Two weeks ago I had a chance to sit down with the video team

Archive FastLED Archive
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Two weeks ago I had a chance to sit down with the video team at work. Here is what I learned about capturing light on video:
Capturing LEDs on video at full brightness can washout (or turn white) because the light is overwhelming the sensor. Here are the teams suggestions to capturing better LED videos:

  1. Change (increase) the aperture. They recommended starting about F11 and increasing the F-stop until you no longer see washout.
    For non-photographers increasing the aperture is shrinking (or closing) the opening that lets light hit the sensor. F1.4 is the widest opening and on many cameras F22 is the smallest. Also aperture can be restricted by the lens. F-Stop and AWG are similar in that smaller numbers mean bigger.
  2. Use a neutral density filter to help capture LEDs in daylight or under bright indoor lights.
  3. Set the shutter speed to approximately double your frame rate to capture a believable motion blur - typically 1/50 for 24-25FPS, 1/60 for 30FPS and so on… It’s a videographers magic number. Going with a faster shutter speed will give a very crisp look but could look unreal or jagged. If you camera does not offer a shutter speed that is double the framerate just get as close as possible.

I am a legendary photographer/videographer…in a small and empty place I call my mind. That is why I turn to others for help taking pictures and videos.

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Thanks for the tips!

95% of the time in shooting video of LEDs I’m doing it using my iPhone, which means I have relatively few controls. The only two things I’ve distilled out as tips for those circumstances are these:

  • Turn the brightness down. Way down. Like: maybe down to 30. Or lower. But basically you have to dial way down to prevent flooding the sensors.
  • Use the AE/AF exposure lock function so that the camera doesn’t keep re-focusing and (more annoyingly) re-adjusting the brightness of the video as the LEDs get brighter and dimmer. Here’s an page explaining how to use it on the iPhone: http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/973135 (Other phones and apps often have similar functions.)