Wide-angle lenses, the sun, and camera damage

[John Chardine]

I have been using an extreme wide-angle lens lately (14-24mm on a FF body) and the sun can often be in the image. With a wide-angle lens such as this, is there any risk of damaging the the camera by composing (mirror down) with the sun in the viewfinder or exposing the sensor to a scene like this?

[Don Lacy]

If there was there would be thousands of damaged cameras since the sun is often included in landscape photography not to mention the all the images of animal and bird silhouettes where the sun is the background. The real danger is to your eyes if you are looking through the viewfinder with a telephoto lens.

[Chris Korman]

From the Nikon D700 manual:



That said, look at all the people enjoying shooting the sun w. their D700...

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=sun&cm=nikon%2Fd700

[Don Lacy]

From the Nikon D700 manual:



That said, look at all the people enjoying shooting the sun w. their D700...

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=sun&cm=nikon%2Fd700

It does say for an extended time and since they do not state what amounts to an extended amount of time and considering the probably millions of images taken with the sun in the frame I would think that common sense would dictate that for most photographic uses it will cause no harm especially with a wide angle lens.

[Alan Lillich]

The 7D manual has a vague statement in the Live View section (page 132), "During Live View shooting do not point the lens toward the sun. The sun's heat can damage the camera's internal components." It says almost the same thing about movie shooting on page 150. And a more specific one in the Mirror Up section (page 109), "Do not point the camera toward the sun. The sun's heat can scorch and damage the shutter curtains."

Either way, I worry more about my eyes.

[Roger Clark]

Hi John,

First, remember the sensor is behind a shutter, and with the mirror down, that diverts more light and heat away from the sensor. Exposure times are generally too short to damage the sensor.

The light reflected by the mirror (and some transmitted to the AF sensors) could, in theory, damage other components (AF sensors, metering sensors. The main problem would be head buildup. A wide angle lens generally has a small aperture, so chance of damage is low unless the camera is on a tripod and the sun is shining in a long time.

One way to test for impact is to take the lens off the camera and focus the sun on your hand. If you can feel heat, there is danger of damaging components, INCLUDING your eye when looking through the viewfinder.

Probably the most important thing is to protect your eyes. Be very careful if the sun is in the field. For example, hold down the preview button to a small aperture, like f/16 to f/32 and wear sunglasses. And even then limit exposure to your eyes.

There is possible damage to the sensor if you operate live view with the sun in the frame.

Roger