Laser light beam damaged my A6000 sensor =(

[robertlopez]

I was shooting on an indoor event and suddenly this happens... I know I've read about an article before on canon's but it never registered in my mind. Today it reminded me...

I want to share my sad experience so that maybe I could warn others or maybe sony should do something to improve their technology in the future. :(

Anyone here know how much it will cost me to replace the sensor or maybe I should get a new one?

I think it will be expensive

thank you!

 

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[Username]

Interesting noob 1st post.  

   

The camera shown displaying the problem is not

the same camera as mentioned in the thread title.  

  

A laser beam that has been thru a camera lens is 

no longer actually a laser beam. It's just light.   

   

 

FWIW the camera illustrated in the post sells for 

$350 on e-Buy so replacing the sensor is no go. 

It's in an unusual finish, so that might alter the 

decision .... if the owner cares about the finish. 

[robertlopez]

Hi, thanks for laser "Light" clarification. Yes is just light.. I will try bring the the camera to the service center soon and post here the cost

[Username]

A bit of correction, the illustrated camera IS an a6000 ..... 

I was thinking of the Nex, which looks a little different, but

nevertheless the value is about the same, so replacement 

of the sensor is prolly financially pointless. 

    

Without a full understanding of what the internal "injury"  

might be, I'd still suggest therapy before considering any   

major surgery, remapping the sensor, a hard reset, and

possibly reloading of the firmware. I can't say there are  

known technical reasons to try those things, but digital

cameras are kinda subject to voodoo :-)   

   

I'm suggesting the above cuz I find it hard to imagine that 

some light, bright highly monochromatic light, would really 

cause actual damage to the sensor. Without real expertise, 

I still find it easier to believe that it fugged with its mind but 

not with its actual physical "organs". Try to avoid surgery !  

[Makeev]

I'm suggesting the above cuz I find it hard to imagine that 

some light, bright highly monochromatic light, would really 

cause actual damage to the sensor. Without real expertise, 

I still find it easier to believe that it fugged with its mind but 

not with its actual physical "organs". Try to avoid surgery !

It happens to users all over the world! With Canon, Nikon and other brands of cameras.

[Username]

It happens to users all over the world!

With Canon, Nikon and other brands of cameras.

   

Just did some rather easy document searching, 

and found that the problem is actual hardware 

damage. Can happen to old CCDs and current 

CMOS sensors. IOW it does require surgury :-( 

[robertlopez]

Hi guys, I made a short clip here

everything is still working except the censor is like half of it burn. I already did a reset initialization as per suggestion from other sony forum. unfortunately nothing happen.

I have seen other youtube footage mostly canon damaged by a laser light. but mine is really awful =(

i think the timing was bad.. i remember when
i was just just focusing on the stage and pressing the shutter at half..
 and boom the light came in, I did not even take a picture i know something is wrong.. I was looking on my LCD screen

 

[Username]

Right. You didn't press the shutter. But the sensor is operating 

full time in a live view camera [or live view mode on an SLR].  

  

Those damaged Canons [assuming SLRs] were especially bad

luck, as their sensors are only at risk for tiny sliver of a second 

[per shot], while the live view camera is constantly at risk.   

   

One could construct a laser-safe optic for both SLRs and live

view. You need a very bright lens and optical focusing panel. If 

you look thru the optical rig sans camera, you see the scene on 

the focusing panel .... old school analog camera obscura. This 

device is then mounted to a macro-focusing camera lens, on a

digital camera which photographs the scene on the focus panel.   

    

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------   

  

Your kid can build this as a science fair project, but I doubt that 

it has any commercial potential. You can then take it to a laser 

show and shoot away ... while all the safety conscious camera 

users in the crowd cringe and warn you of dire consequences :-) 

   

The described device is nearly identical to the projection viewing 

device that is used to safely observe sun spots, solar eclipses, 

etc using a telescope. The important thing is that you shoot, or  

view, the sun [or lasers] indirectly, via the camera obscura. This 

works great with the sun cuz it's so brite. The laser-safe optical 

device is more of an exercise in design cuz you'd prolly need an 

ISO in the high 5-digit range. And whatever super bright lens is 

projecting the scene onto the focus panel is gonna have about 

zero DOF. And acoarst the texture of the focus panel will show  

up in your macro-shot image of the scene on the panel.