ALL: Setting your cam against the sunlight in VFR or time lapse

cherchieh

cherchieh

Member
OK, this may sound stupid, but it somehow bugs my mind sometimes when I'm shooting. Some would tell me to NOT shoot against the sun, and some says it's OK. The AC160 gave me something else to play with...the time lapse function and the VFR. I wanted to set the cam to shoot for a sunrise scene, or something like clouds moving over the sun. But is it OK to do so? I wouldn't hesitate to shoot the sun if it's for a few seconds...but pointing it to the sun for minutes, or even hour...is that OK? Will it cause damage to the sensor or any part of the camera? Thanks in advance. :)
 
cherchieh said:
OK, this may sound stupid, but it somehow bugs my mind sometimes when I'm shooting. Some would tell me to NOT shoot against the sun, and some says it's OK. The AC160 gave me something else to play with...the time lapse function and the VFR. I wanted to set the cam to shoot for a sunrise scene, or something like clouds moving over the sun. But is it OK to do so? I wouldn't hesitate to shoot the sun if it's for a few seconds...but pointing it to the sun for minutes, or even hour...is that OK? Will it cause damage to the sensor or any part of the camera? Thanks in advance. :)
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no opinion on this?
 
no damage to chips i done many time laspe with diferent cameras
the old tube camera would have been damage from the sun
 
thanks. A lot of people are telling me it's ok to do so, and so I did. Until I read it in the manual book to specifically mentioned not to point the camera directly to the sun for long time.

and my old LX3 appears to have a spot that looks overexposed constantly after I had a session of shooting the sun...maybe it's my eyes. :D

but since you guys think it's ok, i'll have no worries on doing it as well...thanks
 
I wouldn't do anything the user manual says not to do, especially something specific like "don't point it at the sun."

You should consider purchasing a separate set of ND filters so that the potential damage to your integrated lens (and the sensors) is minimized.
 
Ok try this take a magnifying glass out into the sun and focus it on a dry leaf or pice of paper and what happens a burned hole. So what do you think will happen to the chip behind a lens on a digital video camera. I had this happen to a sony PD 150 that I lent out where the camera man thought (or should I say Did not think) it would look cool to get a shot of the sun at mid day and the result nice dead pixel.
 
haha, never thought of shooting the sun in the middle of the day, no...as i don't think it will look good as well. BUT, was tempted to shoot it the other day when some cloud were floating over it...and it looked great as the sun shines through the clouds little by little...tempted to shoot, but resisted it when I suddenly remember the magnifying glass "game" we played during younger days.

hmm...guess i should not take the chance then. Just wait for better sunrise or sunset...haha. Thanks guys!
 
Like I said, if you're using a separate ND filter, and it's strong enough, you should have no concerns. The worst that would happen is your ND filter wears out, but certainly not your lens or your sensor.
 
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