Kim Janson wrote:Pointing long zoom wide open to the sun, sure you could damage the sensor.
with wide lens less likely so especially if you use ND filter as you probably should anyway.
If the amount of light you let into the sensor is such that it does not over expose the sensor, I do not see how there would be any problems.
A wider lens will cast a smaller image of the sun on the sensor; a smaller area means a higher concentration of light. Also, the sun image will move more slowly, exposing the pixels in its path to a higher amount of irradiation over time.
Besides that, whether or not the overall exposure is correct is pointless, considering that the sun image will be several orders of magnitude brighter than everything else in the frame.
All things considered, whether the concern is legit or not I don't know and I really would like to hear from the sensor manufacturers what the damage threshold is.