Neurodancer
Well-known member
I need to shoot welding (at least several minutes of it) I do not want to shoot through a welding lens. I do not mind it blowing out. My question is will it damage the ccd chip on the hvx?
Thanks
Thanks
shooting welding, will it hurt ccd chip?
- Thread starter Neurodancer
- Start date
TwistedLincoln
Veteran
I'd be more concerned with the sparks -- a stray spark hits your lens, and you'd seriously regret it...
I'd shoot behind a piece of glass. Or attach two UV filters, just to be safe.
I'd shoot behind a piece of glass. Or attach two UV filters, just to be safe.
Anything that is bad for the naked eye is bad for the CCD. Welding puts out a huge amount of energy in the form of IR and UV radiation and can easily cause both eye damage and skin burns. At the very least, put a good UV filter on the lens if you haven't done so already, and keep the shooting to a minimum.
I can tell you that when sparks hit glass they melt the glass and stick. So, any UV filter you put in front of your lens which gets hit by a spark will be ruined. So, use a cheap one. Sparks will damage everything else too. plastic, paint, etc.
Plastic will however repel hot sparks. If I were shooting welding closeup, I'd shoot behind a large plate of plexiglass.
Some welding processes don't produce sparks.
I don't know whether the intense brightness will damage the chip or not.
The other thing to consider is that glancing at welding will hurt your eyes, even reflected welding light: later at night your eyes will feel like someone poured sand in them. So, if you are shooting welding for more than a few seconds be careful. Wear some good UV sunglasses.
Plastic will however repel hot sparks. If I were shooting welding closeup, I'd shoot behind a large plate of plexiglass.
Some welding processes don't produce sparks.
I don't know whether the intense brightness will damage the chip or not.
The other thing to consider is that glancing at welding will hurt your eyes, even reflected welding light: later at night your eyes will feel like someone poured sand in them. So, if you are shooting welding for more than a few seconds be careful. Wear some good UV sunglasses.
Neurodancer
Well-known member
Thanks,
I am aware of eye damage and I don't look at the pretty blue light. I am also aware of damage to lens from molten steel. I have a filter and I stay back far enough so no sparks get anywhere near the equipment.
I guess I have not heard a definitive answer regarding ccd chip damage
I am aware of eye damage and I don't look at the pretty blue light. I am also aware of damage to lens from molten steel. I have a filter and I stay back far enough so no sparks get anywhere near the equipment.
I guess I have not heard a definitive answer regarding ccd chip damage
bmw1602
Member
I'm a avid welder and will probably be doing a few welding shots soon.
For reference for those that might come across this post like I did in a search; FYI....
Gas welding - or aka- oxy/fuel or torch welding produces little to no sparks at all. It does radiate alot of heat due to the open flame on the torch. This also produces a lot less light and the welder requires use of "#5" shade goggles.
MIG welding - (easiest and most popular form of welding) is recognized by a "gun" that feeds wire from a spool. Can even be operated one handed. Since this is the easiest method it's also the most popular and most likely you will run into. The important thing to know….it produces a LOT of spatter or "sparks". So when this is the case make sure to keep your distance. Be careful as these sparks sometimes have some mass to them and will fall into your open shirt pockets, pant cuff and burn a small hole into them. If one of these sparks lands on you HVX it will leave a small melted crater. My plastic welding helmet is full of pits from this. Mig welding up to 30amps requires a #7 shade, 30-70 amps a #9-#10 and 200-400 amps #12 and higer shade is required up to a #15.
SMAW or Stick welding- (usually found in heavy construction sites, underwater welding and farm equipment field work) This method is used in typically outdoor situations and in heavy applications such as structural steel welding done in high rise construction and what not. It is extremely "sparky" and sparks will fly greater distances than with the mig so keep your distance!! Also it is very "dirty" and lots of noxious fumes are release during the welding so you wouldn't want to be to close anyway! Shade requirement are the same as mig.
Lastly we have "Tig"
This is the kind of welding that takes the most skill, it requires both hands and 1 foot to coordinate operation. It is also the cleanest of all methods also the most precise. It is used to weld high end metals such as Titanium, aluminum, stainless steel etc...It is very slow process almost like sewing. It can be very pretty to watch and film I imagine. Shade requirement are the same as mig.
It produces no sparks at all and the least amount of radiant heat. So much that you can weld is shorts and a t-shirt but still not recommended. So it is the safest to shoot and probably the most visually appealing in some regards.
