Just have to share the story - my stupidity has hit a new low. How is that possible you ask? Read on.

About a week ago, I was doing some AI Servo testing with my 40D. It was a nice, bright, sunny day around here - which doesn't happen all that often in Feb. Oh, I was in a good mood. So I mounted my 40D on my biggest lens, and that was in turn mounted on my tripod. I wanted to make a couple of test images from my back deck. So far, so good. Then, wanting to try another lens, I was about to remove my camera from the first lens. But wait, I need to get a cap for the body. You see, I'm a bit of a dust freak. No problem, cap is ohhhhhh, 20 feet away. Right, I'll just scoot over and get it.

Within 10-15 seconds, I'm back to the camera. As I remove it from the lens, SMOKE COMES POURING OUT! What the heck A short circuit? Ummmm, no. Just before getting the cap, I had tilted my setup upwards.....and....are you ready for this....pointed the lens RIGHT INTO THE SUN. Yup, that's right. Big lenses are like a magnifying glass. And I had managed to guide those bright rays of light straight through the lens and into the camera. Result you wonder? Well, there's the mirror - burnt. Then there is the mirror box - burnt. Then there is the shutter curtain - burnt. Behind the shutter curtain, there is that sensor thingy............ you can figure out the rest.

My camera is now in the Canon hospital. I found out today that a repair MAY be possible but let's just say my 40D is on life support.

The moral of the story is that....well, this is where you get to add your theory and comments. And please keep in my that my ego is already bruised.



Edited by hnilsson on Apr 16, 2008 at 05:27 AM GMT

Edited by hnilsson on Apr 16, 2008 at 06:46 AM GMT

Yikes!

Hope things will turn out for the better! Best of luck!

Jason

10-15 seconds? really?

What time of day was this?

wow

that is a crazy story.

hope your camera survives!

jcbenner wrote:
10-15 seconds? really?

What time of day was this?

Mid afternoon....who would have thought the sun would be strong enough north of the 49th in February

Thanks for sharing so others can avoid the painful lesson. I am admired your openness on this.
BTW, I defined "stupidity" as someone who made the same mistake more than once, so - your "sin" is forgiven my friend
Sam

Edited by Sam tran on Feb 27, 2008 at 01:15 AM GMT

Look on the bright side, you won't make that mistake again! Hope Canon can fix it for you.

Alistair Watson wrote:
Look on the bright side

He already did that. That was the problem...

I cant help but say ha

to be honest that is massively unlucky, that wouldn't have occurred to me either and the chances o you getting the angle perfect so that that could actually happen must be 50:1
It wouldn't surprise me if canon had never sen that problem before.

Alex

Wow.

If I heard that story at a bar over a couple of beers, I would call BS... I guess it's not... sorry to hear...

Well, it could have been worse. He could have been looking through the
viewfinder while accidentally pointing it at the sun. The retina would not
take kindly to this.

It always pays to think carefully when using a long tele. Makes me nervous
just thinking about it.

Is your 500 f/4 OK? I know you toasted the camera, but did the lens
electronics or elements sustain any damage?

That's totally bad luck. I would have never thought that this is possible to happen. Thanks for sharing.

So sorry to hear of your bad luck - and thanks for posting. It's not something I'd ever think of checking up to now, but will watch for in future.

What Why didn't the sun reflect off the mirror, through the VF? I'm not getting this - sorry.

dcains wrote:
What Why didn't the sun reflect off the mirror, through the VF? I'm not getting this - sorry.

There is no such thing as a 100% reflection. Apparently, it was enough for a concentrated sun beam to burn through.

True, but to think the lens had the sun in focus, and at just the right angle, too. It's really hard to believe, and/or incredibly bad luck. If the sun happens to show its rays today, I almost want to grab a lens, and a separate mirror (not in a camera body), to see if I can toast the mirror. I'd be very surprised if the mirror gets warm.

dcains wrote:
True, but to think the lens had the sun in focus, and at just the right angle, too. It's really hard to believe, and/or incredibly bad luck. If the sun happens to show its rays today, I almost want to grab a lens, and a separate mirror (not in a camera body), to see if I can toast the mirror. I'd be very surprised if the mirror gets warm.

Could be an interesting experiment. Just make sure you reproduce the setup correctly -camera mirrors have extremely thin and delicate reflection layer and a very thin temperature sensitive plastic substrate. Add the closed environment of the mirror box that suppresses the heat removal by air convection.

wow that really sucks

You should take a picture of it.


Oh, wait...

gfiksel wrote:
dcains wrote:
True, but to think the lens had the sun in focus, and at just the right angle, too. It's really hard to believe, and/or incredibly bad luck. If the sun happens to show its rays today, I almost want to grab a lens, and a separate mirror (not in a camera body), to see if I can toast the mirror. I'd be very surprised if the mirror gets warm.

Could be an interesting experiment. Just make sure you reproduce the setup correctly -camera mirrors have extremely thin and delicate reflection layer and a very thin temperature sensitive plastic substrate. Add the closed environment of the mirror box that suppresses the heat removal by air convection.


Hmmm, anyone have a Nikon they're not using?

@ ObservedTrials

@hnilsson - sorry to hear of your troubles, but like Sam tran said,
I defined "stupidity" as someone who made the same mistake more than once

Hope all works out well in the long run!

Thomas

hnilsson wrote:
jcbenner wrote:
10-15 seconds? really?

What time of day was this?

Mid afternoon....who would have thought the sun would be strong enough north of the 49th in February


Despite what we feel on earth in winter, the strength of the Sun does not change.

Alex Nail wrote:
the chances o you getting the angle perfect so that that could actually happen must be 50:1


Actually, I have had a hard time when I have purposefully tried to find the Sun with my camera and a long lens. Naturally I have had a density 5 filter (1:100 000) in front of the lens before trying to do that. The problem is that the Sun is the only thing that is visible in the viewfinder with that configuration. It takes a lot of iteration and sighting alongside the lens tube to find the Sun.

So I'd say OP had really bad luck. How about your insurance?

Haha. Perfect experiment for all our Nikon buddies. :-)

Sam tran wrote:
Thanks for sharing so others can avoid the painful lesson. I am admired your openness on this.
BTW, I defined "stupidity" as someone who made the same mistake more than once, so - your "sin" is forgiven my friend
Sam

Edited by Sam tran on Feb 27, 2008 at 01:15 AM GMT

Thanks Sam.