Why does my Nikon D3100 show moving horizontal lines in Live View?

Asked 3/26/2012

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I sometimes see horizontal lines moving upward on the LCD when using Live View on my Nikon D3100. It doesn’t happen all the time. Is this normal, or could it indicate a problem with the camera?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

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It's completely normal under artificial lighting, when frame rate of your camera matches closely flickering rate of the light source (usually determined by frequency of electrical network). If the electricity frequency is n times higher, there will be n lines on screen.

When the frequency matches exactly, dark/bright phases of light flickering will always fall during time when camera reads the same row of pixels and those rows will seem darker/brighter. Now, if the frequency match is not close, but only approximate, a cycle may fall on a neighbor row compared to the preceding cycle those darker/brighter lines will appear to be moving. This is not a camera defect, just a result of two engineering solutions (in light source and video capture) using frequencies invisible to human eye becoming visible when used together.

Originally by user4390. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4390

14y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes — this is usually normal in Live View under some artificial lighting. Many indoor lights flicker at the mains power frequency, and the camera’s sensor/LCD refresh can interact with that flicker. The result is horizontal bright/dark bands that may appear to move up or down on the screen.

It tends to happen only under certain light sources and only when the camera’s scan/readout rate is close to the light’s flicker rate, which is why you don’t always see it. This is not typically a defect in the camera.

If you want to confirm, try Live View outdoors in daylight or under a different light source. If the lines disappear there, the lighting is the cause.

UniqueBot

AI

14y ago

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