LED Billboards

[Camera King]

Question. I have been contacted by an LED billboard manufacturer to shoot video of a sign installation in our area. I was told by my contact that shooting it would be a challenge due to something called tiling. I assumed he was referring to the screen when highlights are blown out...easily corrected. Turns out it is something altogether different. I went out to shoot it and found that the tiling was prominent and looked like digitized random color blocks moving on the billboard corresponding with the animation playing on the billboard. It also was worse on the left part of the billboard and less so on the right.
I experimented with changing the frame rate, aperture and ISO setting. I also installed a Polar Pro ND 4 filter while experimenting and have managed to video the screen without tiling now but am still getting a "screen door" effect in the billboard video, which seems to go away the further back my drone is.
So now the question....has anyone ever tried this type of video shooting and had these issues and more importantly, what causes the tiling effect?? My hunch is that is has more to do with frame rate and shutter speed...but whatever the cause, it is most difficult to deal with.

 

[Meta4]

So now the question....has anyone ever tried this type of video shooting and had these issues and more importantly, what causes the tiling effect??

Are these helpful?
Helpful hints and tips for taking an awesome LED Display photograph
Photographing Your LED Sign or Digital Billboard - Watchfire Signs | Digital Billboards, LED Signs, Scoreboards, Video Displays

 

[Camera King]

Meta4, thanks for the links...it seems to address my issues and I did use most of these techniques today when I went out. Not sure I set my shutter speed as low as they suggested but I will give it another go if the weather breaks tomorrow. This is a good paying job and I want to give my client the best possible results. Your links are truly appreciated.

 

[David_Cambridge]

Shutter speed is the key here. You mush get a shutter speed that allows for a co,mplete refresh cycle of the leds. You can’t error on the low side, but going too fast will never work. Dial in a slow shutter speed that works, and use ND filters to get proper exposure. The idea would be to shoot at the lowest ISO possible to reduce color noise in the sensor.

 

[hirahusain]

The problem, as I understand it, is each digital signage video wall lights up as a different rate from another and billboards are made up of multiple ones. So, the object is to time the exposure to capture all of the panels lighting up together. The video suggests starting at shutter speed 1/30 and possibly going to 1/15.

If it were me and I couldn't get the timing right, I'd take multiple shots in a burst, layer them in Photoshop, and mask them. If your camera has anti-flicker mode in the settings (a lot of Canon cameras include this), that might help too as the camera will identify lights flickering and shoot in sync with the flicker.