Need to identify what happened

[Terri French]

We were at my daughters house tonight for Christmas Eve. I was taking some photos of the kids. I had the camera on silent shutter. When we were in their basement all the photos had stripes in them. The ones I took upstairs were fine. I tried when I got home and everything is working fine. Does anyone know what could have caused this problem? How could I have prevented it?

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[Replytoken]

My first guess is the frequency of the lighting. What shutter speed did you use? I am guessing that if you shot at 1/60th, you might be fine.

Good luck,

--Ken

 

[480sparky]

Lemme guess: LED lighting.

 

[Terri French]

My first guess is the frequency of the lighting. What shutter speed did you use? I am guessing that if you shot at 1/60th, you might be fine.

Good luck,

--Ken

My shutter was 1/200. I'll experiment with it tomorrow when we go back to her house.

 

[Phil K]

My shutter was 1/200. I'll experiment with it tomorrow when we go back to her house.

Try using shutter priority. There should be no bands at 1/60 and 1/120.

 

[Terri French]

Try using shutter priority. There should be no bands at 1/60 and 1/120.

Thank you, Phil. I'll try it.

 

[Clix Pix]

"Rolling Shutter," often caused by fluorescent lighting, if I recall correctly.....

 

[Terri French]

Thank you, Connie. They don’t have fluorescent, but some sort of led lighting.

 

[Palouse]

I tried this a few days ago under LED light. Silent shutter=banding; mechanical shutter=just fine. As Connie notes, rolling shutter effect.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Thom Hogan's explanation excerpted from his Z6/Z7 Guide: "You may see flicker or banding when shooting under frequency-based lighting (fluorescent, mercury vapor, sodium, and LED). That’s because the electronic shutter is a rolling shutter—it only gathers light from a narrow band at a time, slowly moving down the sensor band by band. You may need to set your shutter speed longer than 1/15 so as to not get pattern interference in frequency-based lighting."

He uses silent photography only when he has to use it. That's because of that and other limitations.

 

[gryphon1911]

Turn on flicker reduction mode and that should handle it.

 

[Mike Buckley]

Turn on flicker reduction mode and that should handle it.

Thom Hogan's Guide says "Don’t turn [flicker reduction] On unless you know that you need it. That’s because it will distort the shutter release timing a bit."

 

[Clix Pix]

"Rolling shutter" and fluorescent ( I didn't realize that other light sources could also be problematic) have been an issue for a while. Even before I purchased and began using my new gear I was aware of the potential of issues when using silent mode. About the only time I use "silent mode" on my camera is when I am outdoors shooting wildlife who might be spooked by the sound of the shutter being released, especially at "Continuous High". In my kitchen at home, with its fluorescent light fixture, I definitely avoid silent shutter! Since I am not a wedding shooter or someone who shoots in situations where a silent shutter really is necessary, this hasn't been a big issue for me. It is something, though, which all photographers using current mirrorless cameras need to know about.

 

[gryphon1911]

Thom Hogan's Guide says "Don’t turn [flicker reduction] On unless you know that you need it. That’s because it will distort the shutter release timing a bit."

I’ve never experienced this phenomenon and I basically leave the flicker reduction mode on all the time.

 

[Mike Buckley]

I’ve never experienced this phenomenon and I basically leave the flicker reduction mode on all the time.

That doesn't surprise me. Consider Hogan's clarification: "Normally you won’t notice [shutter lag] as the delay this function imposes tends to be incredibly short for a single shot. But if you’re shooting in continuous mode you might notice hiccuping to the frame rate with this function active and lighting that has frequency-based sources." And the following: "Also note that Flicker reduction, when active, will often produce continuous shooting that doesn’t match your fps setting."

By the way, when using the focus shifting capability, the camera automatically turns off the flicker reduction even if the user had enabled it.

 

[Mitchell]

These are from the LED lights. I've been struggling with the same issue in my operating room over the past 3 months since we "upgraded" our surgical lights to LED. It's been quite frustrating.

 

[480sparky]

Are the LEDs on any sort of dimmer?

 

[gchappel]

The banding will go away when you get out of silent shutter, as stated above.
I do not believe flicker reduction has anything to do with this type of banding. It helps control light flicker which effects the whole frame- even if in mechanical shutter mode.
I have tried electronic shutter multiple times, and between the banding and the rolling shutter distortions I no longer even try it.
gary

 

[Terri French]

Thank you all! I will turn off silent shooting unless I really need it.

 

[Maurie]

Fluorescent lighting?