must i turn off DSLR every time when i change lens?

[indyrodeo9]

someone told me so. said once or twice lens change with cam on is ok. doing it more can damage the cam. is there truth to this? what can break as a result of changing lens with cam on?

thanks.

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[ScottS]

That's just silly. Never heard of anything like that before....

( # 300 baby WHOOOoooo...... man I need a life.... )

[indyrodeo9]

That's just silly. Never heard of anything like that before....

( # 300 baby WHOOOoooo...... man I need a life.... )

whoohooo #9 yayayayaaa. sry i had to do it. thnx for the reply btw. oh the guy sold me the 40d told me lol.

[ScottS]

Haha yea, the only thing that i have heard is that when the camera is on, the sensor is statically charged, and could attract more dust. But, just be careful when you change lenses.

[Stratman]

Why not turn it off? It takes only a second to turn the power off before changing lenses...

[indyrodeo9]

Why not turn it off? It takes only a second to turn the power off before changing lenses...

i do turn it off. just like to to know thats all.

[jstuedle]

I turn mine off when I think of it and don't when I don't. More often than not, I don't when changing lenses or cards. No issues over a couple million frames over 6 DSLR's.

[Sideburns]

You can suck in dust to the sensor since it's charged.

But other than that...you won't kill it. Turn it off anyways...it's not a long process.

[Alex_B]

I would turn it off... because of the sensor, and because of the electric connections.

I once got one of my SLRs confused when I changed lenses without switching it off, and it started rewinding the film when I had the new lens attached and then was refusing to do anything. had to switch it off for a minute to solve the problem

[Garbz]

Suck dust in to a charged sensor? which is covered? I'm not quite sure how large you think this charge is on a 5v low current component which isn't actually on anyway unless you're exposing it, but I doubt it extends much beyond its surface or the closed shutter.

I wouldn't swap lenses with liveview enabled, but unlike a miss-read signal like in Alex's case no damage can occur short of spilling some liquid or shorting the lens contact terminals (even that is probably not damaging but I wouldn't try it).

[JerryPH]

It is not critical to turn off the camera, but honestly... why? It takes like half a second to turn off.

What I am concerned about is the fact that on my camera there are electrical lens contacts out in the open that I do not know if when shorted out accidentally if it could damage my D200 or not (VR, lens focus, etc...). So I make it a point to turn it off. It likely will not, but whatever, thats me.

[indyrodeo9]

It is not critical to turn off the camera, but honestly... why? It takes like half a second to turn off.

What I am concerned about is the fact that on my camera there are electrical lens contacts out in the open that I do not know if when shorted out accidentally if it could damage my D200 or not (VR, lens focus, etc...). So I make it a point to turn it off. It likely will not, but whatever, thats me.

i did it twice so far cuz i forgot to turn off my 40d. i noticed once i remove lens i think the camera knows cuz i saw the B&W mini LCD turned off when i did that. when i mount the lens again the mini LCD screen turned back on.

im sure a company that makes a thousand dollar DSLR would at least ensure no circuit get fried from doing a simple lens change during power on. right?

[JerryPH]

I have over $5,000 in my setup so far... I'll let someone else be the guinea pig.
I have no problems turning the camera off while changing lenses.

[Trenton Romulox]

I usually turn mine off, but sometimes I forget. I am pretty sure that most of the time I turn it off. Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure exactly how much I think about it when I'm doing it. I'll try and think about it next time I change lenses, to see if I naturally turn off the camera...I think I do...but I just don't know. I'm pretty sure I do. Yeah, I do. I do turn it off. Right, right.

[Iron Flatline]

YES. It's an incredibly finnicky piece of electronics.

A: Always turn off your camera when taking out the battery, the memory card, or the lens. How lazy can you be?

B: Never connect a cable to your camera. That USB port? A me-too feature for consumers. Do NOT hook a very expensive camera to an electrically-charged cable connected to a very expensive computer. It's a bad idea. Get a card reader.

C: Format your memory card every time after you've pulled images off it. Takes three seconds, and removes additional risk.

...but it is every consumer's right to use gear as is deemed fit and appropriate. These are my guidelines.