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GH2 electrical interference
  • Hello, I am an audio engineer who is a newbie with video. I bought a GH2 and I have my first real project coming up in two weeks shooting some interview footage. I have been doing some tests and I noticed this interference pattern on the screen. I searched for this topic and found some info but I wasn't sure if the posts I found were speaking about this same issue. I want to know if this is a normal issue to work around or if there is a problem with my camera. I noticed that the interference pattern is different depending on the light source, and does not seem to occur with incandescents, which make sense if this is an issue with flicker rate of lights and the interaction of the shutter speed. I noticed how the interference changed with shutter speed but the only setting where it went away was 1/40 shutter speed. Oh, I was wondering too if firmware hacks have any effect on issues like this. I am currently running Sanity X, but in my test footage it was Sanity 5.1 setting. I apologize in advance because this test footage is ridiculous. It was not meant to be good footage in the first place, I was simply trying to show the interference pattern. Then I compressed it way too far because I wanted to make a small file for upload to be quick. It is terrible, but I think it will show what I am talking about good enough.

    What advice is there for dealing with this issue? Just change lighting? Do CFL have this problem as well. Would 1/40 shutter speed be ok at 24p or will the motion look weird? Sorry for my ignorance, and thank you for your patience.

  • 2 Replies sorted by
  • It's because of the Alternating current. The eyes can not see it because they aren't good enough but the camera since it is using an electronical shutter can.

    In other words: During a second, the lights goes on and off a couple of times rapidly that humans eyes can not see BUT lower the shutter and higher you'll get this result since sometime it'll open when the electricity is off and so the room completely dark. And since it records vertical lines one after another you get this weird dark line results.

    Solution is as you said to goes to 1/40 or lower (depends what you really want) or simply use continuous current lights. and get rid of the alternating one if you plan a shot that pans very smoothly.

  • Thank you for the response.