Overexposed photo with flash, can be any damage to cmos?

<p>Hi I have just got new dslr with external flash and cos Iam novice and had flash set to manual at full power while making photos at slow shutter speed the picture came way overexposed almost white, can this do any harm to sensor? the shutter speed was 1/60, f3,5 and external flash on manual at 1/1 power. do I need to worry about?.<br>

Thanks, </p>

Never heard about damage due to overexposure. Now if you had pointed the sensor towards the sun that would have

been a different issue. Don't worry.

<p>Short answer - No. Don't worry about it.<br>

It's probably best not to point the camera at the sun with the shutter open and lens removed however!</p>

Rodeo Joe,

What would removing the lens have

to do with it? How could the same

sunlight falling on your skin

harm a CMOS sensor?

<p>I routinely taking photographs, Sun in the composition, and the Sun in Namibia is extremely strong. Never had nay issue. D4, D3s, Df. Did, with D300, D700 and what ever cameras I had before.<br /> <em>Rodeo Joe; It's probably best not to point the camera at the sun with the shutter open and lens removed however!</em> I would never do that even inside a room. Dust.</p>

<h3> </h3>

<p>"How could the same sunlight falling on your skin harm a CMOS sensor?" - By saturating the photoFET elements for a start. Also I'm not sure how stable the microlens and RGB filter layers are. It may be that sustained exposure to bright light could degrade or fade those filters. Plus there's the heat generated by sunlight and absorbed by the IR filter in close proximity to the AA filter. Altogether it's not an exercise that I'd want to try out on my camera. But if you want to see exactly how much sunlight exposure <em>your</em> sensor can take, then go ahead.</p>

<p>There are no hard and fast rules to photographing the sun but common sense and basic understanding of your camera and optics combo. </p>

<p>A photographer will have a really bad day if he looks into the viewfinder with the camera and 500mm/F8 lens pointed at the sun, but taking a picture with this combo, even without filters, exposed for 100 uS, is probably not going to hurt the sensor. </p>

That response does not even pass

the sniff test, Rodeo

<p>If you think about it, the light from the little Nikon SB-910 type flash is not all that much. Your sensor will be getting hit with more intense light just by taking a photo on a sunny day.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>It sounds like not everybody is familiar with mirrroless cameras. E.g. on the Nikon 1 series, if you remove the lens, the sensor is exposed. Regular sunlight hitting on the sensor is not going to be a problem unless you leave the camera under the sun for hours.</p>

<p>However, if you have a lens in front of it and it is focused to infinity, the lens could really be focusing the sun right onto the sensor. When I was a kid, I used lenses to light matches that way. It can't be very good for the exposed sensor if you leave it like that for a few minutes.</p>

<p>[[i would never do that even inside a room. Dust.]]<br>

<br>

If only there were some simple, less than 1 minute, way to clean a digital sensor. </p>

<p>The CCD or CMOS sensor is probably the least of your worries. Sunlight is as bright as a 100 Joule flash at 10 feet, except it doesn't stop after 1/1000 second. It will eventually destroy practically any man made material (and most natural ones too). Pointing a camera toward the sun with the lens attached will probably burn a hole in the shutter, which won't improve the results either. Sunlight will degrade LCD finders and displays even sooner.</p>

<p>I use a Visible Dust brush system with a battery-operated spinner to clean and charge the brushes. You can easily remove dust in under a minute, end to end. The only time I resort to a liquid cleaning is if something stupid occurs leaving a sticky spot, like blowing dust with your breath or a dirty or degraded squeeze bulb. Last week was the first time in three or four years I've resorted to liquid cleaning. (Don't know what happened, but I was prepared and it went well.)</p>

<blockquote>

<p>How could the same sunlight falling on your skin harm a CMOS sensor?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>The same way it could harm your eyes if you look directly into the sun for long enough.</p>

<p>Back to the OP original question, which has nothing at all to do with the sun. Don't worry about flash hitting the sensor. It's really very weak. I've popped big mega-flash monolights with about 20 times the power of a Nikon SB910 flash directly into my lens at close range numerous times. It just isn't strong enough to hurt anything. The photo looked washed out simply because it was over exposed. Dial up to higher f-stop (e.g. f8, f11) to bring flash exposure back down.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>[[The same way it could harm your eyes if you look directly into the sun for long enough.]]<br>

<br>

Even a mild examination of the logic of your statement, Brooks, should have given you pause.</p>

Per Shun's answer : lasers have been known to burn out both individual and rows of pixels .

 

http://gizmodo.com/5596508/laser-light-show-vs-dslr-sensor

 

http://photofocus.com/2013/09/14/beware-lasers-can-kill-your-cameras-sensor/

There is an interesting and somewhat more fact-oriented thread about this subject on the Arstechnica forum:

 

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1142113

<blockquote>

<p>lasers have been known to burn out both individual and rows of pixels .</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br /> Have you seen any examples of this happening with still photography? I haven't so far, although it seems that a purely electronic shutter might have the problem also. But it doesn't appear that there are any reports of DSLR sensors being affected by still shot. <br /> <br /> Although I wouldn't do it now because of the articles referenced, before I read the article, I shot a show with lasers directed straight into the audience with no damage to the sensor:</p>

<center><img src="http://spirer.com/gcapril2013/content/images/large/_57P6894.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="467" /></center>

Jeff I wonder what would have happened if you happen to make a shot with the laser pointed directly at the camera.

<p>Hello, Shun Cheung. Where is the shutter in a mirror-less camera? Behind the sensor or in-front of a sensor. ( Just kidding) Sorry I'm not familiar of mirror-less cameras. Or? They have no shutter? Or what?<br>

If they have a shutter, then the shutter always covering and protecting the sensor, and the filters on it. Or not?<br>

Thank you.</p>

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>Jeff I wonder what would have happened if you happen to make a shot with the laser pointed directly at the camera.</p>

</blockquote>

 

 

 

 

 

I did because they were moving but the shots didn't look like much. Given that there are no reports of damage other than during video, I wouldn't expect anything to happen.

<p>[[if they have a shutter, then the shutter always covering and protecting the sensor, and the filters on it. Or not?]]</p>

<p>If a mirrorless camera has a shutter then the shutter is always open until the time of exposure. Some mirrorless cameras (that have interchangeable lenses) have no physical shutters and only electronic shutters.</p>

 

If you are only shooting video, I wonder what would would happen if you are shooting in Iive view mode ?

<p>On topic: Luka try to use the automated settings for a while and then switch to more control from your side. See what the results are and keep on practicing.</p>

<p>As well as I know it, point and shoot digital cameras don't have a mechanical shutter. The sensor is always receiving light. It takes more transistors to do that, such that the active area of the sensor array is smaller.<br>

For SLRs, they don't want to lose sensor area, so there is a mechanical shutter. (I am not sure why the mirror isn't enough. The higher shutter speeds are electronic, where the mechanical shutter is open longer. It has to be dark when the bits are read out.</p>