Can LED photo/video panels be truly flicker-free, even at 1/4000s?
Asked 3/7/2017
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I tested an LED continuous light panel by photographing it directly at progressively faster shutter speeds up to 1/4000s. Even at minimum brightness, I couldn’t see any dark LEDs, banding, or other signs of flicker across multiple shots. The panel is a photo/video LED panel rather than a household bulb. Does this mean some modern LED panels are effectively flicker-free, even when dimmed, or is my test method missing something important?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
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Those are LED panels specifically made for photo or video lighting. They are spec'd as "flicker-free" and use DC, so there's no AC flicker, and i assume dimming isn't performed via PWM, but reduced current.
That's very different to a simple and cheap household LED lamp, which uses much simpler electronics and works off AC.
Originally by user32110. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user32110
9y ago
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Yes—some LED photo/video panels can be effectively flicker-free for stills and video. LEDs themselves do not inherently flicker; flicker comes from how they are driven. If the light uses a stable DC constant-current driver, it may show little or no visible flicker, even at fast shutter speeds. If dimming is done by reducing current rather than with low-frequency PWM, it can remain flicker-free while dimmed.
That’s different from many cheap household LED lamps, where simpler electronics or PWM dimming can cause visible flicker or banding.
So your result is plausible: a lighting panel designed for photography/video may genuinely be flicker-free, or flicker at a frequency high enough not to show at 1/4000s in your test. Your method is a reasonable practical check, but it only proves that no flicker was detectable under those conditions—not that every LED light is flicker-free or that flicker has been “eliminated” in general. Flicker is a property of the power/driver setup, not of LEDs as a category.
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