Horizontal light stripes move through the frame, Panasonic HMC-40

[video169]

When shooting with a Panasonic HMC-40, on indoor shots I sometimes get horizontal light stripes that move up through the frame, at the rate of maybe 5-6 per second moving through. Several are visible at one time. These really ruin the shot. I can get this effect whether or not I am under florescent lights. The result looks similar to if there was a slow-moving air-circulating fan overhead that makes the light on people’s faces flicker, but there is no fan overhead. I can see the moving light stripes both in my camera LCD’s monitor and on my computer when I edit. Usually if I position myself differently during the shoot, I can make the effect stop. Does anyone have any ideas?

[poisondeathray]

what is your shutter speed set to ? are you filming in the USA? If it's not , set it to 60 and try a quick test and check again

[video169]

I was shooting in Auto mode, not Manual, so was not controlling my shutter speed. Yes, I am in the USA. In the HMC-40 manual I read, "Under fluorescent and other discharge tube lighting, horizontal bands may appear on the display. Adjusting the shutter speed in such cases may resolve the problem." I was shooting in a large white tent with lots of ambient light in the daytime. There were some lights that might have been mercury vapor lights mounted high up on the center poles (3 poles?).

[Bretsky]

Hi
This is usually a result of your lighting. It occurs often using florescent lights, but can occur in others as well. This is a common issue; for example, in professional lighting HMI lights are often used since they provide high output and are relatively small; but they have a 'ballast' built in that regulates the cycling frequency of the lights to match film or video frame rates.

If you can light the scene yourself then you can use a light kit that you know works. If you have to use the lights there, try experimenting with different shutter speeds (not aperture or f-stops). The HMC40 has many different shutter speeds, even with ones like 23.98 so you can move in small increments. You can also use this feature to eliminate a similar strobing when shooting tv or computer monitors.