bright lights (point source), fire, molten steel and such might cause a sensor melt down.
Be wary of far red bandwidths which are nearly invisible to the eye, but still there.

craigsharp wrote in post #9584064
I've done a quick search on the subject, but found nothing to consistent... Approximately how long can I keep Live View on without damaging my sensor? BTW I have a XS... I plan on shooting Balet and T-Ball pictures for my daughter and it'll be hard enough to view through viewfinder, so i was planning on just using live view??? any ideas???

Learn to use the viewfinder. Unless they freeze and wait for live view to attain focus, you're going to get a lot of OOF shots.

The LV on your XS isn't meant to be used like the back of a P&S camera's LCD.

Thanks for all the quick replies... I don't plan on having it on for too long... just to frame shots... then use viewfinder...

craigsharp wrote in post #9584064
I've done a quick search on the subject, but found nothing to consistent... Approximately how long can I keep Live View on without damaging my sensor? BTW I have a XS... I plan on shooting Balet and T-Ball pictures for my daughter and it'll be hard enough to view through viewfinder, so i was planning on just using live view??? any ideas???

Long use of the sensor does warm it up. The camera has an automatic system that will warn you when it gets too warm, then shut the system down. But I use Live View constantly-- I've had my 5D2 Live View on for more than half an hour without that happening. I suspect it needs to be out in bright sunlight or in an extremely hot climate to give it a heat boost before it can actually get that warm. Whether it materially increases noise to run Live View for long is for pixel peepers to worry about. I haven't noticed a difference.

However, as has been mentioned, Live View isn't really designed to be used in any kind of action mode. You would be better off using the viewfinder for such.

craigsharp wrote in post #9584308
Thanks for all the quick replies... I don't plan on having it on for too long... just to frame shots... then use viewfinder...

I don't mean to sound like I'm an expert at this, but that's impractical. You're suggesting activating LV, framing the shot holding the camera in front of you, keeping it there while you bring your eye to the viewfinder, de-activating LV and then taking the shot?

Unless it's from a tripod, but I still don't think that's a practical use of LV. I used to own an XSi, and LV has limited uses: landscape/arch and macro from a tripod.

Brett wrote in post #9585647
I don't mean to sound like I'm an expert at this, but that's impractical. You're suggesting activating LV, framing the shot holding the camera in front of you, keeping it there while you bring your eye to the viewfinder, de-activating LV and then taking the shot?

Unless it's from a tripod, but I still don't think that's a practical use of LV. I used to own an XSi, and LV has limited uses: landscape/arch and macro from a tripod.

Yeah,,, LV only seems useful for Landscapes and maybe some studio stuff to me.

Brett wrote in post #9584214
Learn to use the viewfinder. Unless they freeze and wait for live view to attain focus, you're going to get a lot of OOF shots.

The LV on your XS isn't meant to be used like the back of a P&S camera's LCD.

That's what I was thinking.

GSeries1 wrote in post #9586198
Yeah,,, LV only seems useful for Landscapes and maybe some studio stuff to me.

I'd have to agree. I think you'll find that attempting to use LV for any sort of action shooting is going result in missing more shots than you get. IF you were to prefocus on a single spot, from a tripod, and then activate the shutter with a remote when you see the subject action you wanted might work moderately well; but otherwise, stick to the viewfinder.

GSeries1 wrote in post #9586198
Yeah,,, LV only seems useful for Landscapes and maybe some studio stuff to me.

I use it constantly for portraits, but I also use a tripod or camera stand constantly for portraits.

Ya... I see y'alls points... I guess what I was think I could use LV for was for group shots for team pictures... I realize now that any slight movement of the kids would bring the shot OOF for single portraits... Again, Thanks Very Much!