Pointing camera to the sun

K

kreepymoon

New member
Hi all,

I am a new HVX user and have been reading this forum for a long time before i decided to purchase the HVX. It is a great camera which is very versatile and produces great images for its price. I have no regrets for my choice.

It is also through this forum that i get valuable information about fully utilising the strengths of the HVX. Thank you guys for sharing generously!

Now to my question, I've heard someone said that the CCDs of a camcorder will be damaged when pointing it directly to the sun.

Can someone with good technical knowledge share with me whether this is true with the HVX? If so, why?

Thanks in advance.
 
It's true for almost anything optical. If something is too bright to look at with the naked eye, you also don't want to be pointing a camera at it for more than a brief moment, regardless of whether the camera is recording or not.
 
I just finished a video w/ my DVX100b & I have some direct sun shots in it.

I thought pointing the camera @ the sun was a no-no in the early days of CCD video cameras, could I have done some damage to my camera? If so what could be a bi-product be of me doing this? Would I notice anything extreme, or would it be more subtle?

Here's a screen grab from the shot:
1177871559.jpg


I was zoomed in on it for 2 sec, then zoomed out & panned away for another second.
 
Last edited:
Hi guys,

Thanks for the quick response. :)

I do agree with THoff that what's too bright to be bad for the eye might be equally bad for the camera's CCDs. But bustak's experiment might possibly show that the above theory is history due to the advancement of CCD technology.

I really hope the cameras we're using will be strong enough to be undamaged by the sun's rays.

Bustak, after you did the experiment did you notice any "burn" marks for footages you've shot after that?

Thanks in advance!
 
no, there seems to be no damage, so hopefully that is something form the past that has been fixed. I did the sun shot VERY early in the production, & everything else went/looks smooth.

Here's the actual video (with the sun shot @ the beg & end):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WCi3T6Q61Q4

If anyone has any info on the sun & modern CCD cameras, I would like to hear about it too! I like shooting the sun all of the time.

Good luck km!
 
Last edited:
bustak said:
no, there seems to be no damage, so hopefully that is something form the past that has been fixed. I did the sun shot VERY early in the production, & everything else went/looks smooth.

Here's the actual video (with the sun shot @ the beg & end):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WCi3T6Q61Q4

If anyone has any info on the sun & modern CCD cameras, I would like to hear about it too! I like shooting the sun all of the time.

Good luck km!
Click to expand...
Hi All

I have been shooting on a pair of Sony DXC D30's for 6 years. I am just unloading my last one on a swap out for a second HVX. (I did the same with my other when the HVX first came out, no regrets, the HVX rocks!)

Anyway, This may be the idiot response to the questions. But at the risk of sounding like an idiot, here is some feedback for those who wish to pick it apart. I have been shooting into the sun with my D30's for years with no visual effects of damage. I have probably done this over 50 times between the pair of them. Just doing quickie 2 or 4 second sunshots to get lens flares ETC. I have occasionally done longer shots, even taking the time to adjust my IRIS for what it is worth here. Now, Im NOT suggesting anyone do this, nor would I condone someone doing so. They were my cameras and it is me that would pay the price if I had toasted the CCD's into blindness. I just thought I would offer my luck/stupidity up for conversation. I have done this several times with my HVX over the past year for what is it sorth here. No problems to date.

I should also note, I have gotten pixel loss in both of my D30's. HOwever, im not confident there is a connection. The D30's are notorious for pixel loss as they get into their golden years. Sometimes black balancing does the trick, sometimes it does not. They are also about the only Sony that you can have the bad pixels fixed by having them re-mapped. (Luckes camera service is the only guy in the states I know that does this)

David (MagiCat)
 
^ mc, that doesn't sound idiotic @ all, you sound like you know your sh*t! :)

thanx for the insight!
 
bustak said:
^ mc, that doesn't sound idiotic @ all, you sound like you know your sh*t! :)

thanx for the insight!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words. I wrote that flinching at every typed key. :-)

I have also taped welders in the past. A friend told me to use the lens the welder uses across my glass. I didnt, but doing that makes me really nervous.

I am curious if there are any camera techs out there that can give an official answer to this.

I still have an old, bright Red 3 tube panasonic V3. Now thats a different story, you cant even point those at a chrome bumper on a sunny day without inducing issues. (I get some really cool filmic looking stuff off that camera. It also came in handy doing a retro 60's type commercial once.)

MagicCat


"Some flashy equipment might get you the gig, but its what you can do with what you got, that always produces the paycheck."
 
modern sensor or not, it'll burn eventually.

Think what happens when you pull a magnifing glass into tight focus and you can burn ants with it. Same things isn't it?

I'd go by the brighness/intensty of the sun at the time and consider the magnifing glass thing. In a bright midday sun if it would burn an ant then don't do it. If it were a hazy low sunset, then maybe...

Also as David is pointing out I think length of exposure is a key issue.
 
Years ago as an experimental filmaker I got interested in shooting the sun for extended periods in super - 8. I did burn the film as in the magnifying glass analogy. Sad to admit I used to burn ants as a kid as well - maybe I'm a closet pyro.

Never had a problem with a chip video camera and I've certainly shot the sun many times. Never just left it on there for a very long time though. Maybe it depends on the magnification - i.e don't leave it zoomed in for a long time. People shoot time lapse of the scenes with the sun. never heard of a problem.

I have been warned alot though to be careful not to leave your viewfinder pointed up at the sun for a long time as this can burn something in there - I guess it would be the viewing screen.

- Lenny Levy
 
faustfire said:
Ive shot timelapses of the sun with multiple camera models, including the hvx and have had no problems at all.
Click to expand...


hello, i'd like to get an actual hvx shot where you can see the sun (not a quick glare or an overblown white blob). any idea what ND would that take? thank you

vw
 
One time I shot into the sun and it left a burn mark of the Virgin Mary.
 
I did some 2fps timelapse last week at sunset, leaving the camera pointed towards the sun for about 10 minutes or so. I was shooting as wide as possible though. Before the sun set to complete my shot, I thought about damage to the sensors, so I chickened out and bailed.

No visible damage though.
 
I've shot probably 15 time lapse sunsets over the past few weeks. I always
stop down, use ND filters and have a polarizing filter on. No problems so far.
With a bare wide open lens might be a different story. When I started shooting with tube cameras in the 70's it was a huge no no - instant tube damage. But so far, no one here seems to have confirmed damage from the sun.
 
working as a dive resort videographer for 4 years the most popular shot for 90% of dive vieographers is to surface the water pointing the cam into the sun,
dont know abouth the rest of them but i'd then do a still fade from there into the sun from aboard the boat panning slowly down,
thats was using a sonytrv 950 inside an amphico housing with a thick wide angle lens,
never had a problem and i musta done that same shot 7 months a year,
never saw any visible damage to the lens,
 
i had a seven year old sony handicam with 1 ccd. Zoomed it on the sun repeatedly for this one shot when I didn't know better. Bare lens, full zoom.

Used it for 5 more years. Never saw an effect from that. I think I pointed it to the sun a handful more times, too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top