Planning to photograph the upcoming solar eclipse? You’d better make sure you have the right solar filter to protect your camera. Here’s a 2-minute video that shows how shooting the sun without protection can completely melt your DSLR’s guts.

The folks over at Every Photo Store in Dubuque, Iowa, decided to do a test to see what unprotected solar photography can do to a camera. They mounted an old Canon Rebel XT (AKA 350D) to a $10,000 Canon 400mm f/2.8 IS II lens, pointed it up at the sun, and watched to see what would happen.

With the mirror down (and without even shooting a single photo), things started smoking and the mirror mechanism quickly had issues flipping up all the way after just a few moments.

Next, the mirror was locked up using a paper clip to show what happens when the shutter and sensor are exposed to the midday sun. In just seconds, a good amount of smoke began pouring out of the mirror box.

Looking into the camera, they found that the focused sunlight had melted through the shutter and sensor:

“We made this video to make people aware of the damage they can cause to their camera by pointing it at the sun without a solar filter,” Every Photo Store tells PetaPixel. “We burned through the shutter and sensor in a matter of minutes!”

Always use proper protection when shooting the sun, folks!