Gaffe made with fluorescents - please help!
 

Hi there.

I'm making my first documentary, self financed, low budget, learning all the way and making lots of mistakes.

I'm from the UK and visited LA to take footage. I was inside a room filled with fluorescents and although there was no noticeable effect through the PD150 viewfinder or screen, when I got the footage back home and watched on my PAL Tv there is a distinctive flicker.

I really really want to use these scenes, they contain that something and I can't do without them. I also can't afford to go back to the States and re-shoot!

Can I get rid of the flicker in the edit? Final cut Pro trickery perhaps? Please help, wise ones!

Cheers

Simon

Was the footage shoot in PAL? Your electrity is 50Hz, in the US it's 60Hz. Flourescent lights have a flicker anyway, but the flicker becomes very noticable with 10Hz cycle difference. FCP has tools to work frame by frame but it's painstaking work. A long piece would be very difficult. In the past when I've had this type of problem, I would apply a special effect over it to minimize the flicker.

Jeff

Footage was shot PAL.
What effects in FCP would you use to minimise flicker?
Thanks

This might not be appropiate for the type of video your producing, but I've used a strobe effect to enhance the flicker and then incoprorate that into the video. To reduce the flicker is painstaking, frame by frame work. You might want to post this in the Mac NLE forum for additional suggestions. If you can post a short sample so I could see exactly what your flicker looks like I might have a better suggestion as to what filters and settings might lessen the effect.

Jeff

You can also find more replies in the MAC NLE section further down

if you shot PAL you where shooting at 50 hz while your fluo lights
where 60 hz... that explains the flicker. Hard to remove.