I've been filming a lot of sunrises and sun close-ups lately. Could the sun cause any damage to the A1 or lens? Should I avoid any shutter speeds or f stops?

I have the following UV filter attached: http://www.vistek.ca/details/details.aspx?WebCode=102742

I'm sure its fine since I see many sunrise videos posted here, but I'm always paranoid about damaging that thing.

I’ve shot literally thousands of sunrises/sunsets across GL, XL, and now XH cams and never experienced a problem. My general rule is… if you can look at it, you can film it.

I actually just returned from Puerto Vallarta covering turtle releases at sunset.
Really amazing sunsets there. That AA plane that caught fire yesterday was my connection in Chicago..so it took forever to get home.

yes the sun can damage your A1. But like Eric said, if you can look at it, then you can probably shoot it. The intensity of the sun during sunset and sunrise is very low and you will be fine. But pointing it at the sun mid-day is not wise....plus, there shouldnt even be a reason to do so in the first place.

I shot from about 6:30am to 8:30 which is well past sunrise. By 8 it was getting pretty hard to look at so I guess I should have stopped there. I'll have to watch out for that next time.

Thanks guys.

Also, see page 18 of your user's manual.

What can possibly happen if you do point the camera at the sun?
I recently shot few interviews for my project and two of them were shot from low angle pointing up that the person speaking is blocking the sun. I wanted that look for this particular project. Iris wide open for the person to be visible and it is around 2pm in august.
Obviously sometimes, when the person moved a bit, the sun was right into my lens for few seconds or even a minute during setup.
What can happen and would it be obvious for me to see rather than confusing it with just camera's weak side (I'm new to video and own A1 for only few months)