This $2,200 Sony Camera Got Fried by a Tattoo Removal Laser

You probably know that the lasers in concerts and even on self-driving cars can damage your camera’s sensor in a direct hit, but did you know that light reflected off skin during laser tattoo removal can also destroy your sensor? Watch this 37-second video to see for yourself.

The video was recorded by Andy Boyd, who had his $2,200 Sony a7S II permanently damaged by pulses from the tattoo removal laser.

“Don’t record laser tattoo removal on… anything,” Boyd writes. “You can see with each pulse the sensor shows new damage. The repair cost was about as much as a new camera so try to avoid this.

“Club lasers can do this too but we’d never seen the reflection of a laser beam do damage, only when the beam itself hits the sensor.”

So if you’re ever around any kind of powerful laser being used for any kind of purpose, you may want to think twice before pulling out your digital camera.