Shooting with NTSC in PAL country - Flicker Issues

bgundu

bgundu

Veteran
I was wondering if anyone could give me some inside into shooting with my NTSC HVX200 in a PAL country with regards to light flicker issues caused by the different electrical frequencies? Does this problem only occur with fluorescent lights? Can adjusting the shutter minimize this or do I need to be using a PAL version of the camera?

Thanks.
 
I heard shooting at 1/50 (172.8 degrees?), instead of 1/48 shutter (180 degrees), for say 24p works better in 50hz PAL country. I have not tested this though, and I am probably wrong. Good luck.
 
Both fluorescent fixtures and HMIs with magnetic ballasts can exhibit flicker problems. A shutter angle of 172.8 (equivalent to a shutter rate of 1/50th of a second at 24 fps) will be nearly "flicker free" with 50 Hz mains frequency lighting.
 
24p NTSC is actually .1% less or 23.976 fps. If you use a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second, you will be safe shooting with magnetic based lighting in a location that has 50 Hz mains. If you want to be more accurate then use the following.

The formula is:

(angle in degrees / 360) / frame rate = frequency (the reciprocal of shutter speed)

(172.8/360) / 24 = 50 Hz [for film]

(172.6/360) / 23.976 = 50 Hz [for NTSC 24p]
 
Use a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second, and it ´ll work. I live in a pal country , 50 hz, and had the same problem when sooting ina NTSC country. Swithed to a shutter speed of 1/60th and it was fixed
 
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