• Cinematography

  HMI Flicker in Pal Land

  Posted by Bob Pierce on March 12, 2010 at 11:51 am

  Hi There,
  I’m working on a project for a client in Austria. We’re shooting hi def, 720 50p in order to make the footage pal-friendly. We’re shooting here in the US with HMI lighting (Kobold 400 – GREAT unit). Now I understand that flicker is something to watch out for with HMIs, but my producer is concerned that if our video, shot with lights powered by 60hz power might result in some kind of artifact when viewed in 50hz pal-land. Obviously, we’ll be monitoring with lcd field monitors (battery-powered mostly) and so I assume that if there are any issues we’ll see it there.

  Are we just thinking too much? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

  Moo
  Bob Pierce

  http://www.lightstreamassociates.com

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  Thomas Kist replied 16 years, 2 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  John Cummings

  March 14, 2010 at 3:15 am

  I may be wrong, because I’ve never tried it at 50p, but I don’t think you’ll have a problem with HMIs…especially using an electronic ballast like the Kolbold. They cycle at a much higher rate than say a fluorescent at 60 Hz.

  J.Cummings
  Chicago
  HDX-900/HDW-730S/DXC-D50
• 

  Thomas Kist

  March 14, 2010 at 9:34 pm

  If you shoot 50 fps in the States you have to be very carefull with fluorescents in the frame.
  they will slowly flicker if the shutter speed is 1/50.
  try using 1/60, but look out with mixing different light sources. tungsten, fluorescents and HMI because they make it hard to see the flicker.

  Thomas Kist
  Freelance D.o.P
  Amsterdam,The Netherlands
  PDW-700,Letus ultimate,FCP 6
  http://www.thomaskist.com

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