PSA Reminder: Lasers Can Kill Your Camera

The good folks over at Photography Bay were nice enough to remind their readers about this specific equipment hazard.

Not being a big disco (or music in general) fan, I seldom put myself in this situation. Cruising has changed that with production and ice shows featuring complex lighting displays. Most of the lighting in my experience has been high intensity spotlights but keep an eye out for lasers if you are photographing or recording a show.

http://www.photographybay.com/2015/07/14/psa-reminder-lasers-can-kill-your-camera/

Dave

Thanks for the information Dave.

If shows were using this type of laser, and they are not, the big concern would be damage to your eyes, not to the camera, not to mention the potential liability that the operators would face.

If shows were using this type of laser, and they are not, the big concern would be damage to your eyes, not to the camera, not to mention the potential liability that the operators would face.

The examples of sensor damage in the previous link were shot at events using lasers below the level able to cause damage to the human eye.

"Eye safety is first

The primary safety concern for laserists is that the show is eye-safe. A good working definition of "eye-safe" is that everyone leaves the show with the same vision they entered -- there is no detrimental change to a person's vision. International safety standards such as IEC 60825 and ANSI Z136 set "Maximum Permissible Exposure" levels for laser light. Shows done at or below the MPE should cause no problem for human eyes. Even shows which exceed the MPE have remarkably safe records (eight documented or claimed eye injuries out of 109,000,000 persons viewing continuous-wave laser shows over 30 years).

However, there are no MPEs for sensors such as CMOS or CCD chips. This means a show may be perfectly safe for eyes, but could possibly damage a camera sensor. One reason is that camera lenses may gather more laser light, and concentrate it to a finer point. Another reason is that a CMOS or CCD sensor may be more easily damaged than the eye.

Due to the many varying factors involved with lenses and sensors, laser show producers cannot be responsible for audience-member damage to cameras or camcorders." - International Laser Display Association.

There are many photos and videos on the Internet showing how quickly a "eye safe" laser can kill a camera's sensor. Don't forget that cameras keep improving their low light performance. A big part of that is increasing the sensor's sensitivity which also makes it more susceptible to damage from lasers.

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I especially like this video taken at a show that didn't appear to have laser affects until...

[YOUTUBE]J0TgaGePhJA[/YOUTUBE]

I've never had to have a sensor replaced. I wonder what that costs?