Flickering cameras in FaceTime

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Level 1

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Flickering cameras in FaceTime

I have flickering of the camera (front and back) during FaceTime on my iPad Air 4 when used under 50hz LED lighting. I’ve had the iPad replaced but Apple twice now, but it happens on all three. The second time, the Apple store advisor even had the problem on both the shop display models. But they tell me there’s nothing they can do. It’s clearly either a hardware problem or a software problem. It doesn’t happen on my original iPad Air, it doesn’t happen on my iPhone. It doesn’t happen on my partners iPad. I have seen other instances of this on the forums, but I’m surprised it’s not a more widely reported problem. Maybe it was only tested in the 60Hz markets?

iPad Air, iOS 12

Posted on Dec 14, 2021 1:38 AM

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Answer 1

LotusPilot

Level 10

305,309 points

Dec 14, 2021 2:14 AM in response to MagickMonkey

When recording video under artificial lighting, a rolling flicker is not uncommon. Unless your are truly unlucky and have a defective camera, you don’t have a fault.

Without delving to deeply into the technicalities of camera design, frame readout and the consequences of AC lighting (that flickers at a frequency too fast for the human eye can see), the frequency of the flicker that you observe is the difference between the frame-rate and the fundamental (or harmonic) frequency of the AC lighting.

Where affected, the fix is usually very simple - and simply requires you to change your video frame rate to “match” the AC mains frequency. For 50Hz AC, set your Camera Video frame rate to 25fps or 50fps - often marked as “PAL”.

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Flickering cameras in FaceTime

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