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Being forced to shoot with 3mx3m LED curtain (and flickers)


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This is odd. My post disappeared. Fortunately I kept a copy . Trying again..... (third attempt)

Im doing a faux-glamour shoot as part of a masterclass on camera rigs, flags, etc - using a warm LED 3m x 3m curtain light  (about 200 lights) and of course Im getting a flicker but I cant change the lights. (its a cheap consumer light effect and of course that's the cause of the problem but I have to live and work with this as Im  using this as a background effect so I can get a starfield sort of effect - and have it defocussed behind the subject for bokeh)

I tend to shoot 24fps progressive onto Prores444 10bit with c500 and odyssey 7q Can I get some suggestions of loosing the god awful flicker IN CAMERA?  I had/have 180 degree shutter and tried clearscan setting on the c500  but just get stuttered motion. Any thoughts welcome? Ditching the leds and constructing a 3m x 3m black cardboard sheet with holes punched is not even on the menu)

 

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61p74O5Nc%2BL._SX425_.jpg

 

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Sorry, I was travelling.

Try the shutter tricks. Bear in mind some LEDs are full-wave rectified - don't worry if that doesn't make sense, but it may mean they actually flicker at double the mains frequency, so try 120 and 100Hz options as well.

If this light curtain does tricks - fading in and out, twinkling, chasing patterns, etc., then you may find there is no shutter setting which will solve the problem. At that point you will probably have to accept it isn't going to happen and find another solution. The way LED light effects flicker is not generally related to anything very predictable or stable and there is often no way to shoot them without flicker.

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Fiddle with your shutter angle, and if there's anyway to force the LED curtain to stay at maximum brightness, do that (it's often any kind of dimming that causes flicker issues with consumer LEDs, but at full output, it sometimes goes away).

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