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Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

lensrentals.com

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Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#41

Post by f_allwein »

jmiserez wrote: post #2

Now imagine that kind of damage being done to your eyes. It hurts just thinking about it, yet some people don’t seem to really believe the warnings.

I just googled for reports on the eclipse's aftermath the other day, and there seemed to be noting about widespread eye damage (or I did not search hard enough).

It was interesting how most of the post-eclipse reporting was hijacked by a certain politician not wearing his glasses (probably he only looked for a split second anyway). Anyway, this eclipsed (sorry) any reports about the actual event, which must have been one of the largest events in history based on the number of spectators (I saw estimates of 20 million people across the US).

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#42

Post by nxc18 »

I think my favorite part of this article is how the author is so understanding and positive about his users. I think if I had rented out cameras to people, told them not to point it at the eclipse, and then got a bunch of damaged cameras back, I'd be pissed. In fact, I might have choice words for those customers.

I think there's a lesson here in targeting inexperienced consumers. Perhaps a good preventative measure would have been handing out protective lenses before the eclipse so that customers would have really had to try to mess it up.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#43

Post by patcheudor »

romanhn wrote: post #38
patcheudor wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it all came down to how long the camera was pointed at the sun. I took a bunch of photos of the eclipse including this HDR shot with a Leica 280mm lens and Sony A7R with no filter whatsoever & without any damage to my lens or camera. The thing is, it took seconds to take and I made sure the camera was only pointed at the sun for brief moments: https://www.flickr.com/photos/patcheudor/35886777354/ I'm assuming th…

Off topic, but I think here's another image of the same airplane, also taken in Idaho: https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/6v62nl/plane_cros...

That one would have been taken about 15 miles or so to the southwest of my location.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#44

Post by lisper »

At one point during the eclipse I used a pair of binoculars to project an image of the sun onto the ground. Of course, it was a double image, so to fix that I covered one of the eyepieces with my hand. It took about three seconds for the pain to register. Hard to say which hurt more: the small, first-degree burn on my palm or the rest of me from kicking myself afterwards.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#45

Post by fencepost »

dingaling wrote: post #6

It's a shame that Lens Rentals had to suffer such material loss, but that report is absolute gold-plated first-hand evidence for my perennial debates with other photographers who insist that they don't need Solar protection for eclipses. "But I took a landscape shot at midday with the Sun in frame and it didn't melt my sensor". The difference being the length of exposure and the concentrations of energy.

They have an in-house repair shop that dealt with most or all of it, and they charge the customer for the cost of the repair. From the comments the fact that they don't gouge on repairs is one reason some folks use them.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#46

Post by KGIII »

jdavis703 wrote: post #20
jmiserez wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it depends on lots of factors, but to see the equivalent eye damage, do an image search for “solar retinopathy”. It’s not just theoretical.

Absolutely, I know it's not just a myth. It's just that whether you need eclipse glasses is more nuanced than "always wear them." If you're going to stare at an eclipse for multiple seconds on a cloudless day you're probably going to be in for a world of hurt.

Staring at the Sun is bad, no matter when you do it. The Sun emits no extra photons during an eclipse. Your pupils do expand due to physiological responses of the decreased light, however.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#47

Post by dekhn »

I got lucky while testing my camera, which is mounted at prime focus in a refractor scope. I had it in Live View which meant the mirror was up, and I removed the solar filter for just a second.

The camera said "error", turned off, I replaced the solar filter, and it was fine. Much longer, and I'd have had a burn. The telescope really collects and concentrates a ton of light.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#48

Post by olegkikin »

nxc18 wrote: post #42

I think my favorite part of this article is how the author is so understanding and positive about his users. I think if I had rented out cameras to people, told them not to point it at the eclipse, and then got a bunch of damaged cameras back, I'd be pissed. In fact, I might have choice words for those customers. I think there's a lesson here in targeting inexperienced consumers. Perhaps a good preventative measure w…

Why would he be angry? The customers are paying for the damage.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#49

Post by sigstoat »

kuschku wrote: post #39
tedunangst wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Landing on concrete isn't likely to melt the sensor though.

"Oops, dropped it from the building from which I was shooting the eclipse, it fell 200m on concrete" – hands in pile of plastic. (Although this would be a very unfair move)

many of those depicted lenses and camera bodies have metal exteriors/frames. ignoring the glass, they'd probably still be in a single piece after 200m. and without any obviously melted bits.

Re: Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse

#50

Post by klipt »

KGIII wrote: post #46
jdavis703 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, I know it's not just a myth. It's just that whether you need eclipse glasses is more nuanced than "always wear them." If you're going to stare at an eclipse for multiple seconds on a cloudless day you're probably going to be in for a world of hurt.

Staring at the Sun is bad, no matter when you do it. The Sun emits no extra photons during an eclipse. Your pupils do expand due to physiological responses of the decreased light, however.

In San Francisco the eclipse was only partial and behind a cloud of fog. In that case looking at it's no worse than looking at the sun behind a cloud on a non-eclipse day.
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