Digital cameras and the Sun

[george7378]

I was just wondering what kind of exposure to the Sun a modern digital camera would need to cause it damage? I am asking because I was experimenting with the Sun today, and sometimes left my Lumix pointing at the Sun with no filter for a couple of seconds at a time. I did notice some strange blue strips coming across the screen when I pointed it outside after, but they have always been there when I point it near a bright light source. They just seemed more expansive after it looked at the Sun for a bit.

[Jannis]

i strongly recommend NOT to point it at the sun at any time without any filter. if it's in focuse it can do permanent damage to many sensors in less then a sec. even SLR cameras can take damage even with mirror down. Have heard of several who have damaged their camera this way, in some cases it's even burned a hole in the mirror and then started on teh sensor... Compact cameras are even more critical as they don't even have a mirror to protect sensor.

Have you ever played with a magnefying glass, and tried to burn stuff with it? it's the same that happends here, with teh lens as the glass and when in focuse the sun delivers maximum heat to smallest area possible.

edit: the stripes you see isn't a damage caused by the sun i think, it's normal on many cameras when it's too bright, espacially from a single light source. What you normally see is damaged small areas on the sensor when taking pictures.

[jgs001]

The strips sound like they might be lens flare, an optical effect from the brightness of the sun... As Jannis said.. just don't do it.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Get some Baader solar filter foil. That is a cheap solution and safe!