camera and the sun question

thebaz

Now that the sun is coming out , could someone answer this question, as i am getting conflicting advice .
I know you are not meant to shoot directly into the sun, but i do , but is shooting directly into the sun bad for the camera or lens ?
and would a uv filter act as a protection ?

My understanding is that it is bad for the camera, if you pointed for a long time directly at the sun , but a few shots here and there are ok .

magicbastarder

i can't see how it'd be that bad for the camera or lens, within normal use. might not be good for your eye, though, if you're looking through the viewfinder.

pete4130

Shooting with your back to the sun is a general rule for taking those cheesy snaps of people really. If the sun is behind you then the person in front of you should be well lit and you won't get any glare in the lens and the metering shouldn't get confused as there is no direct sunlight going straight into the lens to fool the light meter and cause your photos to be underexposed (silhouetted against the bright sky/sun).

There is nothing wrong with shooting into the sun (other than it might hurt your eyes like Magicbastarder mentioned) and it shouldn't affect the lens. After all the lens is optimised to let as much light pass through it as possible.

A UV filter will offer more protection to your lens from getting dirty or scratched than anything really. It will also cut down on the amount of light that passes through the lens (generally by 1 stop...like putting subnglasses on your camera...everything looks a little darker as the glass is usually not clear plus its an extra few surfaces of glass for the light to travel through).

Alot of Landscape photographers use graduated Neutral Density filters. ND (neutral density) filters are filters of darker glass to reduce the amount of light coming into the lens so that even in brighter conditions it allows the photogrpaher to use small apertures and slower shutter speeds than without an ND filter.
Graduated ND filters gradually get darker near the top, so bright skies and clouds don't look washed out or too bright.
An ND filter could be useful in this sense if you are shooting into the sun to try to balance the bright sky with the rest of the image.

If you are shooting into the sun, the light meter will more than likely be fooled into thinking that the whole scene is really bright and underexpose your shot (leavnig lots of dark areas and silhouettes). I'd recommend that if possible you spot meter for important area of the image that you are trying to capture.

I'll attach a few examples of some shots where I deliberately shot into the sun.

The first pic of the guy on the bike I spot metered for my jeans which were in direct sunlight, as I knew they weren't a bright colour and wouldn't reflect the light the way the grey concrete would. I used this exposure for my photo as i knew it would give me a midway exposure for the shadows and highlights. I then used a flashgun pointed at the guy on the bike set to TTL mode so he wouldn't be too silhouetted against the background and to make him stand out more.

The second shot of the fence I would have matrix meter exposed for the scene knowing the strong sunlight would sihouette things slightly which is what I wanted.

The third shot I saw the strong contrasty shadows and shot facing into the sun but didn't include it in my shot.

The fourth image again I exposed for the sky to silhouette the steel structure frame of a building site and let the light bleed around the structure to deliberately get blown highlights [yes it is meant to be out of focus too ]

The fifth image again I exposed for the sun directly (probably underexposed slightly) with the focus on the barbed wire to give the clouds a bit more dramatic effect and to get some of the colour to be retained in the evening sky rather than it being washed out.

Fajitas!

I really don't know about digital still cameras, but generally, using a digital video camera into the sun can affect the sensor.

Oriel

It's all about metering.
If you shoot into the sun, the camera will think that your subject is brighters than it is and will over compensate, leaving your subject too dark.
It's nothing at all to do with damaging your camera or your eyes.

thebaz

sinecurea wrote:

It's all about metering.
If you shoot into the sun, the camera will think that your subject is brighters than it is and will over compensate, leaving your subject too dark.
It's nothing at all to do with damaging your camera or your eyes.

Sometimes that dark/silhoutte effect looks goood -- to my eyes anyway !
As the uv filter seams to add nothing but lens protection, i'm thinking of taking mine of , as i'd be dubious to how much protection it actually given , and seams to degrade overall quality.

thebaz

Fajitas! wrote:

I really don't know about digital still cameras, but generally, using a digital video camera into the sun can affect the sensor.

i wonder is that cause you might be pointing longer at objects , than with a still camera ? so if its the sun , more risk of damaging sensor .

Fajitas!

Quite possibly.

I can imagine that anything as sensitive to light as a camera sensor could be damaged by the sun. I've seen a digital video camera with damage done to the sensor by someone trying to shoot the sun.

I mean, chances are a still camera will never need an exposure into the sun that could damage as much as the video cameras, but I'm sure it has happened.

thebaz

well i won't try any long exposures of the sun -- i wonder did they have trouble filming "Sunshine" ?

ThOnda

What a great shots!
I have Pentax SMC UV filter and I have never noticed change of exposure. Having good filters shouldn't have effect on picture quality. I had to clean my lense only once in about 5 years. I am always working with UV filter or some other filter (Pentax, of course).
My camera (Pentax MZ-6) is so smart, that it doesn't count one metering point with the sun, so I am having almost everytime in the picture what I wanted to have there.
It just shows, how good camera can make stupid and lazy user happy :-)

And to be honest, I would be affraid t opoint into the direct sun for very long time both didjital and film cameras. The amount of heat is enormous!!! Just imagine burning your skin with magnifying glass and multiply it few times :eek:

JMcL

Fajitas! wrote:

Quite possibly.

I can imagine that anything as sensitive to light as a camera sensor could be damaged by the sun. I've seen a digital video camera with damage done to the sensor by someone trying to shoot the sun.

I mean, chances are a still camera will never need an exposure into the sun that could damage as much as the video cameras, but I'm sure it has happened.

I read on some sensor cleaning website a while back that it's a bad idea to flip up the mirror, then go off to look for your cleaning kit, have lunch etc leaving the sensor exposed. Apparently there are dyes used on the sensor surface, I guess in the coloured filters in the microlenses, which can be affected by prolonged exposure to light.

That said, it does kind of go with the territory that the sensor will be exposed to light, otherwise your photo album is going to a bit boring , so I guess a certain amount of exposure is taken into account in the spec, and taking contre-jour (jaysus that's a bit pretentious for 9am on a friday morning) photos should certainly be within that. Just mind the eyes as somebody said, and certainly don't bolt on a 500mm lens and point it at the sun :eek: (<-- probably what you'd look like after)

Borderfox

I actually did a test with my uv filters and they didnt degrade exposure at all. 350D with a 50mm f1.8 wide open on a tripod with and without a UV filter and there was no difference between them. Mine are only Hama cheapo ones. Better to have one on than off especially if its dusty as it is in most places I shoot.

Lex_Diamonds

Shooting into the sun:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/410725931_6708f963d9_b.jpg

thebaz

Lex_Diamonds wrote:

Shooting into the sun:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/410725931_6708f963d9_b.jpg

I wouldn't shoot when the sun is that high, usually only as its sunsetting, so i'm probably ok.
This is about as bright as i would go, and there was even some haze giving protection, but yet i still don't like the white blobby look or any accompaning flare

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaz/464504883/