lasers and sun?>

i have searched around and i know lasers will destroy my 7d in a heartbeat..

but what about sun? there are those amazing shots at the beach with the sun going down, and sometimes a few great shots of sports where the sun is blinding, or lastly a few shots with the dogs and the Frisbee just happens to be right in line with that big ball of fire in the sky.,.

will shots in the direct sunlight toast my camera just as lasers will?

The general rule of thumb for shooting into the sun is:

Don't use Live View
Don't shoot video
Don't shoot time lapse

Even some of these might not damage your camera...but just to be on the safe side, as some people have reported problems after doing the above...

Single shots (or even a couple dozen shots at a tiny fraction of a second) are not a problem.

What about fire images? I'm curious about those too since I took numerous firepit images before I knew that may cause an issue.

Fire is not bright enough to do anything to a sensor.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

Na...fire is nothing to worry about

I remain very conscious of the sun's position when shooting (probably too cautious). I'll meter and focus just outside the orb and quickly take the shot with the sun in the frame. Any problems with composition or horizon tilt is dealt with in post.

+1 what oldvultureface said

An example of metering and focusing with the sun just outside of the frame and then the quick grab:

https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=9818588#p​ost9818588

I have done plenty of videos on my 5D several minutes in length directly into a rising sun and I haven't seen any ill effects on my sensor. I am not saying it will never harm the sensor, but I haven't seen any problems yet. I have done countless videos on regular video cameras directly into the sun and never had a problem.

oldvultureface wrote in post #11525351
I remain very conscious of the sun's position when shooting (probably too cautious). I'll meter and focus just outside the orb and quickly take the shot with the sun in the frame. Any problems with composition or horizon tilt is dealt with in post.

You do realize that when you're doing this (unless you're using LiveView) it has no bearing whatsoever on your sensor...not only is your sensor not activated, there is a shutter AND a mirror in front of it...

LowriderS10 wrote in post #11526209
You do realize that when you're doing this (unless you're using LiveView) it has no bearing whatsoever on your sensor...not only is your sensor not activated, there is a shutter AND a mirror in front of it...

You're not considering my vision. I am. Also, some of the light is reflected to the AF sensors with the shutter closed and the reflex mirror down.

bk2life wrote in post #11524227
i have searched around and i know lasers will destroy my 7d in a heartbeat..

but what about sun? there are those amazing shots at the beach with the sun going down, and sometimes a few great shots of sports where the sun is blinding, or lastly a few shots with the dogs and the Frisbee just happens to be right in line with that big ball of fire in the sky.,.

will shots in the direct sunlight toast my camera just as lasers will?

bk2life,
I don't have a 7D but I have taken a number of photos with a laser (even macros of the laser) aimed right into the lens and have had no ill effects on either my old 10D or my 5D. I have hundreds of photos of the sun in the photo even a few with a 1200mm lens and again no ill effects yet...

The sun is one of the best, if not THE best, subject I have ever photographed or filmed. If Canon said shooting the sun had a 1% chance of damaging my sensor I would continue to shoot it considering the alternative is to never photograph one of my favorite subjects ever again.

I would say, from my unscientific experiments, the chances of damage exist but are way less than 1% since I have shot the sun more than 100 times and haven't burned a camera up yet.