Uploaded January 2016 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
If you're getting ready to film something with your DSLR or any other camera that gives you manual control over your settings and you see that the image is flickering, the fix is usually simple. Increase or decrease your shutter speed until the flicker is gone.
Not all light is continuous. Some light, especially florescent, LED and other artificial lighting, uses pulses of light.
If you find yourself shooting video in one of these types of light, there is a couple things you can do to fix your image.
As mentioned above, you can simply move your shutter speed up or down. You don't usually have to move very far from your original shutter speed in order to fix the flickering light. In this video you'll see I get good results at 1/40 and 1/60. Both are only one step away from my default of 1/50th. In general nobody will notice a difference. But they will notice the image flickering so that choice to stray from the 180 degree shutter rule is not a difficult one in this case.
You can also change your frame rate but this can be less effective and it also involves a different shutter speed. In our case we would have to increase our frame rate and shutter to something higher than we are already using and this would make it more difficult to get a proper exposure.
In addition, you will likely have much more work to do or experience issues in post production when you mix frame rates. My advice would be to stick to using your shutter to solve your flickering issue.
Article that explains more of the science behind video flicker: red.com/learn/red-101/flicker-free-video-tutorial
Subscribe to this channel: youtube.com/thepodcasterssstudio
Follow on twitter: twitter.com/podcasthelper
Check out the facebook page: facebook.com/podcasthelper
Support Ray on Patreon.com/Ray get rewards!
*Gear used to make this video:
Sennheiser ew100 G2 Wireless Lapel Microphone podhelp.me/Sennkit
Edirol R-05 (replacement for the R-05 seen here) podhelp.me/r-05bh
Sigma 30mm 1.4 ART (new, better version) B&H: podhelp.me/30mmsigma Amazon: podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Manfrotto 701 HDV Tripod podhelp.me/701hdv055xbkit (discontinued) Amazon replacement: podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate and Base podhelp.me/394plate
Tokina 11-16mm Canon mount, APS-C podhelp.me/tokina11-16CanonAPSCBH
Canon 60D DSLR camera podhelp.me/60DbodyBH
Transcend SD card 32GB Class 10 UHS1podhelp.me/trans32gbC10Ultim600_32GBU1
*all links should be considered affiliate links. Using these links helps support this content. I always encourage you to shop around for the best prices at the time you are viewing this. You can read my ethics statement via thepodcastersstudio.com/ethics. Thanks for the support!
If you're getting ready to film something with your DSLR or any other camera that gives you manual control over your settings and you see that the image is flickering, the fix is usually simple. Increase or decrease your shutter speed until the flicker is gone.
Not all light is continuous. Some light, especially florescent, LED and other artificial lighting, uses pulses of light.
If you find yourself shooting video in one of these types of light, there is a couple things you can do to fix your image.
As mentioned above, you can simply move your shutter speed up or down. You don't usually have to move very far from your original shutter speed in order to fix the flickering light. In this video you'll see I get good results at 1/40 and 1/60. Both are only one step away from my default of 1/50th. In general nobody will notice a difference. But they will notice the image flickering so that choice to stray from the 180 degree shutter rule is not a difficult one in this case.
You can also change your frame rate but this can be less effective and it also involves a different shutter speed. In our case we would have to increase our frame rate and shutter to something higher than we are already using and this would make it more difficult to get a proper exposure.
In addition, you will likely have much more work to do or experience issues in post production when you mix frame rates. My advice would be to stick to using your shutter to solve your flickering issue.
Article that explains more of the science behind video flicker: red.com/learn/red-101/flicker-free-video-tutorial
Subscribe to this channel: youtube.com/thepodcasterssstudio
Follow on twitter: twitter.com/podcasthelper
Check out the facebook page: facebook.com/podcasthelper
Support Ray on Patreon.com/Ray get rewards!
*Gear used to make this video:
Sennheiser ew100 G2 Wireless Lapel Microphone podhelp.me/Sennkit
Edirol R-05 (replacement for the R-05 seen here) podhelp.me/r-05bh
Sigma 30mm 1.4 ART (new, better version) B&H: podhelp.me/30mmsigma Amazon: podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Manfrotto 701 HDV Tripod podhelp.me/701hdv055xbkit (discontinued) Amazon replacement: podhelp.me/S30mm1-4ArtAmazon
Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate and Base podhelp.me/394plate
Tokina 11-16mm Canon mount, APS-C podhelp.me/tokina11-16CanonAPSCBH
Canon 60D DSLR camera podhelp.me/60DbodyBH
Transcend SD card 32GB Class 10 UHS1podhelp.me/trans32gbC10Ultim600_32GBU1
*all links should be considered affiliate links. Using these links helps support this content. I always encourage you to shop around for the best prices at the time you are viewing this. You can read my ethics statement via thepodcastersstudio.com/ethics. Thanks for the support!
