lifecam cinema light flicker. (Page 1) - Production - Forums

1 Topic by gilnic August 18, 2011 (03:40am)

gilnic
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Topic: lifecam cinema light flicker.

Hello, I hope someone may be able to help me please.I am starting using Monkeyjam and the Microsoft Lifecam Cinema web cam.I find that I am getting a large amount of light flicker.I have tried a cheaper webcam which does not have autofocus and there is no recognised flicker.Now it appears that the main solution is to disable the autofocus.The problem here I have found is that the webcam reverts back to autofocus each time you shut it down.I suppose this is alright although somewhat inconvenient when your are using the web cam for chat etc.The difficulty when trying to use this in conjunction with Monkeyjam means it is impossible to turn off autofocus.If you leave the webcam open it won't load in Monkeyjam and if you close the webcam you have disabled autofocus you can then access Monkeyjam but of course the autofocus has now reverted back to autofocus.
What I really need is a way to permanently disable the autofocus,not just temporary while the cam is open.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Gil

2 Reply by Eddie August 18, 2011 (04:30am)

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Re: lifecam cinema light flicker.

Hmmm, first off, I think I need some more information. Can you give me some pictures or go more in depth about the settings? Secondly, a lot of people find that you have to put everything in settings on manual. Manual focus, manual white balance, and then turn everything off that can't be turned into manual. Autofocus is very hard to work with when you are brickfilming so manual is the way to go.

Also, welcome to the site. You might want to check this out before you post, just so's you know what's going on.

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3 Reply by AbsurdAnimations August 18, 2011 (05:59am)

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Re: lifecam cinema light flicker.

Okay, first of all, autofocus does not cause light flicker. It causes something called "focus flicker", which is something else entirely. Your light flicker is probably being caused by automatic exposure, white balance, or gain. From personal experience, and what other users have said, the Lifecam Cinema does not work well with many stop motion programs. I would say your best bet would be to get new stop motion software, or to buy a new webcam.

For software, the only other free programs that I know of that work well are Animator DV Simple+ and HeliumFrog. I'm fairly certain that they're compatible with the Lifecam Cinema. For a webcam, if you still have the receipt and everything for your Lifecam, you could probably return it and get another camera. I believe the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 is about the same price. Anyway, hope this helps.