XL-1 flickering image
 

At times my movies contain some flickering of the image, it will not last long (a few seconds) and it is easily edited out but I am curious as to what is causing this. Could it be the automatic exposure setting? I have done a test on the manual setting and then switched to Auto but I cannot get the flickering to appear at whim so its hard to determin. Ideas?

My camera is serviced every year by Canon and the heads are new last year.

Stewart

Sometimes you can get flickering of sorts when the available light is from a discharge lamp; e.g., fluorescent or high pressure metallic, depending on shutter speed.

Have you closely checked the shots with flicker for any common factor in exposure, camcorder settings, lighting, etc.

You can easily get a "Strobing" effect, which could be described a "Flickering", when you record at a high shutter speed.

For example, try this test. On a bright sunny day, set the camera to manual, set the exposure to 1/250th of a second (250 on the camera), then point to some trees or like vertical objects. If you pan, then you will see strobing. But you will probably not see the strobing in the viewfinder.

To avoid this, use 1/60th of a second exposure (60 in the camera).

XL-1 Flickering Image
 

Thanks for your replies...

I am not filming near any fluorescent lighting, all of my shots with the flickering are outside. I think the shutter speed theory is a possibility because the problem shows itself on a bright sunny day. I'll be sure to test it.

I have checked the affected shots within my editor frame by frame and it looks as if the exposure lightens and then darkens a fraction for each frame.

Thanks again,
Stewart ;-)