Flicker Reduction
A camera function that times the shutter release to the peak of a pulsing artificial light source, preventing exposure and colour shifts between frames.
Formula / rule
Cycle = 2 × mains frequency
Measured in
Hz
In depth
Fluorescent and many LED sources pulse at twice the mains frequency — 100 Hz in 50 Hz countries, 120 Hz in 60 Hz countries — and at shutter speeds faster than about 1/125 s each frame catches a different part of that cycle. The result is a burst where brightness and colour temperature wander frame to frame. Anti-flicker detects the rhythm and delays each release by a few milliseconds to fire at the same phase every time.
Examples in practice
A twelve-frame burst of an indoor gymnastics routine shows no brightness pulsing once flicker reduction is enabled.