[SuperK5]

Has anyone ever had a Laser damage the sensor on their DSLR.... Is the damage permanent or is it just temporary?

Here is a video of a poor guy with a 5D getting zapped!!!

You Tube

You Tube

one with a Fuji too.
Moby laser show kills digital camera! - YouTube

[Philoslothical]

Is the damage permanent or is it just temporary?

When it happens, it's permanent. Most show lasers shouldn't be strong enough to cause this. If they are, they could do damage to the eyes of spectators as well. This clip has been posted a few times, but I don't know much about the actual lasers they were using. It's a good cautionary tale though.

[pmurph5]

The International Laser Display Association is aware that camera sensors can be damaged by lasers, at power levels that do not harm human eyes. There is a page with more information for those who are interested: Laser safety for cameras - International Laser Display Association

Note that ILDA says although companies at shows work with the AV crews to avoid damaging their expensive broadcast-quality equipment, they cannot be responsible for all cameras at a show.

And yes, the damage is permanent. This is unlike the human eye, which can heal from lower level laser exposure, in the same way that your skin can heal from small cuts and burns.

[bobmaxja]

When this is on the K-5 thread???????????

[pmurph5]

I can't speak for the OP, but I think it was posted because any digital camera's sensor could be damaged by lasers. He was curious if it had happened to anyone (reading the forum) and perhaps he was also warning forum readers.

[SuperK5]

I can't speak for the OP, but I think it was posted because any digital camera's sensor could be damaged by lasers. He was curious if it had happened to anyone (reading the forum) and perhaps he was also warning forum readers.

My thoughts exactly! ...I had never heard of this before accidentally coming across it on you tube. I love going to concerts and I sometimes smuggle in my little 16MP pocket camera to try to get some shots and take some video of the shows. Now I know to turn the thing off if there are lasers around...I'd rather not fry the little thing much less my K5.

[Sinsay]

It's permanent I shot a show with black light and lasers and my k-7 is screwed luckily it was at the end of its life anyway but lasers do burn the sensor and left a line of spots on each of my photos after so they do make great fun shoots ut not worth the risk of a burnt s

[bdery]

Of course it's permanent. Sensors don't heal themselves

A laser is nothing more than a small beam of light, highly directional (concentrated on a tiny area) and with all the anergy arriving at the same time (in waves, if you will)

[DeadJohn]

A few years ago I read about a Russian billionaire adding a laser system to his yacht to stop papparazzi (sp.). The intent was to fry their cameras.

[lister6520]

A few years ago I read about a Russian billionaire adding a laser system to his yacht to stop papparazzi (sp.). The intent was to fry their cameras.

I think that was actually to detect cameras. The system is a derivative of a military system used to detect the gunsight of sniper's rifles. Someone subsequently figured out that telephoto lenses have a very similar and easily identifiable signature to that of a high magnification gunsight and brought the technology to commercial use.

It works a bit like a LIDAR (or perhaps better LIDAR). It sends out pulses of light and observes the the reflected impulse. Anything with several layers of glass pointed directly at it will give a very recognisable trail of very close pulses which is quite easily recognisable by signal processing software. The system can in many cases even identify the type of gunsight being used (assuming it has it in its recognition database).

There have been a few recorded cases where US troops have shot at journalists thinking their camera pointed at them was a gunsight not yet identified in their database.

[snake]

Oh, I've never seen this one dozens of times before.