Phantom 4 Flickering/pulsing light effect in videos

[Krisz]

Dear Phantom 4 Users!


The reason why I'm opening this thread is to find a solution or explanation for my problem. There are some similar threads in the forum but I have not find the answers yet.

The background:

For the first let me say that I'm not a photographer or a video expert I'm just a hobbist who is getting familiar with this amazing hobby. I'm using "auto" settings most of the time both in filming and in photo shooting. That's why I thought my "flickering/white pulsing on surface" problem cames from my auto settings.

Here are the link for the videos which I'v filmed yesterday.

Dropbox - Phantom 4 Flicker

These are the "raw" videos directly from the SD card.

In order to see the problem you have to download the footage and watch it on a FULL HD or 4K TV screen. (Unless you have a high-end monitor)

I've watched all the clips on my average LG 27" IPS LED but it was hard to see the flickering/white pulsing surface in the video.

I've also uploaded to youtube but becasue of the decoding or downgrading methodology of youtube it was also hard to see.

The best way If you download it and watch it on the TV screen.

What I see in almost all off my videos especially in very bright/ sunny conditions is a very strange pulsing/flickering light effect on roofs, land, water, trees, grass and on different kind of surfaces.

I'm shoting at 1080p 50 frames.

As I told at the beginning I've used manul settings till yesterday but after that I made some experimnet. It was also bright sunny day so the ISO was around 100 but the shutter speed was very high as far as I remeber around 640-800.

I've changed the white balance to "sunny". I've tried different styles. I've reduced the stauration but nothing helped. Flickering and pulsing light effect all the time in my videos.

My questions are the following:

Can you see the flickering/pulsing light effects in my videos or should I buy a new tv? It's a 1,5 year old SAMSUNG U7000 series FULL HD.

If you can see is there any solutions to get rid off this problem? Is a malfunctioning camera or this caused by the lack of ND filters? (it's on the way)

Forgot to mention that after post/editing and watching full clips on my TV flickering still there.

Please download and watch my videos on a TV screen and feel free to comment. Is it problem with my TV? Is it hardware issue or just wrong camera setting?

Thank you very much for any kind of help or comment!

P.S. The gimbal movements in my videos are made my me. I had to adjust the gimbal roll many times becuase It can not keep the horizon..(maybe it's another issue?)

Regards,

Krisz

 

[roemeister]

Dear Phantom 4 Users!


The reason why I'm opening this thread is to find a solution or explanation for my problem. [snip]

I've changed the white balance to "sunny". I've tried different styles. I've reduced the stauration but nothing helped. Flickering and pulsing light effect all the time in my videos.

My questions are the following:

Can you see the flickering/pulsing light effects in my videos or should I buy a new tv? It's a 1,5 year old SAMSUNG U7000 series FULL HD.

If you can see is there any solutions to get rid off this problem? Is a malfunctioning camera or this caused by the lack of ND filters? (it's on the way)

Forgot to mention that after post/editing and watching full clips on my TV flickering still there.

Please download and watch my videos on a TV screen and feel free to comment. Is it problem with my TV? Is it hardware issue or just wrong camera setting?

Thank you very much for any kind of help or comment!

P.S. The gimbal movements in my videos are made my me. I had to adjust the gimbal roll many times becuase It can not keep the horizon..(maybe it's another issue?)

Regards,

Krisz

Hi Krisz,

I've downloaded and looked carefully at a couple of the videos (1st 2), and what I'm seeing — others may see it differently — is typical of the sharpness being set "too high" (I use quotes, because this is a matter of preference, not an absolute) and the resulting moire pattern in high-frequency patterns such as the grass or rooftops.

I settled in on -1, -1, 0 for the custom Style settings that I prefer for most video, and 0,0,0 for most stills. Others use -2,-2,-1 or various other combinations. Search for phantom style settings and you'll find plenty of examples, but ultimately you'll want to experiment with your workflow and intended output to see what works best for you and your subject material.

Have fun with the experimentation, and don't get frustrated. It's these subtleties that make the final difference between good and great video, so it's worth some effort if you want the results.

Have fun flying and be sure to post some of your results when you can.

Best wishes,

Bobby

 

[Krisz]

Hi Krisz,

I've downloaded and looked carefully at a couple of the videos (1st 2), and what I'm seeing — others may see it differently — is typical of the sharpness being set "too high" (I use quotes, because this is a matter of preference, not an absolute) and the resulting moire pattern in high-frequency patterns such as the grass or rooftops.

I settled in on -1, -1, 0 for the custom Style settings that I prefer for most video, and 0,0,0 for most stills. Others use -2,-2,-1 or various other combinations. Search for phantom style settings and you'll find plenty of examples, but ultimately you'll want to experiment with your workflow and intended output to see what works best for you and your subject material.

Have fun with the experimentation, and don't get frustrated. It's these subtleties that make the final difference between good and great video, so it's worth some effort if you want the results.

Have fun flying and be sure to post some of your results when you can.

Best wishes,

Bobby

Hi Bobby!

Thank you for the quick response and suggestions. So it means I should not worry about that strange pulsing effect? Only thing(s) should I do is to modify on camera settings? I've already ordered an DJI ND8 filter (it's on its way) in order to try to lower the shutter speed in very bright conditions. Hopefully it will solve the problem. I'll do my best in case of experimenting. Thank you for your advice!

Regards,
Krisz

 

[roemeister]

Hi Bobby!

Thank you for the quick response and suggestions. So it means I should not worry about that strange pulsing effect? Only thing(s) should I do is to modify on camera settings? I've already ordered an DJI ND8 filter (it's on its way) in order to try to lower the shutter speed in very bright conditions. Hopefully it will solve the problem. I'll do my best in case of experimenting. Thank you for your advice!

