New Z7 feature: Amber color bars at DVinfo.net

Bruce Ostrout · August 6th, 2008, 07:49 PM

I get this often in fluorescent lighting.

http://www.firstsightpictures.com/Z7amber.wmv

This is on one of my Z7 cams the other is back to Sony for the 3rd time for repair of faulty audio.

What are your thoughts?

John Knight · August 6th, 2008, 09:16 PM

Send that back - it's buggered mate!

Tim Dashwood · August 6th, 2008, 09:17 PM

Is the shutter at 1/60 or 1/48? I have to say this is the first I've seen something like this.

Marcus Marchesseault · August 6th, 2008, 10:42 PM

Someone described this in the Sony V1 forum and I think it's a bad thing. It's possible that it could be a sync issue with fluorescent lights, but I have some doubts. Is it doing this consistently?

Vincent Oliver · August 7th, 2008, 01:20 AM

It is a sync problem with the lights, try a slower shutter speed. I had the same problem with my Canon XL1s, although in that case the colours phased from cool to warm over a 5 second period and repeated the process for the duration of the shot. Using a slower speed cured the problem. (ps I shot in PAL 25 fps, NTSC is 29.97 fps)

Luc De Wandel · August 7th, 2008, 09:47 AM

Fluoresecent lamps do not produce a complete set of light wavelenghts. Their light source being a gas, they send out the particular wavelength of that gas. This means that a coloured strobe effect is normal when recording under fluorescent light. Changing the shutter time might help, but it will never go away completely, I guess. I have terrible colour balance problems when shooting still photography with my Canon cams, for the same reason.

Terry Brown · August 15th, 2008, 05:59 AM

As per the other similar thread, this is caused by the automatic shutter setting, press the shutter button to turn to Manual and set it to 50FPS.

Why there is no standard Shutter Off option I do not know!

Bruce Ostrout · August 16th, 2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry Brown

As per the other similar thread, this is caused by the automatic shutter setting, press the shutter button to turn to Manual and set it to 50FPS.

Why there is no standard Shutter Off option I do not know!

Yeah, I was pretty sure that was what was casuing it. I always use manual shutter, which I don't know why there would be an off button for shutter since manual would effectively shut it off.... I most often expose using ND & shutter speed, so I am sure I was out of sync with the flourescents.

Lee Berger · November 1st, 2009, 10:38 AM

I recently purchased a Z7 and was going through some back focus tests today under fluorescent lighting in my office. I noticed the floating bars (lighting sync problem) in playback.

I double checked to verify that I was at 1/60, in the 1080i mode. I then set the Flicker Reduce function to on which seemed to have no effect. Perplexed I reviewed some footage shot at home under compact fluorescent lamps and there was no evidence of the bars. Indeed I never saw this with my V1U. The aforementioned article states that some older magnetic ballasts are prone to cause flicker. I wondered if that was the issue. although my building is fairly new. Before packing up and going home I decided to cycle through the shutter speeds advancing up and down and coming back to 1/60. Back at 1/60 the sync issue went away. Gone in repeated tests. My not very scientific conclusion is that resetting the shutter sync by moving to 1/30 and back again seems to fix the problem. I may be wrong, but having tested it several times (for several minutes), I have not seen the lighting sync issue return. What a relief!

Luc De Wandel · November 1st, 2009, 03:51 PM

Digital video camera's are very sensitive to strong magnetic fields. I filmed on a navy fregate with a Canon XHA1 a few years ago and the radar of the ship caused severe disturbance, not only in the image, but also in the audio. With every turn of the radar antenna I had a stripe in the video and a buzzing sound in the audio. Ballasts and flurorescent lamps do emit strong magnetic fields as well.

August 6th, 2008, 07:49 PM	#1
Bruce Ostrout Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Jacksonville Fl Posts: 107	New Z7 feature: Amber color bars I get this often in fluorescent lighting. http://www.firstsightpictures.com/Z7amber.wmv This is on one of my Z7 cams the other is back to Sony for the 3rd time for repair of faulty audio. What are your thoughts?

August 6th, 2008, 09:16 PM	#2
John Knight Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 588	Send that back - it's buggered mate! __________________ Over 28 years watching TV

August 6th, 2008, 09:17 PM	#3
Tim Dashwood Wrangler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 3,637	Is the shutter at 1/60 or 1/48? I have to say this is the first I've seen something like this. __________________ Tim Dashwood

August 15th, 2008, 05:59 AM	#7
Terry Brown Tourist Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: UK Posts: 3	Automatic Shutter As per the other similar thread, this is caused by the automatic shutter setting, press the shutter button to turn to Manual and set it to 50FPS. Why there is no standard Shutter Off option I do not know!

November 1st, 2009, 10:38 AM	#9
Lee Berger Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Tallahassee, Florida Posts: 326	I recently purchased a Z7 and was going through some back focus tests today under fluorescent lighting in my office. I noticed the floating bars (lighting sync problem) in playback. I double checked to verify that I was at 1/60, in the 1080i mode. I then set the Flicker Reduce function to on which seemed to have no effect. Perplexed I reviewed some footage shot at home under compact fluorescent lamps and there was no evidence of the bars. Indeed I never saw this with my V1U. The aforementioned article states that some older magnetic ballasts are prone to cause flicker. I wondered if that was the issue. although my building is fairly new. Before packing up and going home I decided to cycle through the shutter speeds advancing up and down and coming back to 1/60. Back at 1/60 the sync issue went away. Gone in repeated tests. My not very scientific conclusion is that resetting the shutter sync by moving to 1/30 and back again seems to fix the problem. I may be wrong, but having tested it several times (for several minutes), I have not seen the lighting sync issue return. What a relief! __________________ www.leebergermedia.com

August 6th, 2008, 10:42 PM	#4
Marcus Marchesseault Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 1,961	Someone described this in the Sony V1 forum and I think it's a bad thing. It's possible that it could be a sync issue with fluorescent lights, but I have some doubts. Is it doing this consistently?

August 7th, 2008, 01:20 AM	#5
Vincent Oliver Trustee Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chislehurst, London Posts: 1,724	It is a sync problem with the lights, try a slower shutter speed. I had the same problem with my Canon XL1s, although in that case the colours phased from cool to warm over a 5 second period and repeated the process for the duration of the shot. Using a slower speed cured the problem. (ps I shot in PAL 25 fps, NTSC is 29.97 fps)

August 7th, 2008, 09:47 AM	#6
Luc De Wandel Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Knokke-Heist, Belgium Posts: 963	Fluoresecent lamps do not produce a complete set of light wavelenghts. Their light source being a gas, they send out the particular wavelength of that gas. This means that a coloured strobe effect is normal when recording under fluorescent light. Changing the shutter time might help, but it will never go away completely, I guess. I have terrible colour balance problems when shooting still photography with my Canon cams, for the same reason.

November 1st, 2009, 03:51 PM	#10
Luc De Wandel Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Knokke-Heist, Belgium Posts: 963	Digital video camera's are very sensitive to strong magnetic fields. I filmed on a navy fregate with a Canon XHA1 a few years ago and the radar of the ship caused severe disturbance, not only in the image, but also in the audio. With every turn of the radar antenna I had a stripe in the video and a buzzing sound in the audio. Ballasts and flurorescent lamps do emit strong magnetic fields as well.