"Burning" a CCD?

[RBMKAlpha]

Hey, if you have a digital camera, can really strong light sources such as:

• The sun
• Electrical arcs
• Powerful electric lights/LEDs

Permenantly damage the CCD in the camera? Not really sure if this is possible or not with modern CCDs. I checked around and on two sites the answer seemed to be "no" but I'd rather be careful.

 

[Rob]

I would say pretty confidently that the answer should be no from the sources you've described. Strong sources of X-Rays would certainly damage the camera's CCD I understand.

http://www.stsci.edu/hst/acs/documents/handbooks/cycle12/c07_detector3.html

I think your main concern should really be your eyesight, not the camera - if you are photographing such things you must be careful and adopt appropriate protection e.g. welding mask or whatever. If in doubt, don't look!

Rob

 

[Kent Frost]

Most electronics have warnings to keep them out of direct sunlight. Of course, most outer bodies of cameras can handle it, but the CCD/CMOS sensor seems to me like it could be damaged if there is prolonged exposure to direct sunlight.

 

[RBMKAlpha]

It seems logical that brief exposure would be certainly OK, but prolonged exposure could be a problem.

The brightest object I was photographing were the high-power LEDs I had, which were bright enough to leave a dark spot on your vision for a few minutes if you looked at them directly. There wasn't any apparent damage from that, but it's a lot less than an arc welder.

Oh, and here's something else - you know how sound levels is logarithmic? Like something that's just a bit louder requires ten times or so more energy? Isn't light intensity as far as human perception kinda like that too?

 

[pursuer]

It seems logical that brief exposure would be certainly OK, but prolonged exposure could be a problem.

The brightest object I was photographing were the high-power LEDs I had, which were bright enough to leave a dark spot on your vision for a few minutes if you looked at them directly. There wasn't any apparent damage from that, but it's a lot less than an arc welder.

Oh, and here's something else - you know how sound levels is logarithmic? Like something that's just a bit louder requires ten times or so more energy? Isn't light intensity as far as human perception kinda like that too?

Yes, perceived brightness is also logarithmic.

I think anything bright enougth to possibly harm the CCD would require such a short exposure time that there is no need to worry. I can't imagine any reason to take a long exposure of the sun, but I suppose if you did the focused light would significantly heat up the CCD.

 

[jcharcalla]

I have burnt a webcam I had doing timelapse of clouds. I totally forgot about the sun. Opps... Now there is a line on the video showing the path of the sun that day. So I would say yes it's possible and shouldent take long exposures of the sun.