Sony Stupid mistake

My best effort was to leave the camera in self-timer mode one day, and then to convince myself the following day that it had locked up or suffered some serious malfunction, while taking several photos of my own legs and feet. This was during a once-in-a-lifetime trip, when I was supposed to be taking in the views and recording it all for posterity. Only took me about 20 minutes to figure it out.

-R
And once you figured it out, how'd you feel?

[That's kind of rhetorical as I've had similar experiences.]
 
Well I felt pretty stupid for having missed something so simple (although in my defence it was a busy outdoor area so I couldn't hear any timer bleeping or see any light winking) but relieved that I hadn't taken the camera into a photographic store, which was my next planned step.

I've done it again since then, incidentally, and I do wonder at the logic of making the self-timer a persistent setting, particularly after the camera has been switched off overnight. But these days I'm ready: no action after the shutter is pressed, followed by the camera apparently locked up, followed by a picture of my trouser leg equals ... have you left the self-timer on again?

-R
 
Believe it or not, that was/is one of the biggest fears I had when using my Grandmothers M3 after I inherited it. Having to leave the lens cap on to protect the shutter curtain from having holes burned in it really added to the 'stress' of using that camera.
Wow, I never knew about the lens cap having to stay on to stop the shutter curtain being burned.
 
Yup. My A7-IV has the option, I have it turned off. Not worth the little sensor protection it offers.
Not the same thing. We were talking about a rangefinder camera where there's no 'mirror' to protect the shutter curtain from sunlight being focused on it by the lens when the lens cap isn't on. It will burn holes in the shutter curtain very easily if not paid attention to.
 
Not the same thing. We were talking about a rangefinder camera where there's no 'mirror' to protect the shutter curtain from sunlight being focused on it by the lens when the lens cap isn't on. It will burn holes in the shutter curtain very easily if not paid attention to.
It is exactly the same thing. The A7-IV has a shutter close on power-down option to protect the sensor against dust. Sony specifically warns that when using this option handling the camera as you describe will have the same result, holes burned in the shutter. I keep the option turned off.

No mirror = no mirror.
 
OK, I learned something today. I've never worried about that with digital cameras. I just turned my A9 on without the lens on. When turning it off, the mechanical shutter came down, but then went back up into hiding. I haven't checked my A7iii or ii so don't know what they do, probably the same thing though would be my guess. Like I said, I've never worried much about where my cameras are pointed re: burning holes in shutters, cloth or otherwise.
 
OK, I learned something today. I've never worried about that with digital cameras. I just turned my A9 on without the lens on. When turning it off, the mechanical shutter came down, but then went back up into hiding. I haven't checked my A7iii or ii so don't know what they do, probably the same thing though would be my guess. Like I said, I've never worried much about where my cameras are pointed re: burning holes in shutters, cloth or otherwise.
It's a new option on the A7-IV. Maybe it was on the A1 and A9II as well, not sure.
 
I thought only cloth shutters were vulnerable to sunlight. What material is the Sony's shutter?! Some biodegradable stuff? :D
Looks to be cloth but I suppose it could be a very thin metal, not really sure. They tell you to not touch it when using that option, as it's very fragile. I activated the feature once, looked at the shutter, and decided the stinkin' sensor looked more robust than the shutter. You aren't even supposed to blow air on it from one of those jet blowers. I decided it'd be easier to keep the sensor clean than deal with that nonsense.

When you stop and think about it, dust that collects on the shutter while 'protecting' the sensor is just going to become dislodged when the shutter activates. Odds are it's going to end up on the sensor anyway. 🤷‍♂️
 
I'm pretty sure the shutter in mine is metallic in nature. Extremely thin is my best guess. If the lens happens to be adjusted just right it could be like a magnifying glass on the surface and reach very high temperatures. I'm pretty sure it would burn through. The sensor being glass isn't susceptible to that kind of damage.
I just tried to do the lens removal turn the camera on again so I could take a picture of the shutter, but it didn't come down again when I shut it off.:unsure:
Camera shy I guess.
 
When you pull up the list of things you can assign to the button, or any button, the very last option I have is "Not set". I have an A7R3 but would assume this is also true of the A74.
Thanks for this. After reviewing the options both cameras are now set to "Not Set" in my custom mode. I realized that in this venue I'll never need any of the possible settings, so best to have it a non-issue. Good advice.
 
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