Sun causing purple bloom over entire image... damage?

[jim_d8]

<p>Hi,<br /> I was living rather dangerously a few hours ago and shot a few images on my 550D with the 4:00 sun in the background in an attempt to generate some interesting lighting. The problem is that while most of my pictures were taken at 1/1000 of a second or faster, one was accidentally taken at 1/50, and the result was that the sensor got massively overexposed. I saw the below image at home during RAW conversion and became very nervous.<br /> This purple splotching seemed to go away in the other pictures, but I'd love to hear from other people who have had this sort of thing happen to them.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>You have taken the concept of "high key" to a new height!</p>

<p>Congratulations!<br>

:)</p>

[stp]

<p>If it went away in other photos, then this was just an artifact from the sensor and/or lens as a result of looking into the sun for a relatively long time. You may have "ruined" this photo, but there's no "damage" if it's not carrying over to other photos.</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Here is<a href="../canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00V4BW"> an old thread</a>, recently revisited, that had very overexposed purple fringing. It seems after white comes purple :-)</p>

[jim_d8]

<p>I hope it's nothing serious. I did notice a white dot or two as an artifact later in that shooting session, but everything seems to have gone back to normal. I should have been a little more cautious I suppose... I was aiming for those sun-filled backgrounds (the image below was from later in the day).</p><div></div>

[PuppyDigs]

<p>The only lasting damage might be to your eye.</p>

[phule]

<p>[[but I'd love to hear from other people who have had this sort of thing happen to them.]]</p>

<p>You will get the same by vastly overexposing any scene <em>without</em> the sun in it. </p>

[jim_d8]

<p>It's good to hear that the purple is regular even without extremely bright light. I was trying to replicate the effect earlier today in slightly lesser light through long exposures, but without a lot of success. The lesson, I suppose, is that if you're going to shoot the sun, use an older body (I have my old 300D still. I don't know why I didn't think to use it.)<br>

Now, to stop convincing myself that my eye is sore! It wasn't hurting until I started reading up about what could have happened in harsher sunlight, and now I've invented a new problem for myself.<br>

Thanks to all who responded, in any case!</p>

[phule]

<p>[[The lesson, I suppose, is that if you're going to shoot the sun, use an older body]]</p>

<p>I'm not sure how or why you came to this conclusion but I see no reason to use a backup camera in this situation. </p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>I experienced the same thing thing with my PAS. </p>

[jim_d8]

<p>You're right, Rob; I got confused by having too many tabs open and was thinking about something I had just read elsewhere a few seconds earlier about total exposure shortening sensor life (and I'm not even sure that it's correct... otherwise, wouldn't the video mode on these cameras cause massive lifespan issues?).</p>

[matthias_meixner2]

<blockquote>

<p>The lesson, I suppose, is that if you're going to shoot the sun, use an older body</p>

</blockquote>

<p>With exposures below 1 second I think that before it damages your sensor, it damages your eye (unless using live view).</p>