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I'm a new photographer and yesterday someone told me that I should never point my camera (I have a mirrorless camera) toward the sun as this can damage the sensor. I went back and checked and I saw several photos I took that had the sun in them.

  1. If I can look at the sun directly with my eyes when I took the photo without glaring my eyes, does that mean the camera sensor should be ok to shoot a picture with the sun in it? Basically, can I use my eyes as a pre-screen to see whether the sun is too bright for the camera sensor?

  2. If I take a picture of the sky or mountains with the sun in view in the picture, is that the same thing as pointing the camera at the sun?

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https://uwmadscience.news.wisc.edu/astronomy/taking-eclipse-photos

Can the sun damage the camera sensor? Under what conditions?

Take a look at the photos in the 2nd link.

Yes, you can damage the camera but you'll have to work at it.

Day to day will be fine. When you start getting into long lenses and deliberately framing the sun in the shot (or making it the center) you will start to have problems.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I have also seen sensor sunburn on point & shoot cameras. \$\endgroup\$
    – qrk
    Jan 21, 2022 at 23:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Didn't mean to say it is impossible, just that you have to work at it. Click-shoot is one thing. Tripod with sun on blades is another. Then again robustness has dropped in cameras due to cost constraints. \$\endgroup\$
    – J.Hirsch
    Jan 21, 2022 at 23:52

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