Will 1/30 shutter flicker problems be evident on LCD?

F

firehawk

Veteran
During event shooting in low light with CCD (HMC150) and CMOS (NEX EA50) cameras and using a 1/30 shutter if there are to be flicker problems due to lighting frequencies (fluorescents, sodium vapor, mercury vapor, HMI, and some LED lighting (when using a dimmer)) can the problem be seen on the camera LCD while shooting?

I have been flirting with this a little so far with no problems but I don't want to some day get back to edit and realize the footage is ruined when it looked fine on the LCD during shooting.
 
The answer is: maybe. Depends on how severe the issue is, and sometimes in how high-contrast or low-contrast the image you're shooting is.

Here's what I've found -- if you're going to have a problem, you'll be able to easily see it at 1/250 or above. So try that -- swap over to 1/250 and check out the image, if it's rock-solid then you won't have any problem at 1/30. However, while this technique will work with fluos and vapors and HMIs, it doesn't always work with LED's. LED lights are just not predictable when it comes to their effect on CMOS sensors, it depends on whether they're dimmed and by what mechanism they're dimmed and to what degree they're dimmed.
 
Thank you very much. I'll do the 1/250 test every time now to check.
Are CCD cameras much more resistant to LED lighting problems?
 
Yes and no. They are resistant to the obvious problem of scrolling bars, but they manifest it in a different way; under fluos or vapor lights you can see a consistent cycling of white balance on a CCD camera, instead of rolling bars. As for LEDs, I don't know, I haven't tried that test.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top