Fight the Flicker! Tips for Shooting Video Under Fluorescent Lighting

May 19, 2016

By Laura Brauer

Shooting video under fluorescent lights can introduce an odd flickering in your footage. This flicker is the result of a mismatch between the pulses of light emanating from a bulb and your camera’s frame rate. Basically, since video is really just the rapid collection of still images, the interval between when a still image is captured and a fluorescent light pulses need to align or else your camera will record frames with different exposure (thus, the flicker).

The problem also rears its head if you travel between the U.S. and Europe, where light pulses at different frequencies.

Fortunately, Jonas, of Rob & Jonas’ Filmmaking Tips, has put together this short tutorial on how to work around fluorescent flicker whether you’re shooting in the U.S. or Europe. Your two tools: frame rate and shutter speed.

Hat tip: DIY Photography

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