I made a dumb mistake...

[Anonymous]

I own a rebel t6i.  I turned it on without flipping the screen or anything just to snap a quick picture I was then going to take a look at later for quality comparing reasons.  Being that I didn't bother flipping the screen I had forgotten all my settings were set the way they were a couple nights ago when I was doing astrophotography, so apertature at f3.5, 30 second exposure, ISO cranked way up.  I took the picture in my bedroom which was decently lit with some sunlight pouring through the window.  Once I realized what it was doing you would think I would cover up the lense or put the cap back on, but I was kinda dumb and just pointed it at my bed which was a little more dimly lit.  Needless to say the picture came out completely white.  I tend to be fanatical about not wanting any damage to my camera sensor, I don't want even unnoticable damage that would make the images super slightly less quality than they would be.  What is the risk of having damaged my sensor here?  Is there any way I can know if there was even slight damage to my sensor?

[RobertTheFat]

I wouldn't worry. Most sensor damage comes from overheating, and a 30-second exposure in a bedroom isn't going to heat it much. And remember that you can't trust your lyin' eyes where brightness is concerned; the dynamic range of the human eye/brain combination is far greater than that of any camera. In all likelihood the bedroom was much dimmer than you imagined.

The greatest risk of overheated sensors occurs during video shooting, for obvious reasons, And any camera capable of shooting video will shut it down if overheating is imminent. Run some tests, but I'd be amazed if you were to find anything abnormal. 

[ebiggs1]

"What is the risk of having damaged my sensor here?"

None!