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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Sensor-Shifted IS Heats Up the Sensor Much More Than the Video Mode Itself! :-o

First, read this advisory note from Sony (reported via here first, here and here subsequently):-

http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/dslr/information/news/top_slt-a55a33.html
(in Japanese)

So, we have these information, officially:-


(Source: Sony Japan HQs; Table English via Engadget)

The in-body "Image Stabilization" (aka Shake Reduction or SR in Pentax' term) does actually heat up the sensor seriously, which is far more than the sensor heats up itself during its video recording mode! Whilst this is just a big surprise for this previously unknown technical issue, I have to say it is just a big issue, IMHO!

At 20 Deg. C. room temperature, the video recording time of the A55 is decreased from an original 29 minutes dramatically and drastically down to 9 minutes once the in-body IS is turned on! So, this body IS/SR must be generating much heat and actually such in-body IS/SR system is just so HOOOT!!

This case just let me think again about the usefulness Vs all the shortcomings of all those in-body image stabilisation systems. In fact, it does NOT work well with the video mode, which is now the trend for including this as a *standard* feature in DSLRs or just ILDCs/EVILs. We should note that Sony has not published any advisory note on the high-temperature cut for their NEX cameras. The NEX cameras has IS in-lens anyway and so does Samsung has chosen and opted for the NX line and system to use in-lens IS.

Last but not least, we all know that Pentax does not have any in-lens IS in their system unless the user has to buy a Sigma (OS, which is an in-lens IS system). I don't think Pentax could do the miracle and the Pentax DSLRs do not suffer from the same problem, could they?