how do you avoid time lapse flicker with Canon 7D???

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
For some reason, I always get time lapse flicker when I shoot time lapse with any DSLR.

I'm now shooting with my Canon 7D.

Is there any way to avoid time lapse flicker?

If not, any way to remove it in post? And if so, what would be the best software?

Thanks in advance,

- Nick
 
I havent found any that work well.. But you will only get it if you use somthing on auto..as this is only really nessesary when you are going from say daylight to a dark timelapse to keep the right exposure. If you set it on manual..then you wont get it.
 
Shooting in full manual didn't fix it for me, from what I've read the iris still tends to move slightly because of the electronics in the lens. I've used a plugin that worked great. I wish I could remember the name I think Philip bloom recommends it, you can try it out for free.
 
wow that would seriously irritate me. what lens and what mode are you shooting in?

maybe try Av mode and keep at minimum aperture so the electronics are less likely to vary aperture value.
 
I am also interested in this issue.
I have recently shooted some frames for a timelapse with the t2i and a 50mm Super Takumar in Shutter priority mode. So theoretically the shutter speed was fixed by the camera, and the aperture was fixed by the lens. However, there are some singular frames here and there in the set that appear to have less exposure than the others (darker). Lightning conditions haven't changed, since all was shot at night with city lights. I don't know if this flickering is due to the cheap focus confirm M42 to EOS adapter or to the camera or whatever else. However, it is really annoying because now I may have to correct this thing frame by frame, unless there is some plugin for final cut pro that can do this. It is something like 1 frame every 10 or 20 is darker. Any suggestions for this?

Regarding EOS lenses I found out that shooting in shutter priority mode and locking the aperture (* button), while keeping all the automatic compensations of the camera in off position (highlight tone, automatic exposure, etc.) appears to work well. I forgot to lock the aperture once and I ended up with a set of frames where the aperture varied from 18 to 32. I think this is unuseable even if you de-flicker somehow.
 
Flicker with timelapse is a common problem, and usually caused by some exposure variation caused either by the camera (many people suspect iris variations) or sensor issues. From personal tests I can say that while iris variation could be a contributor, I also noticed some flicker when using manual iris lenses than never moved the iris while shooting.

The light around us is constantly varying but the human eye/brain does not notice the fast changes, only the slower ones. Light can change due to clouds moving, trees moving in the breeze etc. Cameras will pick these changes up vey easily, especially if you have a fast shutter speed.

I found the best way was to use manual mode throughout and even more important to make the exposure time as long as possible relative to the shooting interval. If you are using (say) a 2 second interval, the shutter needs to be open as close to 2 seconds as you can get it. This will have the effect of evening out all the variations between frames because light is averaged over a much longer time.

I wrote a small java app to deflicker a sequence of jpg files..... need to figure out where I put it because it worked quite well. I haven't done timelapse like this for a while though ....
 
Exact said:
I wrote a small java app to deflicker a sequence of jpg files..... need to figure out where I put it because it worked quite well.
Click to expand...

Interested to see what this does, and to what extent it corrects flicker.
 
one question, do you have either highlight tone priority or auto lighting optimizer enabled? either one may alter exposure outside the normal shutter/aperture ranges. i always keep anything like that OFF for time lapse work.
 
Lately these options are always off on my camera. But these may have been indeed the source of the flicker I have noticed.
 
kostas said:
Lately these options are always off on my camera. But these may have been indeed the source of the flicker I have noticed.
Click to expand...

they can do it; same with nikons adaptive dynamic range in time lapses or even quick bursts. for time lapses, unless you are bracketing things (which isnt a bad idea) always make sure your auto iso, adr/alo and any sort of highlight protection is turned off. i also disable all forms of noise reduction, be it high-iso or long exposure iso. most editing suites have MUCH better algorithms for dealing with noise.
 
When everything is set to manual, sometimes I have flickers caused by the light source. I try to avoid common light bulbs or fluorescent lights. We don't see it but they vary enough in time to cause flickers when accelerated.
 
I get the same thing and i shoot my time lapses on full manual with Leica lenses that have manual aperture on the barrel. I usually just throw them out, i would rather have a small jump in my motion or scene than a jump in the lighting. Mine always seem to over expose the shot rather than under.
 
The eye-piece

The eye-piece

I was researching this topic a while ago and I read that light can sneak into the sensor through the eyepiece. Even though it's digital light can still creep in once and a while. I just tape a piece of paper or a piece of gaffers tape over the eyepiece, I don't know if it makes much of a difference but I do it anyway just in case. Hope this helps out a little.
 
Andrew H. said:
I was researching this topic a while ago and I read that light can sneak into the sensor through the eyepiece. Even though it's digital light can still creep in once and a while. I just tape a piece of paper or a piece of gaffers tape over the eyepiece, I don't know if it makes much of a difference but I do it anyway just in case. Hope this helps out a little.
Click to expand...

This is why the 7D comes with that little piece you can put over the eye cup I was told, to keep light from leaking in reverse through it.
 
Yeah, every canon EOS camera i have had has a little rubber piece on the strap (if you used the stock strap that is) that is for covering that up.

That is one thing that i have to hand to Nikon, all of their cameras have a little switch in the eye piece that will close it off in order to stop light leaking.

I hate the stock canon straps so i always replace them woth something softer.
 
Sorry for the delay in replying. I'll try posting some footage this weekend. By time lapse flicker, I mean I keep getting an odd frame where the exposure seems different to all the other frames. Even though everything was set to manual. Every x number of frames, there's always that one odd frame out where the exposure is different for just that frame. So played back at normal speed, every few seconds, you see that flicker caused by the usual odd frame out.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
By time lapse flicker, I mean I keep getting an odd frame where the exposure seems different to all the other frames. Even though everything was set to manual. Every x number of frames, there's always that one odd frame out where the exposure is different for just that frame.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I get with a manual lens, where aperture is fixed on the lens, whereas Shutter speed is fixed by the camera. I thought it was due to the M42 to EOS adapter with focus confirm poor quality, but Zissou suggested it could be the highlight tone priority or auto lighting optimizer that are enabled accidentaly. Do you have these options disabled?
 
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