Vision sensors using the optical triangulation have been widely used for automatic welding systems in various ways, but their reliability is seriously affected by presence of the arc noise. The reliability of vision sensors was analyzed with variation of the arc noise by considering the reflectance of the base metal. first, the properties of the base metals reflection were modelled by using the Bidirectional Reflectance-Distribution Function(BRDF), and then the variation of the reflected arc intensity was formulated for various configurations of the torch, base metal, and sensor. The experimental data of the gray level of the reflected arc light were obtained for two materials, mild steel and stainless steel. It was found that the results calculated from the proposed model were in good agreement with the experimental data.