Have you ever wondered if bright light damages a camera sensor? A photographer’s worst nightmare is a cracked or shattered lens. But what about the sensor? Is it possible for that to get damaged too? Read on and find out!
One of the most important details of any digital camera is its sensor. A camera’s sensor detects light. It converts the light into an electrical signal and sends it to the processor for processing, or storage on a memory card. To adjust how sensitive your camera sensor is to light you would adjust your ISO. With the sensor being so sensitive to light you may wonder can too much light damage my camera sensor?
Can Bright Light Damage a Camera Sensor?
Since a camera’s sensor function is to absorb a lot of light the short answer is no. Bright lights do not affect a camera’s sensor unless the light’s energy focuses on a small point. Think of how kids use a magnifying glass to focus sun’s rays onto a leaf and catch it on fire. It’s sort of the same thing.
The sun rays pass through the convex shape of the large area of the magnifying glass, and focuses all the radiation into a tiny point, making a high concentration of heat. In about 50 to 60 seconds a fire will start. It’s not the light that catches it on fire but the focus of radiation from the rays.
So a small focus of heat will ruin your camera’s sensor by causing it to melt or catch on fire. This may happen by pointing your camera directly at the sun and the lens focusing the rays onto a small point on the sensor.
It is not possible for light by itself to damage a camera sensor, but intense heat or energy can. If you are using your camera in an environment that has a lot of bright lights and it seems like the pictures have changed, first try cleaning your camera sensor.
Dirt or dust may have gotten on your sensor when you were changing a lens. But if they are blurry with lots of digital noise, then it may happen due to overheating or too much exposure to UV rays.
Take care not to leave your camera out in direct sunlight for long periods. It will overheat the lens and cause excessive reflection onto the image sensor–both things that could potentially lead to severe damage on both parts.
The best way to protect yourself from these problems is by caring for your gear by purchasing a protective filter like a UV filter or in bright light a variable ND filter.
