# SF M6 wrecks webcam!



## naromtap (May 10, 2005)

I was chatting to a friend the other night on messenger/cam & foolishly shined my M6 into my webcam a few times whilst messing about after a few beers....enjoyed the total whiteout at the time but now my top notch cam shows my white walls as a sickly green, my face a less sickly green & my pink shirt as blue. Live & learn. I always did wonder wether bright light could damage CCD's on a digital cameras but never found conclusive evidence. I've checked the cam settings & they are as they should be. Just thought I'd let you all know, tho I doubt there is many here who would get the urge to shine a light into a cam...LOL


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## tvodrd (May 10, 2005)

Just goes to prove alcohol and high-powered flashlights don't mix! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif (Bummer about the cam.)

Larry


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## PhotonWrangler (May 10, 2005)

Sounds like either the camera went waaaaay out of white balance (is this adjustable?) or the red channel is gone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif


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## IsaacHayes (May 10, 2005)

Yeah it probably is fried but try re-booting/removing power from it for 2 hours or so.

High power laser and led flashlights can do this too! InReTech fried his digital camera pixels from a tri-lux3 green flashlight IIRC.


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## naromtap (May 11, 2005)

Yeah it is fried, but hey its new and under warranty....they are hardly gonna say you must have fried the CCD's with bright light...actually no, thats dishonest, I'll buy a new one. Honest.


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## shadowman (May 11, 2005)

I damaged my television screen the same way by shining a light at the screen. Now has green tinting at spots.


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## greenLED (May 11, 2005)

can you reset the white-balance somehow?


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## IsaacHayes (May 11, 2005)

shadowman? really? I wouldn't think this would do it any harm unless you had like laser and burned the phosphur? Weird. Are you sure it's just not magnetized? That's probably what it is.


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## Brock (May 11, 2005)

There is an awful lot of IR in an M6 beam, depending on how close it was it wouldn't supprise me if it did kill some of the red ones. You might be able to rebalance it pushing red way up, maybe if not to many are gone.


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## MaxaBaker (May 12, 2005)

If you turn of all the lights in a room and point a light at a TV screen it will glow green when you turn the light off (the more intense the light, the brighter the spot will be) (I don't know about LCD or plasma though).


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## PhotonWrangler (May 12, 2005)

Some CRT phosphors will glow under UV excitation also.


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## The_LED_Museum (May 12, 2005)

Actually, *most* phosphors used in CRT boob-tubes (television sets, computer monitors, oscilloscopes, etc.) will fluoresce under UVA excitation, such as UVA or near-UV LEDs and UVA fluorescent "blacklight" bulbs.


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## markdi (May 13, 2005)

so if you caught a strong reflection of the sun while
using your camera outside you would damage it.


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## 1331 (May 13, 2005)

After being at the scene of a house explosion and pointing our SL-20's & Mag chargers at a t.v. cameraman with no respect for the departed trying to move him back, we were told not to do so as you can blow the t.v camera and cost in excess of $5000 damage.


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## IsaacHayes (May 14, 2005)

I'm sure a local news crew didn't like it when 2 people in gasmasks came out of the bushes and charged behind the news reporter screaming either. The look on the camera man's face was priceless. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Too bad it wasn't live. Hey, this is purely fictional, and was to support a cause way back when. Someone told me this story.. thats it! ahh the gold ol days. Times have chagned now...<back on topic>


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