Ok, this idea seems so obvious once you hear it.
Two hints:
- When the shutter speed is at 1/100s, the sensor's photoreceptors are only used 1% of the time.
- Sensors are functionally similar to solar panels.
So, when the electronic shutter is 'closed', capture the power and use it to run the camera.
A research team led by Shree K. Nayar, T.C. Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, has invented a prototype video camera that is the first to be fully self-powered—it can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene. They designed a pixel that can not only measure incident light but also convert the incident light into electric power.
Ok, 40p resolution is not going to cut it, but as the sensor gets bigger so does the power...
And low-light performance sucks.... But with a power store it might work.
And whether the sensor could self power a camera or not, it could certainly reduce its power draw. And thats a good thing, right?