WMcK wrote:
Does it do it in daylight as well as artificial light? This could show if it was lighting related.

Yes unfortunately - with lens stopped down and iso boosted up(for compensation) with constant 180 degree shutter and fixed wb(daylight). 

Kaouthia wrote:
The only flickering I've noticed on the wife's D3200 is when the framerate & shutter speed don't sync up quite right with lights that run on a 50Hz electrical supply (60Hz for USA).

Using tungsten lights(no dimmers) and the flicker setting is on 60hz at the moment though have tried both auto and 50hz to see if it did anything - unfortunately problem is still present. It is there with lens cap on as well. Have you noticed any kind of lcd screen flicker on your wife's D3200 when in live view mode and at iso 800 or above? Kinda looks like the lcd screen flicker and noise that you'd find on the lcd bacpac of a gopro. Strange thing is that I see it even on the hdmi output as well, not sure what to make of this?

Raoul Isidro Images wrote:
If you are able to do so, switch to manual settings, then adjust the shutter speed up or down until the effect is minimized. Then check also the frame rate setting if it will improve likewise. On full AUTO capture, you are not able to do this.

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I should have been clearer - I was in manual mode and use ai & ais glass on the D3200; definitely made sure all settings for shooting manual were setup for video, including fixed iso and fixed wb.

Changing frame rate while keeping a fixed aperture, iso & 180 or 360 degree shutter angle hasn't had any effect on the problem. Currently using neutral profile with details set to 0(no sharpening) and have tried with NR on & off as well. Don't know what else I could do except return it to Adorama at this point.

Mike Gong wrote:
Using tungsten lights(no dimmers) and the flicker setting is on 60hz at the moment though have tried both auto and 50hz to see if it did anything - unfortunately problem is still present.

60Hz is what you guys have over there, so try shooting at 30fps (or 24fps) with a shutter speed of 1/60th (then you're getting one full cycle per frame).  Here we have 50Hz electric, so video here is 25fps, shooting at 1/50th of a second.

But, it means odd shutter speeds can look funny, and possibly describe what you're seeing.

Mike Gong wrote:
It is there with lens cap on as well. Have you noticed any kind of lcd screen flicker on your wife's D3200 when in live view mode and at iso 800 or above? Kinda looks like the lcd screen flicker and noise that you'd find on the lcd bacpac of a gopro. Strange thing is that I see it even on the hdmi output as well, not sure what to make of this?

That's interesting.  I just had a quick play around the wife's.

If I'm at 24 or 25fps with 1/50th of a second, it's fine here under artificial lights, but if I put it to 1/40th or 1/60th of a second, I start seeing a weird strobing effect crawling across the screen - 1/60th it's a darker band (because it's not catching a full cycle), and at 1/40th it's a lighter band (because it's catching one and a bit full cycles).  But, the ISO I'm shooting at doesn't typically make a difference.

BUT, if you're seeing it with the lens cap on too, that's very very strange.

Mike Gong wrote:
I should have been clearer - I was in manual mode and use ai & ais glass on the D3200; definitely made sure all settings for shooting manual were setup for video, including fixed iso and fixed wb.

Do me a favour, go into the "Shooting Menu" for me, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and select "Movie Settings".  Is "Manual Movie Settings" turned on in there? I know you said you have it set to manual mode, but just want to double check you're not just turning the dial to M and thinking that's it (that one got me at first too).

Kaouthia wrote:

60Hz is what you guys have over there, so try shooting at 30fps (or 24fps) with a shutter speed of 1/60th (then you're getting one full cycle per frame).  Here we have 50Hz electric, so video here is 25fps, shooting at 1/50th of a second.

But, it means odd shutter speeds can look funny, and possibly describe what you're seeing.


That's interesting.  I just had a quick play around the wife's.

If I'm at 24 or 25fps with 1/50th of a second, it's fine here under artificial lights, but if I put it to 1/40th or 1/60th of a second, I start seeing a weird strobing effect crawling across the screen - 1/60th it's a darker band (because it's not catching a full cycle), and at 1/40th it's a lighter band (because it's catching one and a bit full cycles).  But, the ISO I'm shooting at doesn't typically make a difference.

BUT, if you're seeing it with the lens cap on too, that's very very strange.


Do me a favour, go into the "Shooting Menu" for me, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and select "Movie Settings".  Is "Manual Movie Settings" turned on in there? I know you said you have it set to manual mode, but just want to double check you're not just turning the dial to M and thinking that's it (that one got me at first too).

Yup manual movie setting is definitely on - tried the other suggestions with regards to different shutter speeds and no 60/50hz banding/staccato observed however flicker is present still. Interestingly enough I went down to the local best buy with my field monitor and sd card to test out their floor demo model and it did not exhibit the lcd problem nor flickering on the hdmi feed that mine is showing.

After looking at the footage I recorded there(everything in manual) I can still see faint red channel flickering...can you try recording some video with the wife's D3200 with manual settings(including wb) @ iso 800, 1600, and 3200 and see what you get? Then repeat with lens cap on and viewfinder covered and compare the noise in the red channel. Also try reducing the current(any of them) picture profile contrast setting to -3, wondering if this will amplify the problem?

I'm really hoping its a fluke with my particular camera or just a bad batch of D3200s floating around rather than a software/firmware and/or hardware design problem. When I get more free time I'll post some video of it - currently sending it back tomorrow to Adorama as its lcd is definitely defective.

Also dug up a review on the net that did mention similar noise issues to what I'm experiencing - will post a link to it when I find it again. I think they even have a video comparision of iso noise to a Canon T3i(or T4i) where it maybe visible as well though I might be getting that confused with another review video I looked into through my googling trek.

Kaouthia wrote:
I'm just getting all my stuff packed up for a shoot at the mo (2:44am here, and we're leaving at 5am - ugh!).

Once I'm back and recovered, I'll do a few tests and stick them up on youtube for you.

But, if you're not seeing the same things happening with the other one you tested, it could be that you have a bad body (or there's one of those annoyingly obvious settings nobody warns you to check that you missed, heh).