I have an auto iris camera, Axis 221, looking out a large glass window to record activity at night. The camera had to be replaced because it lost its image completely.

Since this is the Arizona desert, a friend has suggested that the camera's image sensor is being damage by the sunlight. The camera is pointing West/South. I have not noticed any smear in the recordings before the failure and the camera is pointing slightly downward below the horizon.

Is sunlight damage to the image sensors common? If so, is there a way to filter the sun and still get a usable image. Thank you for any input.

If the camera is pointed below the horizon then the sun most likely didn't do it.

sensors damaged by sunlight or laser would normally display some picture with black hole where the actual damage were.
IMHO it's not likely that a weakend light of sun before sunset would damage AI cam.

How long has the camera been installed?

I had a Sanyo pointed at the afternoon sun for over 6 years no issues, until one day the lens/AI feature went bad (never really got a chance to find the actual problem, just switched the entire cam and lens in that case as it was old), but we still had an image (just not great). Ive had at least 2 box cameras indoors where the AI stopped working (new lenses did not fix the problem, was just a black image like no lens was attached), was a power issue more than likely (they were not on a voltage regulator). Ive had other cameras pointed at the afternoon sun for years though and no issues (ofcourse better to not point them there).

Thank you all for your comments. The camera was up for about 4 weeks. When it died it gave a white screen with no image. This may be a function of the video encoder.

I suppose we will leave the new one up and see what happens. In reviewing the recordings it did not seem that the camera was ever exposed to very bright, direct sunlight. Your comments based on experience put my mind at ease about the placement.

We use cameras to align Lasers all the time and never had one fail because of the Laser. These are industrial Lasers operating over 5MW. :)

are those quality cams or just some chinese junk ?
i've got two cameras killed by kids with laser pointer, or something ...

[quote:8668734185="C0m4"] are those quality cams or just some chinese junk ?
i've got two cameras killed by kids with laser pointer, or something ...