Can a ccd be damaged by overexposure?

[Seb]

Doing a lot of night photography and having recently experimented high key photo with natural day light I got to wonder, doe's a serious overexposure of the ccd sensor, or several long exposures lead to damage?

I understand that noise comes from the sensor heating as it works (and also by the heat generated by others internal parts of the camera to a lesser extend). I just wonder what is too much.

Any personnal thought/experience is welcome.

regards

Seb

[darkman]

All the electronics in the camera, or just about every electronic device you own, are subjected to various lifetime tests, not just the ccd. In general, the testing insures (usually) a minimum life expectancy of >10 years.

This is done by subjecting the device at hand, the ccd for example, to a worst case electrical and/or environmental conditions. Either they will look for a complete device failure, or shifts in electical parameters that can be plotted over time and extrapolated to a time to failure lifetime.

I wouldn't worry about it. The worst case is your sensor will probably last >10yrs.

That doesn't mean that some devices fail sooner than that. These usually occur in a few (literally) devices per million. These failure rates generally follow a bathtub curves (steep down on one end and smoothly up to the far side). That's because it's most likely the device will fail right away. If it doesn't, is should generally last it's expected lifetime.

Mike

[Seb]

All the electronics in the camera, or just about every electronic device you own, are subjected to various lifetime tests, not just the ccd. In general, the testing insures (usually) a minimum life expectancy of >10 years.

This is done by subjecting the device at hand, the ccd for example, to a worst case electrical and/or environmental conditions. Either they will look for a complete device failure, or shifts in electical parameters that can be plotted over time and extrapolated to a time to failure lifetime.

I wouldn't worry about it. The worst case is your sensor will probably last >10yrs.

That doesn't mean that some devices fail sooner than that. These usually occur in a few (literally) devices per million. These failure rates generally follow a bathtub curves (steep down on one end and smoothly up to the far side). That's because it's most likely the device will fail right away. If it doesn't, is should generally last it's expected lifetime.

Mike

Thanks Mike.

It's good to hear that. I will most likely have switched of body within the next 10 years so I guess that there is strictly nothing to worry about.

regards

Seb