FEATURED by Shane Chevalier

Monday, August 21, 2023

Over the past week, or at least since the wildfires in the southern interior of British Columbia have really taken off, many residents have been pulling out their phones to take shots of the smoked filled sky and the smoked out sun.

What people do not realize is the effects of the sun, even if its covered by smoke but still visible, can damage the sensors in your smartphone’s camera, and could cause unrepairable damage to your very own eyes. Smoke should not be considered a photo filter option. The UV rays from the sun are still present no matter what you think.

Now many people could be laughing at this tid bit of information but doing a diligence search online suggests that the sun’s energy and your smartphone do not work well together. You may think holding the phone in a quick position to take a photo of a ball of energy may not damage anything but think again.

“Oh it’s no big deal, my eyes are fine and my phone camera works perfect.” Yea right. The long term effects of sun damage to your eyes may not be felt until you’re in the adult prime years. Then, you could blame all sorts of things for eye sight damage but most of all the damage comes from the sun and blue light.

With a smartphone camera are you looking at the screen while trying to position or are you looking at the smoked out sun directly to get that good spot of the sun and then take the photo?

Looking through the screen will cause eye strain and or eye pain, and if you don’t feel it, you will later on. The longer you are in position and haven’t hit the capture button the more damage you’re doing to your eyes and your phone. Seeing spots? That means you looked at the sun directly! Even if it is covered by smoke your eyes will feel strained trying to filter out the light. Remember when Donald Trump squinted at a solar eclipse in 2017 and said his eyes were fine afterwards? Well his eyes were not fine afterwards. He gave in and put on glasses to protect his eyeballs.

Now a normal camera will be able to take pictures of the sun with proper equipment to make it happen but there are very limited options for smartphone cameras, no matter how new the device is, so take the advice and be absolutely careful if you plan to take pictures of the sun.

Now I did find some tips for iPhone users who would like to try specialized equipment for the device. For all other phones, it is best to not bother doing so.

This is just a reminder of what can happen if you take pictures of the sun with your smartphone. Protect those eyes!!