Can lasers damage a camera sensor?

I have a S30 that has had a fairly rough life and now hopelessly over exposes when set to any of the auto settings.

I realise it could be a number of things but specifically I'm wondering can lasers damage the sensor on compact and/or D SLR shots? (difference being the sensor is always exposed in a compact).

Could continual/repeated exposure to event lasers cause damage to a sensor or camera?

No, I don't think a laser could do worse than the sun's light focussed through a lens.

In the context you're talking about, no because the lasers are never aimed in such a way where they'd enter the camera (or your eyes) directly. On the other hand, there has been the odd accident at laser shows where a beam has been directed at the crowds ... The scattered light from the lasers is almost certainly a lot less than the light reflected off a fluffy white cloud in the middle of the day.

If you did point one of those lasers directly into your camera then I wouldn't take any bets. They are much more powerful than little laser pointers. But again it would depend on the duration. If you were looking through the lens at the time I think you wouldn't be too concerned about your camera

I cant see a Direct laser beam into the Sensor being a good thing, but if your at a club/concert and they have the laser shows going, its going to be about as harmful as a flash light.

-Johnny

Yep, I agree. You would have to have the shutter on B and either use an industrial strength laser or scan a smaller laser back and forth across the open shuttered lens for a long time to do any real damage. Either way you would not get an even over exposure but tend to get tracks and my guess is of most likely zero or under exposure.

Direct "in the lens" laser would certainly damage the sensor in time.

Do not underestimate the power of theatrical lighting..
We have spotlights in my theatre that will ignite flammable objects at 45 feet or less in a matter of seconds...

Awesome. I'll take 2 please

Ah, theose wonderful old carbon-arc spots. I remember trying to keep the gap right while tracking a pacing actor . . . Those were the days! Piano boards, too.

Lasers---okay
Death Rays---not okay.

Side question.. How would you expose for say a laser light show?

charly

Also don't underestimate what you think to be a low-power laser. I spent the first 12 years of my USAF career maintaining various avionic sensor systems, including IR imaging systems (remember the videos from Desert Storm?) and laser target designators. Even low-power lasers can be hazardous.

The danger with lasers is that the eye focuses coherent laser energy into a very, very small spot. For example, the beam from a typical red laser pointer can be focused into a spot only 0.009 millimeters in diameter.

(For the purpose of this post, I'm talking about beams that are optically unmodified...that is straight from the beam emitter. Beam expanding/focusing optics can mitigate or increase the danger.)

Didn't someone mention the Sun? Given a set of average parameters, the power density of the sun focused on the retina is about 100mW/mm²...and that hurts like the dickens. Now, assume that the laser pointer mentioned above operates at a so-so power output of 1 milliwatt. That 1 mW is concentrated into that lil' old 0.009 mm spot, which has an area of about 0.00006 mm². That makes for a power density of about 16,667 mW/mm². That's 167 times the intensity of the Sun.

Of course, there are a other factors that go into determining how much power does how much damage to the eye. But at low levels it can be limited to pain and temporary visual impairment. A little more, and we're talking thermal damage (e.g.; burns) to the retina that may or may not completely heal. Higher than that...well...imagine someone tack welding the back of your eye.

I once read an accident report about someone who took a hit to his eye from a laser like those I maintained. He said he felt and heard a "pop" in his eye. It left debris permanently floating in his field of vision because that "pop" was, essentially, the sound of that little spot exploding, sending blood and tissue into the vitreous humor. Makes me shiver thinking about it. But our lasers were't laser pointers.

However, in local news not long ago, a bone-headed teen boy riding our city bus service decided to shine a pointer in the driver's eyes. He managed to pull over but his vision was significantly impaired for several minutes. I imagine it hurt like a sumb*tch, too. The police were called and they arrested the idiot with the pointer. Good.

Anyway, back to the original question. A laser may or may not damage your camera's sensor. It'll depend on the laser power and wavelength, the focal length of the lens, etc...so my answer is "it depends." But camera sensors are replaceable. Eyes are not. Just food for thought.

Keep that gap and don't run out of gnurl..

We just replaced our Carbon Arcs about three years back.. we were one of the last places I know still using them...

The new lights are MUCH brighter.. Lycian 2 Kilowatts Xenon!

I never really thought about it, but that would be the case, wouldn't it? (Photographers, of all people, should understand that.) Very interesting discussion information

Hmm, perhaps my point has been taken the wrong way, I did not mean that a direct shot from a stage laser would be the equivolent of a flash light, but rather the refracted light from the smoke or whatever would be about as dangerous as a similar event with a flash light. I've been hit in the eye with a Laser Pointer, that HURT, couldnt see for like 20min with that eye!

To simplify, pointing a Laser into a Sensitive Visual device (camera sensor, Eyeball, etc) = Bad.

Johnny

I have no idea about stage lasers and their power.

But if you're shooting with an slr just don't focus at infinity. It should make "the circle" big enough not to hurt u.