Phantom flicker

[JD Holloway]

Hey guys,

Are maxi brutes out of the question for phantom use @ 1000fps?
12 x 1k bulbs, three phase.
Does the phaseing smooth the small filament flicker enough or should I just order a 20k? Fresnel lighting is so mushy sometimes....

 

[Mitch Gross]

Hey guys,

Are maxi brutes out of the question for phantom use @ 1000fps?
12 x 1k bulbs, three phase.
Does the phaseing smooth the small filament flicker enough or should I just order a 20k? Fresnel lighting is so mushy sometimes....

I cannot guaranty that you would not get any flicker with this. I generaly suggest 2K and up, really 5K and up if you can. The three phase does help but the decay rate of the filaments does not follow the linear curves of the phases so you may still detect flicker. Make sure to have a decent waveform with you on set and check it with the playback at "normal" speed to be sure. Of course shutter angle has a lot to do with it as well. A 360 shutter will give less flicker than a 180 one.

 

[JD Holloway]

Thanks Mitch.
I'm going to test first thing in the morning.
The rental shop is just up the street for bigger guns if needed.
I will report my (subjective) findings later.

 

[JD Holloway]

The maxi brutes didn't flicker. All was fine.

 

[Mitch Gross]

Good to hear. Are you in 120v/60hz or 220v/50hz territory?

 

[Michael Lindsay]

The maxi brutes didn't flicker. All was fine.

1000fps with parcans and no flicker? I'm surprised. Did you wire the units up to have the heads on a different phase from their closest neighbour? Or where the separate units on different phases?

I'm not technical, but as you pointed out the par cans have short filaments which turn on and off very fast so i would have said to avoid them. If you dim them they are a flickering nightmare so look out for that..

regards

Michael L

 

[Charles Angus]

Or where the separate units on different phases?

OP said three phase...

 

[Alexander Nikishin]

I've never had a problem shooting Phantom under tungsten light, HMI on the other hand does indeed flicker.

 

[Jeff Asselin]

We just shot an interior scene using a non-flicker 2.5 hmi with a shutter speed 1/250 @ 25 frames and came up with some weird orange banding... Im praying post will sort me out..

 

[Mitch Gross]

Even flicker-free HMIs can have issues when shooting at extreme high speeds with cameras such as the Phantom HD Gold. It is not about the camera; it is about the light.