How to Get Rid of Flicker in Stop Motion Animation

A thorough and definitive look at the causes of flicker in stop motion animation and the ways to get rid of it. Geared towards beginner, amateur, emerging and at-home animators. The quick answer: a combination of manual lenses and long shutter times.
For the full tutorial in blog text form, go here: nottriangles.com/choose-your-blogventure/flicker-stop-motion/

[@jhonnyparks7085]

I don't know why this video doesn't have 10,000 likes, it has the best advice for anti-flicker I have seen yet, all put into just one video. Thank you Steven for sharing all of these detailed and helpful tips!

[@magicalmax1000]

Extremely concise and to the point. You covered every possible cause of the issue, thanks a bunch! This is good to know as I'm starting a freelancing business in stop motion.

[@NotTriangles]

Thanks dude and best of luck.

[@edupuertasfruns]

Hi, lens disengagement is used for automatic lens to block pin communication and set the aperture wanted, it doesn't make sense on a manual lens. If you have flickr in a manual lens provably is because of the camera trying to correct the exposure. Anyway great video, really informative.

[@NotTriangles]

This is what I said in the video. I then went on to show that lens disengagement does not do much to mitigate the flicker and introduces the danger of the lens dropping off the body.

[@taylorwells3706]

@@NotTriangles You said it specifically about manual lenses though.. Edu is saying that the disengagement is for Automatic lenses which is why id didn't make a difference when you did it with a manual lens.

[@erynshea4373]

This is the BEST video out there that I've seen about stop motion work. Very informative + thorough, thank you!!!

[@carlosRmoore]

Gave this a thumbs up within the first ten seconds of watching. Very thorough explanation of what it takes for a perfect stop motion! Great Job!

[@PhilJonesIII]

Well prepared and well presented. Many thanks for all your time and effort.

[@calvinclimie]

Awesome detail and well demonstrated examples!

[@stampedestudios7043]

That was very thorough. Thank-you for creating this amazing video!

[@TURST67]

Thanks for this video. I was struggling finding why I had very subtle light changes, they were caused because I wasn't using a continuous light source but a speedlight (flash).

[@danrackham5667]

Thanks Steven, really thorough video. Cheers

[@GoldYeller]

This was a great video. Very helpful. Thank you.

[@chassa7266]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us...its much appreciated.

[@Hippienolic2]

Thank you so much. I’m just getting into stop motion and this covered all the bases

[@richardalonzo2879]

Incredible Video !! Amazing and to the point information here !! Thank you for sharing your knowledge !

[@jdfilms826]

this is a great tutorial

[@dcaucett]

Great video, really liked how you had examples for so many different impacts. Thanks

[@CrypticcYT]

This is so comprehensive, thank you.

[@noviceartisan]

Most useful and applicable video I've seen! ^_^ Thank you for making this

[@C.j.8795]

This was actually really informative. Thanks!

[@XAVIERCUERVO]

thank you for taking the time to do this video was very helpful

[@brunoferraz2811]

Perfect Tutorial.

[@muratunel]

Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@BlueBrickStudio]

Thank you! That really helps!

[@lyndonbaptiste]

Amazing work. Thank you.

[@danyjbravo2338]

Awesome, thanks.

[@CRMayerCo]

Good stuff. Thanks.

[@crystalballstudiostm2355]

Thanks so much, man! This helped out a ton :D

[@scoobydoom6095]

Very informative. I made the mistake of buying a Variac before I understood how it worked. Variac's are not line conditioners! Wish I had known that before clunking down the change. Thanks for the video!

[@babyzbeproud]

Great vid! Thanks.

[@lucasvidana3774]

you might want to consider getting a new laundry machine. Great video and great information. Thank you!

[@brickmasterstudio9962]

Thank you🙏

[@ThisOLmaan]

all that to get rid of flicker whoa

[@spencerkr5778]

This has probably been commented by now but I think you could allow yourself to open the lens back up by using Neutral Density filters

[@NotTriangles]

You are the first to comment that and definitely good information to have out there!

[@omenatollo]

Very nice video. As a stop motion animator flicker has been my arch enemy always. But I have managed to defeated most of the time. With pretty much the things you were explaining in the video. However I am using Canon 6D camera with manual lenses. What I have wondered why Nikon manual lenses? I have tried Canon manual lenses, Minolta, perhaps also Pentax. Anyhow I think they all work fine.

[@NotTriangles]

I could conjecture about why manual Nikon lenses have become the standard, but what I always heard is that they cooperate the best with Canon bodies. I wanted to put that to the test with this video and, like you, I found that the brand of the lens does not matter; only that it's manual.

[@Gournis]

@@NotTriangles if we take an autofocus prime and turn the mode in Manual, will be create flicker?

[@NotTriangles]

@@Gournis More than likely. But if you follow all of the other steps, specifically with shutter speed, you will be able to mitigate a lot of it.

[@nathanielgiandomenicogames6464]

I'm just gonna stick to my ordinary iPhone but thanks Thi great vid👍😍

[@legobro4studio]

This is quite useful, I've been doing stop motion for a long time and the grain (I think that's what it called) in my videos drives me crazy, I can really tell when I make a frame last a long time and then start playing my animation, if that's makes sense... I got some stuff to try and fix.

[@NotTriangles]

Heyo, I checked out some of your stuff. You have a lot to deal with on your set because you work with legos. They are shiny, so reflective. To completely rid yourself of all flicker, you have to make sure everything behind the camera (mostly you) doesn't move, so the reflections stay static as well. What I saw in your videos was mostly general flicker with a lot of reflection. Just follow the steps in my video. Your other mention of grain: graininess usually comes from gain, which would be introducing artificial brightness into your image. Sometimes ISO settings can cause this as well. The only way to avoid that is to make sure that your lighting setup is sufficient for the speed of your lens (aperture capabilities).

