Help, flickering screen

B

Beeboop

Active member
Camera was working fine for the three weeks I've had it but now there is extreme banding. I don't know if the meta bones is causing the issue since I don't own a Sony lens. I'll rule it out this coming Monday. The banding occurs at all shutter speeds, fstops and iso.

Can someone give me a suggestion as to how I should approach the problem? Anyone else ever experienced this?
 
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Does it appear in the original images, or just after you apply a LUT? Because LUTs and the programs people use to apply LUTs are the source of this problems 80% of the time. I use curve presets instead.
 
Samuel H said:
Does it appear in the original images, or just after you apply a LUT? Because LUTs and the programs people use to apply LUTs are the source of this problems 80% of the time. I use curve presets instead.
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It appears on the LCD screen of the A7S ii. I think the problem might be related to the frequency of some lights. When I changed the shutter to 100, the problem went away under Tokyo subway lights. I'm using a Sigma 18-35. It was very bad earlier in a greyhound bus.
 
OK, that sounds like flicker (you see a band of light moving up or down across the screen), not banding (color transitions show steps in the gradation). And, as you already found, the solution is to use a shutter speed that matches the AC frequency of the lights (in Japan, 50 Hz in most areas, though I also think some are 60 Hz). Stick to shutter speeds that are multiples of 50 and it should be OK.
 
Be aware the same issue can occur with still images captured with an electronic shutter. The resulting image can display what looks like severe banding.
 
Samuel H said:
OK, that sounds like flicker (you see a band of light moving up or down across the screen), not banding (color transitions show steps in the gradation). And, as you already found, the solution is to use a shutter speed that matches the AC frequency of the lights (in Japan, 50 Hz in most areas, though I also think some are 60 Hz). Stick to shutter speeds that are multiples of 50 and it should be OK.
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Are multiples always supposed to work? I've found that only 50 works and nothing higher in Tokyo subway.
 
It depends on the quality of the lights. My CFLs and my LEDs are fine at 50, 100 and 200, but flicker from 400 onwards. Fixtures at a place I shoot relatively often are fine at 50 and 100 but flicker already at 200. Better lights can work fine at 400, 800, 1600...
 
puzzlevideo said:
Normally 30 , 50 and 100 are the only speeds that works. It's not even 150 nor 200... just those 3.

Let us know.
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It depends on the lighting as Samuel said. I've found that only low frequency works in Tokyo, 50 or lower but when dealing with multiple light sources that that creates a problem.
 
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