Can running pixel mapping frequently harm a CMOS sensor?
Asked 3/11/2011
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I’ve seen recommendations to run pixel mapping only once or twice a year, but I sometimes do it about once a month. Can frequent pixel mapping have any adverse effect on the camera’s CMOS sensor or the camera itself?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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I can't imagine why. The actual operation is non-destructive — it just reads from the sensor when it should be dark (possibly multiple times), and records what is stuck on. Then that's put in a table — a map — which is used to mask out those pixels later.
Updating that map can't really be destructive either. I mean, it's probably stored on flash which can only have 100,000 writes or so, but that'd only be a problem if you were doing it every second, not every month.
I think the advice for once or twice a year is because new defective pixels can crop up, but it's unusual, and shouldn't happen frequently. Running yearly or half-yearly should catch them on average. Of course, if you notice one before then, running the mapping right away is clearly the thing to do.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
15y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
No—pixel mapping itself is generally non-destructive and should not harm the CMOS sensor. The process typically has the camera read the sensor in darkness, identify stuck or defective pixels, and store that information in a map so those pixels can be masked out later.
The sensor isn’t being physically altered by this process. At most, the camera updates stored mapping data in memory. While flash memory has a finite write life, doing pixel mapping once a month is far below the kind of frequency that would normally be a concern.
The reason you often see advice like “once or twice a year” is not because more frequent use is dangerous, but because new bad pixels usually appear only occasionally. For most users, occasional remapping is enough. If you notice a stuck or hot pixel sooner, running pixel mapping at that time is reasonable.
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