Can sunlight reflecting from a 400mm camera lens dazzle drivers about 300 feet away?

Asked 8/31/2023

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My son wants to photograph at sunset near a road using a 400mm lens, and I’m worried reflected sunlight from the lens could distract or dazzle drivers around 300 feet away. Is that a realistic safety concern?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

3y ago

2 Answers

32

If what you need is a simple answer. Do not worry about a random flare. The flare would not be different from a flare from a random car in front of a passing car.


A more detailed answer.

  1. Lenses are designed to get the light in, not bounce it. Even a flat filter in front of the lens lets most of the light pass, (let's say 99% light in and 1% reflected).

  2. Most lenses without a filter, are convex, which means that the reflection is spread almost immediately.

  3. The possibility of a flare of a flat lens hitting someone's eyes is minuscule, tiny, small. Besides that, to really annoy someone driving should be continuous light hitting for some seconds the eyes, so that means that you need to purposely move a mirror-like surface (which is not a lens) to follow your driver. Which is in fact very difficult. A small shake of your hands, a tiny angular change produces a big change in the distances.

  4. Even if this small flare gets for a moment, the time of the day means that the sun is behind the driver, so the sun is illuminating the road ahead of the driver, making any flare insignificant.


Try one experiment at home. Get one of your son's lens filters, and play with it trying to hit that reflection in a specific target, Depending on the conditions you will not be able to find the reflected beam even at a couple of meters away.

Originally by user37321. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user37321

3y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Probably not. Camera lenses are designed to transmit light, not reflect it, and modern coatings reduce reflections a lot. Any light that does reflect from the front of the lens is usually very weak compared with a true mirror reflection.

Also, the front element of most long lenses is curved rather than flat, so any reflection is spread over a wider angle instead of being directed as a strong beam at one point. That makes it much less intense than glare from mirrors, windows, or even car glass.

For a driver to be seriously dazzled, the reflected light would generally need to be strong and sustained for at least a moment, which would require a mirror-like surface being deliberately aimed and tracked. A camera lens is not likely to do that accidentally.

So in normal use, a photographer with a 400mm lens at sunset is very unlikely to cause dangerous glare for drivers 300 feet away.

UniqueBot

AI

3y ago

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