topic Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 17:48:05 GMT

While out today testing my new RF 28-70 f2 on the Canon Eos R5, every other frame with lights in the background has one image with no glow from the lights, and the next frame the lights glow? Weird or is this something in settings?
Look at the ceiling in the second image and you can see the warm glow of the lights on the ceiling and no glow on the ceiling in the first image. Never ever seen this in 40 years of photography.

Images were shot in AV mode at F2 with the latest firmware in the R5 v1.20
I set my white balance to AWB-W and have never witnessed this behaviour before.
Normally I shoot in maual mode but was just taking snap shot for testing purpose to see the sharpness of the new lens.
I also shoot in RAW, but I only took a few image with lights in the image, and they all shift like this?

Any help in the matter would be appreicated.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Waddizzle — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:06:44 GMT

It looks like light flicker. It is common with fluorescent or solid state lights, but not the more conventional incandescent.

There should be a setting in the menus that may help to compensate for it. How well it works varies with the type of lights.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:45:59 GMT

Thanks, I am new to mirrorless cameras as well, but will look for any settings I should change.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 18:47:56 GMT

These where those rope lights that Costco sells and many out door patios use.
I may have to go back, and then set anti flicker on to see if that fixes the problem.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

shadowsports — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 20:59:07 GMT

Greetings,

I think this is a metering issue and has to due with white balance.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 21:39:27 GMT

I have the camera set to AWB-W

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

shadowsports — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 22:00:11 GMT

Auto or not where the camera is getting is WB from when the shutter is depessed might affect the exposure.

You appear to be shooting outside of the enclosed space where the camera is being asked to meter, focus and capture.

Natural lighting wavelenghts on a foggy day might be affected.

I hope the anti-flicker settings helps normlize the shot, but I wouldn't be surprised if you get the same varied results.

I hope to be proven wrong. These new mirrorless cameras are able to process an incredible amount of information and will in general be able to produce consistent results, but I have experienced the same behavior in similar shooting situations. Auto doesn't always choose what one might expect or what the eye sees.

Let us know when you have a chance to re-test, but if the weather conditions (even the time of day) are different, your results may vary again.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 22:14:17 GMT

Yes I was shooting outside into a covered patio, and it was foggy out.

While testing the lens, I shot a close railing with the string lights on a different plane wanting to see the bokeh balls at F2.
In the two frames I took, the background was part of the building and no shift like the ones posted.

Then after those two image I rounded the building and shot through into the foggy background. Hopefully the conditions are similar tomorrow and those lights are on. I would think a flicker of the lights would be random and not one good one bad.

Thanks for the response

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Waddizzle — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 23:16:01 GMT

@Canonoli wrote:
These where those rope lights that Costco sells and many out door patios use.
I may have to go back, and then set anti flicker on to see if that fixes the problem.

I am not familiar with those light appliances. Light flicker is covered on page 164 of the User Manual that I am looking at. Light flicker is usually used to compensate for indoor artificial lighting, which these string lights are not. Also, the rate of the flickering ligjts is tied to the line frequency of the AC power, which means that it is not random.

It could be a White Balance issue, but I would think WB would affect the entire image, not select areas or objects.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 18:34:10 GMT

Sorry it took a while to get back to this thread. I went back and the lights were off, and today they were on and all new lights as many bulbs were dead when I first posted with the glow from the lights. I set the camera on Anti-flicker and that resolved the problem.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Waddizzle — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 18:39:31 GMT

@Canonoli wrote:
Sorry it took a while to get back to this thread. I went back and the lights were off, and today they were on and all new lights as many bulbs were dead when I first posted with the glow from the lights. I set the camera on Anti-flicker and that resolved the problem.

Great job! I was worried about it not working because those lights are not the primary light source.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 20:54:37 GMT

Thx,

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

BurnUnit — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 23:05:13 GMT

I suspect the string lights in your pics are LED bulbs which do exhibit a flicker like fluorescent tubes. The issue you're experiencing would probably be more likely at higher shutter speeds, like 1/60 or faster. But it sounds like now you won't be able to test out my theory.

LED stage lighting can be a PITA to work with sometimes too. Certain shutter speeds can produce very noticeable color shifts that the naked eye never sees.

Re: Shift in Color - R5 and RF 28-70 f/2 while shooting with lights in the image

Canonoli — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 02:06:53 GMT

Yes if I have a chance I will shoot at either 60s or 125s to match the 60hz bandwave.
I would have originally thought they would have been incondescent bulbs, but led would make sense.
In two frames the lights were completely out, so I must have caught the on off cycle. Could be a really nightmare for someone not aware of this and shooting on a paid gig. Always something new to learn... 🙂