Welding shots - safety precautions?

[elephunk]

Discussion of a welding shot of mine in SYS prompts me to ask here, what safety precautions should one have in place when filming electric arc welding? On the day I was just shooting for a few minutes, was careful to stay out of reach of any sparks, use a UV filter to protect my lens and avoid looking directly at the arc, but are there real risks to my sensor (and more importantly my eyeballs) that I should be taking more precautions with? I'd like to head back there and get some more shots, it's a great subject.

Cheers

[archersdad]

If the arc is fairly intense you can get a sunburn pretty quickly. It's also very hard on your eyes to look at an unshielded arc and can cause permanent damage. I'm sure they have an old lens or helmet they would let you use to protect your eyes. Even with a good lens, I have sunburned the skin around my eyes after a couple hours of welding.

[candleman]

as above

1. sunburn (we're talking UV radiation here..) theres a reason they wear a full facemask.. its not about the sparks, they dont really hurt.

2. even looking in the rough direction of the arc will give you arc eye (i've had it.. you dont want it.)
if you thought having sea sand in your eyes was bad. try arc eye, it lasts allot longer.

so, ! precautions..
use your live view i guess. wear a cap or anything else that will cover your face or exposed skin (like hands)
dont look through your viewfinder.. without welding grade glases.. i'd just close my eyes, and frame broadly leaving room to crop.

i dont think it will damage the sensor very easily.. i have heard of the sun damaging sensors.. mostly the error just turns things green for that particular shot and its OK later.. but long exposures might do some damage. *shrug*
i'm not sure exactly.. i dont point MY camera at the sun thats for sure..

[OsmosisStudios]

There's a good reason people yell "EYES!" when they fire one up. As I learned while assembling a chassis with some school friends.

Thos suckers are bright.

I'd go along with what others have suggested already. As long as youre not exposing the sensor to that light for very long (unlikely), then you wont be hurting anything. Just watch your eyes: cameras can be replaced, your eyes cant.

[cellophane]

i wouldnt recommend touching anything that has been recently welded either. i went without fingerprints for a week or so because of that... i r smrt.

depending on what you are shooting you could use a tripod and remote and you wouldnt need to be too near the welds / welders.