Why do LED lights flickers when seen on film/camera?

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Why do LED lights flickers when seen on film/camera?

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For the most part, electricity is delivered not as flowing stream but as a back-and-forth wobbling of electrons, called “alternating current”. The rate of this wobbling is fixed by the producer (like, at a powerplant level) and varies by arbitrary national standards but it’s very often in the 50-60 wobbles-per-second range.

This wobbling causes a number of noticeable effects in real life; in electronic signals it can create a humming distortion, like a SHHHHHHH, (special guitar picks called “humbuckers” prevent this in electric guitars), in electric “gear” (power transformers and large devices) it can create an actual loud HUMMMMMM sound that makes electrical stations and rooms loud, in overhead office lighting (the cause of the old fluorescent bulb flickering headaches) and in the case of the LED lights, also, a flickering effect. Basically with each wobble the light turns off for a fraction of a second. If there are 60 wobbles-per-second that gives you an idea of briefly the light is “out” for.

BUT if you have something like a camera that is also an electronic device taking pictures 50-60 times per second you can end up *seeing* the flickering happen if it just happens to be oddly synced with the shutter on the camera. It’s sort of like a strobe effect.

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