Long Exposures Bad for Camera?

tron

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So last night i was doing some light painting and i must have taken like twenty exposures, each at least 30seconds? so this morning i find that my pictures are turning out fuzzy even with af on?

Am i just being paranoid or is this a legitiate concern?
 
I am no expert on the effects of long exposures with digital (or any other form) of camea. However to assess if the problem you having is your camera or your shooting style try this;

Mount your camera on a tripod and fix a good lens onto it
Aim the lens at a subject which it should be able to resolve without any difficulty
Make sure your exposure settings are right for a good exposure
use either the timer or a remote release to triggor the shutter.

that should give you a shot with little to no shake problems on the camera so any softness will not be a result of that
 
is the Image stablization on while taking the long exposures? (im assuming you used a tripod)

The image stablizatoin actually shakes the body/lens to compensate for the movement of your hands.

On a tripod--since it has no movement--will cause the image to become blurry.
 
Using AF was probably a poor choice. With the camera on the tripod you need to measure the distance to the focal plane/sensor it should be marked on the body or, read your manual to find out where it is. Then you focus your lens in manual of course. That the good old fashioned way. Were you using your 50mm for this? It should have the distance marks on it. Oh it maybe a green dot near the rear of your top LCD.
 
I know that if you have image stabilization built in to the camera and not the lens then when you have the camera still it can cause softness in the camera because of the shaking inside the camera...

~Nikki~
 
no i mean now when i take pics normally around thehouse (not long exposures) the pics look blurry. so is it possible i damaged the sensor with all my long exposure shenanagins last night?
 
Um, put your camera on auto and shoot and see what happen, I have a D40 and I've done some long exposure and I heard of something like this. I done quite a few long exposure with point and shoot camera too.
 
to get the sharpest pics with long exposures:

USE MIRROR LOCKUP!
USE TIMER OR WIRELESS REMOTE!
USE TRIPOD!
AF is FINE w/ tripod and long exposures.
If you have VR or IS, turn it OFF.
Use small aperture/more DOF (if needed)

^^the ones in CAPS are very important.

I take 30 or 50 sec. exposures all the time, and my pics come out tack sharp.
 
no i mean now when i take pics normally around thehouse (not long exposures) the pics look blurry. so is it possible i damaged the sensor with all my long exposure shenanagins last night?
OK! What ISOs are you using around the house? If you are using preset modes then stop. That is where you problems lie. If you are shooting at low ISO then any movement at all will blur the image. I low light is your AF assist light firing off? Also inside you will need flash as a general rule.
 
im shooting full manual, iso800, f/3.5, around 1/30 shutter speed. hmm would i use mirror lock to take pics?
 
1/30 is slow for indoors, unless you have really good lighting. For indoor try bumping up to 1600 or use flash. For the time exposure you need to set the distance by measuring or lighting the subject or area for the light painting. You can light the subject get the focus set then switch it to manual then shoot it. But measuring is easier to me in manual focus. Im an old timer.
 
i forgot to mention i have my sb600 set to 1/4 power right now. its weird because pictures that would once look crisp are sorta looking "meh" now
 
1/30, even with VR, if you are not well balanced and still, it will blur. Even the way you press the shutter button can give you a blurry shot. Take a daytime shot with something over 1/125 and ISO100. I doubt 30sec exposures have done anything to your sensor. Its a shake or focus issue. Maybe post a 100% crop of the images you had problems with.
 
This seems quite surprising. I've also got the same one but never found such kind of problem. I would suggest you to search about this one on internet. There is lots of information available on internet.

CSK
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