Shooting directly into the sun can damage sensor?

Hi guys.

If I point my camera directly into the sun and take a picture, does that damage my sensor? I am asking just because I just saw a clip on youtube saying we should never do so.

Any idea?

I don't know the answer, but personally I would not take the risk.

The sensor is only exposed to the sun's image for the time of the exposure, and assuming the metering works that's likely to be a very short time indeed.

There are millions of wide-angle shots with the sun in them, but I've never heard of sensor damage caused by that.

I'm sure that looking at the sun through a camera isn't good for human eyes either. Focusing the sun's rays onto a sensor will be like using a magnifying glass to set a piece of paper alight. Not good for anything but the briefest of exposures.

Contre jour, the french for, "against the light" is a very popular genre in photography. I would suggest searching on "Google" for specialist forums on the subject.

Here is my atempt at "contre jour".





A walk in the mist. by SFB579, on Flickr

I wouldnt want to take the risk.



P.S. thats a cracking shot snappy.

Shooting against the light is one thing, but I would strongly advise always keeping the sun itself out of the frame (either with a bit of tree as seen above or just by aiming the camera differently). It definitely isn't good for your eyes and it won't do the sensor any favours either!

I wouldn't think shooting into the sun would harm your sensor, looking at the sun, nevermind through a camera is definitely not a good idea

Thank's paul. I think most shot's into the sun are taken at sunset or sunrise, thereby reducing any risk of damage to kit greatly. Common sense should tell most of us never to point, or even look at a bright mid-day sun.

In snappychappy's rather effective shot above there is some of the Sun showing through the branches. For the small area of the sensor that is falling on it is exactly as bright as the rest of the Sun, so it doesn't matter if it is the whole Sun or just a part - if it was going to damage the sensor it would do so.

Anyone with a wide-angle, especially something like the Pentax 15mm, is likely to take many shots with the Sun clearly in the picture to get the 'starburst' effect. I still haven't heard of any reported damage.

Point'n'shoot compacts with live view viewfinders must have the Sun in the picture in billions of shots, and with those the sensor is exposed to it for seconds or minutes rather than the 1/4000th or so that is likely on a DSLR.

I can vouch for this - tracking a Red Arrow at an airshow last year at 500mm, he flew past the sun and I got a magnified eye-full. I was quite dazzled for a while but there was no permanent damage.

Sod the sensor, think about your eyes, they are irreplaceable.

Sensors are ten a penny in comparison.

Take care.

I would say that 50 percent of my shots outdoors are into the sun. No problems yet.