Regards,
Krisz

Hi Krisz,

When you lower the sharpness setting, the super-fine details will no longer be as crisp, but in turn they will no longer cause the flickering or moire pattern (in most cases; it depends on the exact subject matter, pattern, settings, and so on).

Something you'll see mentioned often as "pulsing" can result from high shutter speeds with video. To oversimplify, the goal is to use a shutter speed of 1/(twice your frame rate). I see from your profile page that you're in Hungary, which I believe uses PAL, so 25 frames per second is the "standard" frame rate. The goal is then to shoot with a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. This is only possible on sunny days with a Phantom camera if you have an ND filter or maybe a polarizing filter, since the Phantom camera has a fixed aperture. You can search the forums or YouTube and find many explanations of this in more detail, but that's the basics.

Until you get the ND filter, try flying on a cloudy day or just after sunset and with different sharpness settings and notice the moire pattern or "pulsing" will most likely be gone.

Best,

Bobby

 

[Sebastian87]

Hi Krisz,

When you lower the sharpness setting, the super-fine details will no longer be as crisp, but in turn they will no longer cause the flickering or moire pattern (in most cases; it depends on the exact subject matter, pattern, settings, and so on).

Something you'll see mentioned often as "pulsing" can result from high shutter speeds with video. To oversimplify, the goal is to use a shutter speed of 1/(twice your frame rate). I see from your profile page that you're in Hungary, which I believe uses PAL, so 25 frames per second is the "standard" frame rate. The goal is then to shoot with a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second. This is only possible on sunny days with a Phantom camera if you have an ND filter or maybe a polarizing filter, since the Phantom camera has a fixed aperture. You can search the forums or YouTube and find many explanations of this in more detail, but that's the basics.

Until you get the ND filter, try flying on a cloudy day or just after sunset and with different sharpness settings and notice the moire pattern or "pulsing" will most likely be gone.

Best,

Bobby

Hey guys
I’m new here and beginner with phantom4.
I open my forum here about the same issue and I also get this advice about -1/-1/-1 style which reduced that pulsing a bit.
I still don’t have nd filters (but gonna get it ASAP) and fighting for few weeks already how to get rig of this issue. I wrote your suggestion and looks like you know a lot about phantom and dji camera
I would like to ask if this is the shatter mostly (which should be twice more then frames) and style settings which making that pulsing grass and trees?
And if I buy ND filters to keep shatter at 60 when shooting in 30f, the issue will be gone?
Please help guys because I’m getting tired with this pulsing and cannot plan any trip for shooting until I fix this.
Kris’s did you fixed your pulsing?
Thank you in advance!

 

[Sebastian87]

Hi Bobby!

Thank you for the quick response and suggestions. So it means I should not worry about that strange pulsing effect? Only thing(s) should I do is to modify on camera settings? I've already ordered an DJI ND8 filter (it's on its way) in order to try to lower the shutter speed in very bright conditions. Hopefully it will solve the problem. I'll do my best in case of experimenting. Thank you for your advice!

Regards,
Krisz

Hi Krisz did you fixed your issue?
I have the same problem with phantom4
if that ND filters and great advise from the guys above helped you, please could you let me/us know?
Thanks

 

[White Wolf 67]

Hello to you guys. I have exactly the same problem of pulsations and noise in the image. I tested with ND filters and it's even worse especially when there is not too much light. I read on this forum that it would come from the tablecloth that goes from Drone to the camera and that for some the problem had been solved by changing this cable. me personally on my drone which was not even a month old i had not noticed this because i had not watched the videos i had taken and when i watched the videos i was really disgusted. I have a Phantom 3 Se and it films a thousand times better than my p4. if your Drone is under warranty I advise you to send it to the after sales service. that's what I'm going to do. they sent me a UPS ticket to return the drone but they did not tell me what to send in the box, I wait for their response. I really hope they will finally make me operate this Drone properly. sorry for my english i am french and i use Google translation.

 

[Sebastian87]

Hey Wolf
Thank you for sharing that info.
I’m polish so my English is also not well
On my videos I have only pulsing trees, grass and water and looks like sharpness but I lower the settings to minimum and still pulsing...
I heard about that wire already so I think I’ll send my back also and maybe even upgrade to phantom 4 Pro if there is no problems with this annoying problem.
Can you please let me know when you get back your drone and if this solved the problem? Appreciate

 

[White Wolf 67]

I am French and my English is also poor I use Google translation. OK I'll let you know I've got my Drone back. I do not hide that if I had the means I would also buy a p4 pro but I already bled to buy the one so it is impossible for me to change. But if you had the problem from the reception of your Drone I read somewhere that it happens sometimes and you have to change the ribbon cable that goes from the Drone to the camera. but as the Drone is under warranty it is better to send it back to the repair service than to do it yourself. I advise you to connect your Drone to the computer with the application dji wizard and reset to the factory settings before updating the firmware to the latest version and reset the camera settings. that's what i was advised to do but it did not solve the problem completely. it improved a little but not entirely. after trying to do that and if you're lucky it will solve the problem. if not contact [email protected] I think it's them for Europe or [email protected] and at worst you send it for repair overhaul. Good luck.
Look on YouTube videos from other p4 and you see its a problem with your camera not a problem with all the p4 !!!

 

[Sebastian87]

My french friend.
I think I solved my problem!
But still will check few more times and on another Laptop and TV.
Today I connect my old laptop to another TV and watched the same video with pulsing trees. And it looks like there is no pulsing anymore!
If your problem is the same try to watch your videos on different laptop and if connected to TV then try to watch on UHD TV.
I don’t have UHD tv but a newer tv didn’t show that pulsing (just very very veeeeery slightly)
I’m going to find some friend with UHD tv and will try again.