k1lla 0 Posted October 20, 2006 This new PTZ Dome I installed today is about 8 feet away from a high powered halogen parking lot light. In the camera manual it talks about not having the camera near or pointed at a bright light for extended period of time as tjis will damage the camera. If I zoom the camera way past the light it actually kicks into black and white mode and works great. Is it possible to cause damage to this camera being that it is near the light? Thankx, k1lla from man1lla Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VST_Man 1 Posted October 21, 2006 never heard of it................. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kensplace 0 Posted October 21, 2006 The main danger (apart from heat, if its way too close to a halogen lamp) occurs when a camera is pointed so its looking at a bright light (like the sun, or high powered lighting) is the ccd sensor getting image burn from the light source. I have played around with a old camera in the past and managed to permenantly damage a ccd in seconds with one very specific light source. If the ccd is exposed to extremely overbright lighting, two things can occur, the first is the ccd area will be exposed to greater than normal heat levels, remember focusing the sun with a magnifying glass when you were little to burn holes in wood or paper? Similar thing with a camera, the lens is a little magnifying glass focused on the ccd. Second is the ccd is overloaded and cant cope. Apart from the sensor itself the ccds often have very thin filters on them, these *may* be liable to damage via overheating. If you see the camera overloading (lines appearing, smearing, totally white washed out pic etc) then the light source is too bright for the ccd and its overloading it. Some light sources may not be bright enough to cause damage straight away, but may burn it out over time, some can cause damage in seconds. Just dont point the camera at anything like the sun, or directly at that lamp to avoid trouble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
k1lla 0 Posted October 25, 2006 Instead of moving the camera or the light we took a much simplier approach... We painted the clear plastic light cover with black paint only on the side facing the camera. Now we have aqaquete light for the area without potential damage to the camera. FYI... Thanks for the replys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites