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wouldnt shutter control give the possibility of the image sensor overheating from extended exposures? I could absolutely be talking out of my ass but I thought I remembered that being a risk when I flashed ML to my Canon for star photos.

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The worst I can thing of is extra noise from the heat build up from the sensor being energized for extended period. This is one of the many reasons that image stacking is so advantageous. Cold winter nights imaging Orion is probably not going to notice it nearly as much as those hot summer nights trying to image Milky Way. (I'm hoping to take my camera cooler out for a spin this summer. Just a modified pelican case with insulation and ice chest freezer packs. lo-tech)

Basically every camera I have had has a "bulb", which is pretty much as-long-as-you-want exposure. Never heard of sensor overheating even after hours of exposure.

Overheating is more of an issue for the image processor, at high frame rates. During bulb mode, the sensor is on for a long time but it's only one frame being handled by the image processor.

Any CCD based camera will certainly heat up a lot, and cmos as well to a lesser degree without good/active cooling.

Most cameras time out at about an hour maximum unless they are special purpose astro cameras.

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