LCD Burn-In?!?

G

groveChuck

U-matic Member
I started shooting in 1980 on tube cameras (Plumbicons and Saticons) and one of the hazards was avoiding the sun or stadium lights and burning the tubes.
I'll never forget a friend/co-worker on a football shoot where he'd left the camera powered up on its side with iris wide open, on a bench while he rested- pointing directly at stadium lights for probably 10 minutes, then turned the camera off (a death sentence), not knowing there were burns.
He later realized what happened and was projectile sweating as he set the camera up on a white card all night... and never got completely rid of the burns...

Fast forward (BIG fast forward, ha ha) to last night- I'm shooting downtown skyline timelapses, twilight into night.
The last TL is nearly dark (800 ISO, I believe) with bright lights on a hi-rise. I finish the TL, power the camera down, pop it off the tripod, put the lens cap on... and see little gray points of light in the dark LCD...

Oh, sh!t I think- Did I burn the sensor? Wha??? Is that possible with CMOS? Did I burn the LCD... WTF??? :huh:

I power the camera back up and the dots are still there. I drive home, set up the camera, a Flo, a white card and a monitor... and wait.
The dots are fainter but still on the LCD, but not on the monitor, so it's not the sensor.
Finally after about 20 minutes, when I close the iris, the LCD is all black and I let out a sigh of relief...
Perhaps the dots would've disappeared on their own, but I figured better safe than sorry, and that I would share the experience...

The whole time, I'm thinking of Mac and his EVF/Cineroid/Z-Finder misadventures, though mine turned out better.

I guess the lesson is be careful shooting bright lights, and let the LCD lose any image that might be burned in before you power down?
And I imagine if you left bars up a long time, they could burn in, too.
 
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I also remember the horrible days when you couldn't shoot a sunset with a video camera or you would trash your tubes. After 20 years of shooting film, the preciousness of those cameras was really devastating to people that own their camera and work out in the real world away from a studio environment... As you say, BIG fast forward and here we are throwing our bodies over our cameras again.. Is it just that people are noticing it out of paranoia, or have LCDs been this touchy since the DVX and no one has said anything?

In my case, I have never had an LCD issue before, and although I take good care of my equipment, I'm not the sort who naturally plugs every orifice when I step away from the camera. I am now though.. I have the 16x9 mask installed in my Z-Finder AND am trying to get used to sticking the bathtub stopper in the eyepiece... What a pain...
 
Hey Mac- I never noticed it with my DVX or HPX170, but maybe the circumstances were different?

I'm wondering if (in similar circumstances in the future) after I cap the lens, I should keep the LCD open, since if you close it, it turns off, and might retain a bright image?

Here's to plugging your orifices... :beer:
 
I've had a similar problem recently with my lcd. I left the camera fixed on the same shot for about twenty minutes and then when I moved the camera, I could see a thin white outline of what had been on the screen. I was understandably terrified!! thinking it was something burnt into the lens somehow, until I checked the evf and realised all was fine!

It didn't seem to be bright light related though. It was just an outline of what I had been focused on, that then then took about twenty minutes to disappear.

I was also at a high ISO setting, 1250 I think. I'm not sure if that could have any link.

Not really sure if this is something to be worried about or not?
 
Crafty- how strange that you weren't even on bright lights!

I was at ISO 640, but 1/24 shutter, and worried the slow shutter had let the lights burn into the LCD.

But yeah, do we need to worry about this or not- is it retaining the image for a while but not actually burning it in?

And how susceptible to burn ins are LCDs in general, and the ones on the AF100 specifically?

Wish we could get some info on this from the voices of authority, please- Barry? Jan?
 
No, no strong lights at all. I was filming graduations in a cathedral, using the available light, hence the fairly high ISO.

I was using the Lumix 14 - 140 at about 20mm, pointed at a white platform from up in a pulpit about 10 metres away.

The first time it happened I had evf detail on and I presumed it had been that, that had caused it. However it happened again later the same afternoon without detailing on.

Switching the camera off does not make it go away, however it seems to go within 15 - 20 minutes.

The lines I had were a perfect sharp outline of the edges of the platform I had been focused on.

I'm quite concerned about the thought of getting permanent lcd burn in.

Has anyone else experienced this?
 
I just want to reiterate that the damage to the screen and bezel on the Cineroid and the bezel on the Z-Finder most probably HAPPENED WHEN THE CAMERA AND EVFs WERE OFF! While it is certainly possible that the burn in from pointing the camera at a bright object, or pausing too long on an image may do temporary damage to the built-in LCD, the damage done by light focusing through the eyepiece magnifier, whether the camera is on or not, will do permanent and irreparable damage.
 
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