you'll go blind, etc. etc. etc.

Let's put this in perspective. LOTS of little things can damage you or your camera. Looking at the sun with your eyes can damage your eyes. Inhaling second hand smoke or paint fumes will kill brain cells, leaving your camera out in the heat will ruin it. Oils from your hands and face will degrade the plastic on your camera and ruin it. Perhaps on a really hot day your camera can spontaneously combust and the fumes from the burning magnesium can kill you.

While any of this may or may not be true, does this mean you should walk around in fear because something bad might happen to you or your camera? If that's the case then the best way to keep your camera working perfectly and running like new would be to never take it out of the box.

When I got into videography countless people kept telling me the same thing: that by shooting time lapses of sunsets/sunrises that I would kill my CCD. Hmm, well, I've had my camera for a little over a year now and still don't notice any image degradation. Does it mean that my camera won't last as long as one whose owner never pointed it at the sun? Perhaps, but why in the world am I going to let that stop me from getting an awesome shot?

Sure, it's not the BEST idea to shoot directly toward the sun, but it's not the end of the world like everyone makes it out to be, especially when it involved small to moderate amounts of exposure. Of course a 2 minute bulb shot might do some serious harm, but snapping off a quick shot or two isn't.

You also have to put into perspective the expected life of such product. They always said about computer monitors that if you don't use a screensaver you'll kill the monitor. OK, so maybe instead of it lasting 30 years it will only last 15. Are you really going to keep it THAT long? I've had my 20" Hitachi monitor for about 3 years and leave it on w/ no screensaver or powersaver settings (needed to prevent encoding problems when working with video) and it's fine.

If your goal is for your camera to last forever, then yes, beware of the sun demons that will attack your precious CCD. Otherwise, just use common sense and go out there and capture some stunning shots!