OT: Don't use CMOS chip cameras with strobes

Patryk Rebisz wrote on 11/21/2009, 4:11 PM

Just got back from a 5 camera shoot (Sony EX3) where i was one of the camera ops. I'm so thankful that i wasn't the DP because i would be kicking myself in the ass for picking CMOS based camera on a shoot in a dance club filled with strobe lights as it produced visible dark lines in the footage.

Lesson learned: for strobes us CCD chips.

Here is a demo of the effects i found on youtube:

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Jeff9329 wrote on 11/24/2009, 11:28 AM

There have been a few posts over on DVxuser showing where a long GOP codec ocassionally totally falls apart under certain disco setting strobe lights due to the encoding. Although totally separate from CMOS banding, it's yet another issue.

However, we gotta admit this is a specialty situation that is rare. If you were on a high end shoot, I bet you could experiment and find the magic strobe flash rate that would minimize video disturbance.

farss wrote on 11/24/2009, 12:51 PM

I'm editing a multicam stage shoot, six cameras. Some CMOS, some CCD and yeah, strobe lights. Choose your poison. Not only are the cameras a mix of CMOS and CCD they're also a mix of DV, AVCHD and mpeg-2. What the heck, it's got color and it moves, it'll do :)

Bob.

apit34356 wrote on 11/24/2009, 11:01 PM

"it moves, it'll do :)" Farss(Bob), sounds like some drunken sailors I've raced with in my youth! ;-)

I'm posting a link to a real semiconductor manufacturer that has a beginner's explanation of ccds in layman's/engineer. There are many individuals that have a misunderstanding of this technology caused by weak or misleading documents on many Internet sites. I will try to get more advance links from a few manufacturers that are more detail without hurting IP issues. Then more professional tech papers if authors ok it. (I'm amazed at the confused about shutter's critical role in limiting light for different ccd's designs and some manufacturers' shortcuts that causes real problems for the endusers.)

National Instruments http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/2703#toc1