[@legobro4studio]

@@NotTriangles Thank you so much for your advice!!

[@diegodelarocha859]

OMG! You are to be kissed on the forehead! 😍 Finally someone puts all this information all together! THANK YOU!!!

[@LarsLeonhard]

Any thoughts on the Canon EOS RP (or R) that can get a Canon Stop Motion Animation Firmware upgrade? It comes bundled with a RF 24-105mm F/4-7,1 IS STM lens. By the way - great video and channel. Very helpful!

[@NotTriangles]

I hadn't heard of any of that. Unfortunately for me and the world at large, the pandemic took me out of the stop motion game. But I looked up the lens and I'd be hesitant. The STM feature just means more things moving inside the lens. But if my video taught anything, it's that the mechanics of the lens don't matter as much as shutter speed and lighting to eliminate flicker. I went to the EOS RP's site and it advertises as great in low light, so that's perfect. I went to the Canon stop motion firmware site and that has a header touting that it is compatible with Dragonframe, so that's perfect right off the bat.... and holy cow, it has everything animators have been wanting... This is really really cool, thank you for putting it on my radar. So yeah, definitely for only $1,000, the EOS R and RP look like the perfect modern tool for the job.

[@hodshonf]

just getting into stop motion again after many years. i made the mistake of getting a Nikkor 35mm f1.8G lens YESTERDAY, and finding out TODAY that Dragonframe explicitly warns against G lenses. i'm using an old Nikon D3300 that sat unused since it was purchased. i don't want to return the lens due to the restocking fee, it's a nice lens. from the Dragonframe site, with the G lenses, there will be a disparity between live view and high res, i think. not sure what to do - i'm not doing critical work yet. can you recommend a SPECIFIC lens/adapter for the D3300 - with aperture ring? thanks, great video!

[@NotTriangles]

I'm not an expert on all lenses, but from what I saw looking up that lens, it appears to be digital, so that it communicates its aperture settings via the camera body. So, between shots, it will wiggle and reset a bit. If Dragonframe says there is a live view disparity as well, they would know. They work tirelessly to make sure their software is accessible to as many models as possible and to update their FAQ to help users with purchasing. A specific adapter for you? I don't think there is one. You have to control the aperture somehow and with a digital lens, that control will be on the camera body or in Dragonframe. The manual style lens you need has a manual aperture ring on the lens itself. If you use an adapter with a digital lens, you either use one that has a digital relay and thus, misses the entire point, or you use the proper style of adapter that cuts off the digital signal and then you can't control your aperture. So, since you said your work is preliminary, just use that lens and follow the rest of my tutorial with a longer shutter time and set your aperture digitally in Dragonframe. You may have a bit of flicker, but if you follow the rest of the guides, it will be hardly visible to anybody on the platforms you will likely be presenting your videos on.

[@korrze]

My studio always uses strobe lights for stop motion and I’m always dealing with unequal exposure all the time. Are strobe lights normal in stop-motion houses?

[@NotTriangles]

I've never heard of it being done. But that means I can't say with any certainty from experience. But my guess would be that the strobe would have to be high end enough to output the exact same amount of light each time it flashes. Care for standing in the same spot and things around you not reflecting would have to be heightened. I'm failing at finding a concrete reason why that's a bad idea, but it really seems like a bad one on the surface.

[@Toyfriends]

Nicest

[@TheRolfster]

8:24 lmao

[@umerzafar]

In general, Skip Laundry!!

[@NotTriangles]

If there's one takeaway from this video, I hope it would be that.

[@ElectricPeaPlayz]

I hate my fricking lamps, they keep flickering every 4 seconds

[@NotTriangles]

I know your pain. I'm still using the terrible ones that I show in this video. Good lights are expensive.

[@atlanteanproductions5330]

Step 1 don't use an Android 😂😭

[@NotTriangles]

The app Stop Motion Studio is available on Google Play, so you're fine.

[@Trist10TheChristian]

78 views lol. Stop motion really is dying I guess 😂 very helpful video for me, though?

[@Trist10TheChristian]

Steven Topham hey, weird question for you, how do you deal with dust? It seems it's ALWAYS floating around my room, and it's incredibly annoying

[@jhonnyparks7085]

Stop motion will never die =)

[@NotTriangles]

@@Trist10TheChristian Whoa, a year... I remember seeing this in my inbox and I must have accidentally archived it. Many apologies. My studio is near my garden and I suffer from the same thing in the Spring. Tiny gnats too, drive me crazy. One production I had to kill at least two of them between every shot. Blacking out my studio helped a lot. Then treating it like a laboratory did the rest. If you can do it, the door should always be closed. Use a spray to wipe down surfaces regularly and swiffer wet the floor instead of sweeping the dust into the air.

[@concretehill4204]

This was not helpful at all I do stop-motion on a pc and I did all these tips AND GOT NO RESULTS and I still have light flicker!

[@NotTriangles]

I viewed your channel and you have a number of issues going on. You should go to stopmotionanimation.com and ask for help, nicely, from some of the patient and supportive members there.

[@concretehill4204]

@@NotTriangles Ok man I am sorry I got a bit ticked off... I mean though I have no clue how to stop light flicker I mean I have tried so hard to stop it but I still don't know how to stop it! I will go and see if they have any tips....