Unless you want a slow shutter "spark shower visual" mig is probably best for that.
One important note about TIG. Many tig welders have a mode of operation that uses a high frequency signal wave for the arc. This is usually used for welding aluminum. This HF setting creates A LOT of electrical interference issues, lights will flicker, my radio freaks out etc….I would suggest using HVX on battery and never plug the camera in the same area as the welder. It might even mess with the camera when your not plugged in but shooting close to the machine? I'm not sure, so maybe this is a reason to keep your distance the welder is tig'n alum.
I'm sure I will find out soon when I shoot some scenes of me welding…..
Anyways, hope this helps someone……
For reference for those that might come across this post like I did in a search; FYI....
Gas welding - or aka- oxy/fuel or torch welding produces little to no sparks at all. It does radiate alot of heat due to the open flame on the torch. This also produces a lot less light and the welder requires use of "#5" shade goggles.
MIG welding - (easiest and most popular form of welding) is recognized by a "gun" that feeds wire from a spool. Can even be operated one handed. Since this is the easiest method it's also the most popular and most likely you will run into. The important thing to know….it produces a LOT of spatter or "sparks". So when this is the case make sure to keep your distance. Be careful as these sparks sometimes have some mass to them and will fall into your open shirt pockets, pant cuff and burn a small hole into them. If one of these sparks lands on you HVX it will leave a small melted crater. My plastic welding helmet is full of pits from this. Mig welding up to 30amps requires a #7 shade, 30-70 amps a #9-#10 and 200-400 amps #12 and higer shade is required up to a #15.
SMAW or Stick welding- (usually found in heavy construction sites, underwater welding and farm equipment field work) This method is used in typically outdoor situations and in heavy applications such as structural steel welding done in high rise construction and what not. It is extremely "sparky" and sparks will fly greater distances than with the mig so keep your distance!! Also it is very "dirty" and lots of noxious fumes are release during the welding so you wouldn't want to be to close anyway! Shade requirement are the same as mig.
Lastly we have "Tig"
This is the kind of welding that takes the most skill, it requires both hands and 1 foot to coordinate operation. It is also the cleanest of all methods also the most precise. It is used to weld high end metals such as Titanium, aluminum, stainless steel etc...It is very slow process almost like sewing. It can be very pretty to watch and film I imagine. Shade requirement are the same as mig.
It produces no sparks at all and the least amount of radiant heat. So much that you can weld is shorts and a t-shirt but still not recommended. So it is the safest to shoot and probably the most visually appealing in some regards.
Unless you want a slow shutter "spark shower visual" mig is probably best for that.
One important note about TIG. Many tig welders have a mode of operation that uses a high frequency signal wave for the arc. This is usually used for welding aluminum. This HF setting creates A LOT of electrical interference issues, lights will flicker, my radio freaks out etc….I would suggest using HVX on battery and never plug the camera in the same area as the welder. It might even mess with the camera when your not plugged in but shooting close to the machine? I'm not sure, so maybe this is a reason to keep your distance the welder is tig'n alum.
I'm sure I will find out soon when I shoot some scenes of me welding…..
Anyways, hope this helps someone……
Al MacLeod
Well-known member
One thing to remember about what you see on American chopper or any other show showing shots that may be harmful to gear......they treat cameras as disposable items.
It's like your mother telling you if your friends jumped of a cliff does that make it alright for you too?
It's like your mother telling you if your friends jumped of a cliff does that make it alright for you too?
I've had some pretty bad forearm burns to argue that point.
Neurodancer, what type of welding will you be shooting? As bmw1602 pointed out, different types of welding present different hazzards and different levels of UV and IR radiation, which may affect the CCD chips. Oxy acetylene (Oxy fuel or torch) welding gives off little more light and heat than a very intense fire (which I hope to be shooting tomorrow) and other types would be worse. It sounds like you'll be a good distance away, and I am fairly certain that the camera would be fine.
TedRR
Well-known member
So in reply to your question...
We've done a few minutes of welding, (heavy sparks type) with our HVX and never had problems. Beautiful footage though.
I would say as a precaution I would not let the brightest point sit on the same pixels for minutes on end. But that isn't likely with any welding we've shot any way. And that's just a precaution and not a factual warning.
We've done a few minutes of welding, (heavy sparks type) with our HVX and never had problems. Beautiful footage though.
I would say as a precaution I would not let the brightest point sit on the same pixels for minutes on end. But that isn't likely with any welding we've shot any way. And that's just a precaution and not a factual warning.