Have you ever noticed that the LED lights on your camera appear to be flickering at regular intervals, although everything appears fine to the naked eye? Why do led lights flicker on camera? The question may come to mind after that! But there is no cause for afraid, as this is common.
This is visible since the frame per second of the recording, and the frequency of electricity do not correspond, which is why LED lights flicker when recorded. The term for this phenomenon is the “strobe effect.”
But why do LED lights not flicker when viewed with our eyes? This is because flickering occurs too quickly, meaning that the frequency of electricity changes at extremely brief intervals, rendering flickering imperceptibly to human vision.
Why do LED Lights flicker on camera?
On camera, lights flicker for several different reasons. For example, the speed of your camera’s frame rate is much faster than how fast the diodes in the lights turn on and off.
In the US, most lights use the 60Hz standard, which means they turn on and off 60 times per second. Most of the time, the human eye can’t see this independently.
But it would seem to flicker with a camera (check latest collections) with a high video frame rate or shutter speed. If a light source is connected to an alternating current instead of a direct current, it may flicker on camera.
When dimming techniques like Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) are used to make special effects in photography, the flickering effect can also be seen.
How to Stop LED Lights from Flickering on a camera?
Some people find it annoying when lights go on and off quickly. Some things can be done to lessen or even eliminate this effect. Here are some ways to stop a camera from flickering:
Change the speed of the shutter
The shutter speed is an important part of capturing details in the frame. You need to know how often the power comes on to change the shutter speed. You can change the shutter speed by hand, and it’s best to set it to a number that is a multiple of 50 or 60.
What makes the difference is where you are taking the video. In the US, you must use a multiple of 60, but everywhere else, you can use a multiple of 50. The difference in the current frequency (in Hertz) makes this trick work.
For example, if the power source is 60 Hertz and you are making a video, you may need to shoot at 30 fps and set the shutter speed to divisible intervals by 60, such as 1/60, 1/120, and so on. It will make the flickering less noticeable.
Some LED lights have drivers that let you change how often they turn on and off. You can eliminate the strobe effect if you set their flickering speed to be faster than your camera’s frame rate.
Adjust the FPS
The fast FPS speed lets your camera record more details, which makes the effect of flickering even more obvious than it is. When there are more frames per second, there is a higher chance that the flickering effect will be caught on video.
This is what makes the spooky effect. You can make this effect less likely to happen by lowering the FPS setting on the camera. If it doesn’t work, check to see if the light bulb flickers.
Adjust the brightness of the light source
If you can, you can also change the brightness of the light to stop flickering. Less flickering will happen because the light is not as bright.
But there will be a problem if the frame is too dark. So, you can change the camera’s settings to compensate for the dull light source.
Get away from the source of light
It is the easiest way to make a video less likely to flicker. As you move away from the light source, the light will become less bright and less able to reflect. It will enable ‘quieter’ capture. But this method does have a drawback.
Moving away from the light source will make the frame darker, so you must adjust the aperture and exposure settings to match. So, you need to find the right balance between these two things. If you don’t, you’ll end up with either too-dark or too-bright footage.
The Sun doesn’t flicker
Remember that the Sun is always shining, so you can use any setting on your camera when you’re outside, no matter what country you live in. Remember that the camera’s lights will only flicker if any artificial light is in the video and you use the wrong camera setting outside.
Also, keep in mind that not all man-made lights flicker. Studio lights that are more expensive and special are made to pulse at a very high frequency. This makes them look like they are always on and eliminates the flickering problem.
There are other ways to stop the LED light on the camera screen from flickering:
Here are some helpful tips on how to fix the flickering problem or keep it from happening.
- If you use a battery to turn on the lamp, the flicker will disappear from the screen.
- Don’t use slow motion when shooting inside. Instead, use this feature only when shooting outside, maybe not at night, but during the day.
- You can add the slow-motion effect after the production is done.