Lenses and sunlight...

...are they friends or enemies?

I had my tripod set up, with wimberley sidekick and 300mm 2.8L glass, composed waiting for a robin to arrive on top of the metal part of my bird feeder.

Anyway, I kept it there on and off for about an hour, while I sat down barely moving..

The sun was shining towards the lens, but the large lens hood was in place, plus the PVC part of the double glazed windows was obstructing about half of any possible light. The sun was beaming down and the tripod was adjusted so that the lens was absolutely lovel and parallel to the relevant part of the feeder..

Question is..will any damage have been done to the optics?

It's because of something I read the other day and of course the 300mm f2.8 L IS is an expensive piece of glass..

Thanks in advance to knowledgeable peeps

markta said:

Question is..will any damage have been done to the optics?

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No.

I dread to think what it was you read the otrher day though....

StewartR said:

No.

I dread to think what it was you read the otrher day though....

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Thanks Stewart

To be honest, I always thought the answer was no till I read that article and I guess it sewed some seeds of doubt in my mind..

If I locate it, I'll post a linky on here, but at the moment, can't remember the source, except it worried me a little today.

Cheers

Wouldn't have thought there would be any issues, however larger canon L lenses aren't white for nothing! Lens elements are sensitive to heat and it is possible that they will expand and contract, which would theoretically alter their optical properties. Doubtful that any "heat" we see here in the UK would do any damage though!

I think the only time you would have any damage from sun is if you left the lens pointing directly at it - but you would damage the sensor not the lens.

AndyB said:

I think the only time you would have any damage from sun is if you left the lens pointing directly at it - but you would damage the sensor not the lens.

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The mirror covers the sensor. So unless you were taking a bulb exposure of the sun, you'd be ok!