Bricks in Motion
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What settings should i use...eg low/high shutter speed...ISO and other options? All recommendations are helpful 
What I've read is that it's better to have a very small aperture, as in a high f-stop, and a very slow shutter speed. I haven't done any actual tests to see if this helps, but what I've been doing is using an f-stop of around 20, or the highest possible on the lens if it doesn't go that high, and a shutter speed of around 1/15; and then adjust the ISO to get the lighting the way I want it. I'd suggest testing a lot to see what works, but that would probably be a good place to start.
I use about 1/15 or 1/20 shutter speed with an ISO of 100 an an aperture of 4.3(I think)-5.6. This results in crisp, bright images, but you need a lot of light. I use two 60 watt lamps and one 120 fluorescent for nice blue highlights.
I would suggest a high f-stop for another reason: if you pay attention to most movies, the depth of field tends to be relatively huge, the way our eyes work in real life, at least most of the time. Unless focus is short for affect or to direct attention to a characters face in a close up, everything in the shot is in focus. brickfilms are films, not a macro photo of a toy, so your minifigs and sets will be much more believable as characters and real places if you use a long depth of field and put the whole set in focus, they will seem a little less like toys.
What I've read is that it's better to have a very small aperture, as in a high f-stop, and a very slow shutter speed. I haven't done any actual tests to see if this helps, but what I've been doing is using an f-stop of around 20, or the highest possible on the lens if it doesn't go that high, and a shutter speed of around 1/15; and then adjust the ISO to get the lighting the way I want it. I'd suggest testing a lot to see what works, but that would probably be a good place to start.
Well, guys, on my DSLR, basically everything I animate is a flicker fest and I have no idea why.
People have told me to go both high and low with my f-stop. I tested both today, and neither seem to make any difference in the flicker at all.
I'll be honest, I think that the aperture size and shutter length are probably the smallest factors in light flicker; at least from my experience I think that things like have an manual vs. an auto focus lens, reflective LEGO sets, ambient light, and lamps themselves contribute far more to light flicker. I've also noticed that light flicker is a lot more obvious when the camera settings are used to make the shot dark as opposed to bright; I'm sure there's a reason, but I haven't looked into it.
Well, guys, on my DSLR, basically everything I animate is a flicker fest and I have no idea why.
People have told me to go both high and low with my f-stop. I tested both today, and neither seem to make any difference in the flicker at all.
Weird. If you're using a DSLR, you should be able to set it to have virtually no light flicker. Are you sure everything's on manual?
EDIT: I did some research on the type of camera you are using. If you are still using the Nikon D3100 as stated on your YouTube page, there's a thing called Active D-Lighting that may be causing the problem. Apparently it "restores picture-enhancing detail in shadows and highlights." Is there a way to manually turn that off in your camera's settings?
Last edited by MouseDroid (February 3, 2013 (02:37am))
I did some research on the type of camera you are using. If you are still using the Nikon D3100 as stated on your YouTube page, there's a thing called Active D-Lighting that may be causing the problem. Apparently it "restores picture-enhancing detail in shadows and highlights." Is there a way to manually turn that off in your camera's settings?
Yes, there is. I always leave active D-lighting off because I don't really like how it looks.
I've done all of the usual stuff, full manual settings, no natural light, and I even duck away to prevent reflections.
I'm pretty sure that my light source isn't the problem. I've taken pictures in rapid succession and flicker remains. By the severity of my flicker, it couldn't have been a light problem or else I would actually be able to seen the lights change in brightness.
Hey mates. I wonder that no one has posted this link yet: http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/201 … raphy.html
If you’re not in the market for a manual aperture lens and/or an expensive adapter, you can trick the camera body into cutting the communication with your lens by putting a piece of masking tape over the contacts on the rear element of the lens. However, this will just keep the iris permanently wide open. If you want to lock the aperture at a more closed down f-stop, follow these steps:
-Set the aperture on the camera body using the digital controls.
-Press the depth-of-field preview button (usually below the lens on the front of the camera body) and un-mount the lens while holding the button.
-Cover the lens contacts with tape (any kind that’s thin and won’t leave a residue or gum up the contacts).
-Reattach the lens without accidentally peeling off the tape.The downside is these steps must be followed each time you want to change the aperture. The upside is that shooting stop-motion or creating a time-lapse usually takes quite a long time so the aperture won’t need to be changed quickly or very often.
Credit to Loic F-B for finding it. I've used it ever since and I don't get lighting flickers anymore.
Hey mates. I wonder that no one has posted this link yet: http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/201 … raphy.html
If you’re not in the market for a manual aperture lens and/or an expensive adapter, you can trick the camera body into cutting the communication with your lens by putting a piece of masking tape over the contacts on the rear element of the lens. However, this will just keep the iris permanently wide open. If you want to lock the aperture at a more closed down f-stop, follow these steps:
-Set the aperture on the camera body using the digital controls.
-Press the depth-of-field preview button (usually below the lens on the front of the camera body) and un-mount the lens while holding the button.
-Cover the lens contacts with tape (any kind that’s thin and won’t leave a residue or gum up the contacts).
-Reattach the lens without accidentally peeling off the tape.The downside is these steps must be followed each time you want to change the aperture. The upside is that shooting stop-motion or creating a time-lapse usually takes quite a long time so the aperture won’t need to be changed quickly or very often.
Credit to Loic F-B for finding it. I've used it ever since and I don't get lighting flickers anymore.
Well, I tried putting the tape on, and it leaves my aperture very tiny, and I have to set it at a three second exposure to get a bright enough picture.
How do I get it to be something more meduim like F13? I'm not really sure what or where the depth-of-field preview button is. I tried taking off the lens holding several different buttons, but none of them seem to be correct.
Well, on the 18-55 Canon Lens that a lot of people are using, it's a tiny round button on the front of the camera body near the lens mountings. I tried this trick and it didn't really seem to help me very much. I've gotten rid of most of my light flicker without this trick. What kind of camera are you using? I would google it and see if Nikon cameras have that DOF preview button.
Edit: it looks like quite a few Nikon cameras lack the DOF preview button. Like the 3000 and 5000 d series.
it looks like quite a few Nikon cameras lack the DOF preview button. Like the 3000 and 5000 d series.
Yeah, it seems so.
I probably won't be able to do this then, I really hate having my depth be so huge. 
Well, on the 18-55 Canon Lens that a lot of people are using, it's a tiny round button on the front of the camera body near the lens mountings. I tried this trick and it didn't really seem to help me very much. I've gotten rid of most of my light flicker without this trick. What kind of camera are you using? I would google it and see if Nikon cameras have that DOF preview button.
Edit: it looks like quite a few Nikon cameras lack the DOF preview button. Like the 3000 and 5000 d series.
I have also never needed to use this trick. I get no flicker with my 18-55 Canon Lens.
I tried using the tape with a 3 second exposure in a dolly test.
It still has flicker.
I'm stumped.
I get flicker with my Canon T3 lens.
Hmm... I guess it depends on your situation. The important think for me is to keep the T2i unplugged from the computer while applying tape and then plug it back in. That way I can have whatever aperture I need. Of course, if you didn't have a DOF preview button to begin with, I guess that would change things.
I don't use a capture software. I have a remote shutter that I use to take pictures. Unfortunately I don't have a wireless remote shutter.....
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