Does opening the menu in live view or movie mode stop the sensor and reduce heat?
Asked 5/20/2011
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When a camera is in live view or movie mode, the sensor is active continuously and can warm up over time, which may increase noise or trigger thermal shutdown on some models. I’ve heard that opening the camera menu might deactivate the sensor and help it cool down without leaving live view. Is that actually true? More generally, is there any way to reduce sensor heat without exiting live view/movie mode?
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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As far as going into a menu whilst recording, I can tell you that my Canon T1i does not permit the action. That is, pressing the MENU button results in no action, and recording continues.
Going into MENU is only supported in LIVE VIEW while not recording. Here you may see some heat savings as the return back to to LIVE VIEW takes around a half-second to accomplish, so I expect there is some initialization of the sensor going on. That said, the mirror remains up, and the sensor remains exposed during this time. I can't, however, see any reason to be reading the data out while in a menu.
Perhaps your camera supports going into a menu while recording, but I'm thinking that Canon dSLRs, anyway, are out of the equation on that one.
Originally by user5067. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user5067
15y ago
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Usually, no. In movie recording, many cameras won’t even let you open the main menu, and if they do, there’s no general reason to assume the sensor is fully shut down. In live view while not recording, opening the menu may reduce some processing or sensor readout, but the sensor is typically still exposed and the camera remains in a live-view state rather than truly powering the sensor off.
So the rumor is not something you should rely on as a heat-management method. If a camera leaves live view and then takes a moment to return, that suggests some reinitialization happens when live view is actually exited, not merely when a menu is displayed.
If heat is a concern, the safest practical way to reduce it is to stop recording/live view and let the camera rest. Simply entering the menu is unlikely to provide the same cooling effect.
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