Does shooting live view at sunset ruin the sensor?

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Michael D Beckwith

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Probably an old question. I was wondering if shooting in live view with the sensor constantly exposed to the sun when doing sunsets, can it damage the sensor?

I used to compose optically using the pentaprism but have found live view such a much better choice but am cautious about using it doing sunsets. As for the time exposed to the actual sun, I am talking about just for composition purposes and NOT for very long exposures.
 
I wouldn't worry - there are far more exciting ways to go blind.
 
Not had any problems with any of my cameras, whether they're in live view or always on compacts. BUT, there's a thread somewhere that shows damage caused to rented kit during the recent eclipse.
 
I think this is the article @Nod is referring to.

https://petapixel.com/2017/08/19/shooting-sun-without-filter-can-melt-dslr/

Shooting the midday Sun with a 400mm lens focussed on the big yellow dot is in no way similar to shooting sunsets.

For starters are you pointing a 400mm lens at the sun for your sunset shots.
Most likely you are using a wide angle lens where the sun only covers a very small portion of the sensor.
At sunset the light is not as intense as at day midday.

I think you have little to worry about really.
 
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I think the article was from lensrentals in the USA but almost certainly shows similar damage to Stuart's link.
 
stupar said:
I think this is the article @Nod is referring to.

https://petapixel.com/2017/08/19/shooting-sun-without-filter-can-melt-dslr/

Shooting the midday Sun with a 400mm lens focussed on the big yellow dot is in no way similar to shooting sunsets.

For starters are you pointing a 400mm lens at the sun for your sunset shots.
Most likely you are using a wide angle lens where the sun only covers a very small portion of the sensor.
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sirch said:
Isn't that worse than having all that energy spread over a larger area of the sensor?
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I suspect it might be. When using magnifying glasses to start fires as a small boy I quickly discovered that the biggest lenses were often not as good as the smaller ones -- the best ones were the short focal length ones which created a tinier focused image of the sun, the smaller the better. All the sun's heat concentrated onto a smaller area would smoulder and burst into a flame much more quickly. All the heat that is captured by the size of lens of course. In fact what we should be interested in is the amount of light per unit area produced by the lens. That will (approximately) correspond to heating power per unit area, the temperature raising potential. That in fact is what the f/stop (aperture) of the lens gives us. So my f1.4 50mm lens focused on the sun would be more dangerous than my 500mm f8 lens, 4 stops or 16 times worse in fact.
 
At sunset though the intensity of the light is nowhere near the same as at midday.

Having done copious sunsets using live view in my days of shooting with a Canon 5D2 both long and short exposures as well as shot composing i never did any damage to the sensor (that i am aware of)
 
If it is dangerous and causes damage people are keeping very quiet about it.

Mostly when we take sunsets and the like. the exposure is relatively short and the sun weak.
it would be rare to take a long exposure in full sun. unless one had a very deep block filter on. like a ten stopper.

just about all of us have taken shots into the light and included the sun, using fast shutter speeds, without any damage at all.

Of course using you lens as the equivalent of a burning glass, will burn and distort anything in its path, including shutters and sensors.

One of the more dangerous things is to leave your camera on its back in full and high sun.
In the old days this ruined many Leica cloth shutters. (and still does)
 
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They are probably fairly immune from damage, being of robust material. However, Leica cloth shutter curtains have been damaged with burn holes when pointed directly at a bright sun. In my opinion, more likely with a more powerful lens such as a wide angle as often used on a Leica as it concentrates the sun into a smaller dot. Others disagree with me though!


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
They are probably fairly immune from damage, being of robust material. However, Leica cloth shutter curtains have been damaged with burn holes when pointed directly at a bright sun. In my opinion, more likely with a more powerful lens such as a wide angle as often used on a Leica as it concentrates the sun into a smaller dot. Others disagree with me though!


Steve.
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It is not so much the focal length, as the F stop. a large stop gathers more light (and Heat)

laying a DSLR camera in the sun. is less dangerous as the rays are reflected from the mirror through the viewfinder.. however the light is focussed on the focus screem and it will get very hot and even melt if plastic.

Mirrorless cameras are focussed directly on the shutter which can distort if metal, or melt if plastic.
 
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I hope this is no real concern as my camera does not have a stupid flappy mirror to cover the sensor it is always in live view.

I take a lot of sunset too.:runaway:


Oh wait I am not at all concerned :olympus:
 
Steve Smith said:
They are probably fairly immune from damage, being of robust material. However, Leica cloth shutter curtains have been damaged with burn holes when pointed directly at a bright sun. In my opinion, more likely with a more powerful lens such as a wide angle as often used on a Leica as it concentrates the sun into a smaller dot. Others disagree with me though!
Click to expand...

Whatever you opinion of anything, modern communications technology can put you in touch with plenty of people who will disagree with you. Weighing the number of people who vote for something against those who vote against is how we elect our politicians, and look where that has got us! Much better than worrying about people who have an opinion on a certain topic is to look for relevant facts. If when you are interested in a certain topic you junk the opinions of those who offer no references pointing in the direction of checkable facts it's amazing how few you get left with! :)
 
My thinking is that when you use a magnifying glass to burn a bit of wood or start a fire, you use a fairly high powered lens with a focal length of about 50mm to 100mm (10 to 20 Dioptres) to concentrate the light into a very small dot.

If you use a weaker lens of about 500mm focal length (2 Dioptres) it will project a larger image of the sun with much less light per square millimetre and will not be concentrated enough to heat to such an extent.

Steve.
 
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If it was damaging to sensors I'm sure the DSLR manufacturers would put a disclaimer in their warranties to avoid costly claims.

That should tell you the answer really.
 
Steve Smith said:
If you use a weaker lens of about 500mm focal length (2 Dioptres) it will project a larger image of the sun with much less light per square millimetre and will not be concentrated enough to heat to such an extent.

Steve.
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In the petapixel video i linked to it was a 400mm lens that they pointed at the sun and things began to smoke/melt so your theory above doesnt quite equate.

However, we are not talking about midday sun in this post we are talking about sunset where the intensity of said sun has dropped off massively and will not have the same effect.
 
They should have done a comparison with a wide lens. Leica curtains have definitely been burned by the sun and Leicas are rarely used with long lenses. Usually 35mm or 50mm.

If it had more effect with a longer lens, then a near infinite focal length would be practically a flat bit of glass. Can't see that being a problem!


Steve.
 
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