WTH is going on here?? 5D3 metering??

I've spent 20 years shooting "outdoor" action. Just in the last year or two, our indoor workload has picked up, and the learning curve has been steep, lol. Shooting gymnastics, obviously without flash, and this past weekend's event kicked my arse! I shot the same event last year, and didn't seem to have as many problems, but then I put it all off on my inexperience with the situation. Given the lighting in this arena appeared to be very bright (over the floor), upon a closer look, I could see "temperature" differences" in the lights, I presume from the aging of the bulbs. Anyways, all things equal... WTH is happening here??? Here's a two shot burst, all EXIF data appears to be identical! Shutter count on the body is getting close to 90K. Reckon it's time for a physical at the Canon Repair Center??? Anyone else have this issue, or an explanation???
FYI, both images....
1/800 @ 5.6
6400 ISO
Manual Exp
Pattern metering (I tried the gamut throughout the event, lol)

Another issue.... I positioned myself between the floor and beam so I could shoot both. It was consistently 4 stops darker over the beams. At one point, I tried Av and Tv, but the body would not produce consistent exposure when making the turn from the floor to beam and back. I literally ended up manually rolling the settings with each turn! Man, that was a chore for over 6K shots!!!
Again, anyone share the same issues with the 5D3????

Looks like light flicker issues. Take a look at this article for some more info:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com …ps/flickering-lights.aspx

There's not a lot you can do to combat it- some of Canon's new cameras (7dii, 80d, 1dxII and 5d IV) contain anti-flicker control to help prevent this.

WOW! Thanks!! I've learned something this morning!!! Had no idea that was an issue, but it makes complete sense.
I'm still perplexed at the inconsistency of the exposure when turning from one to the other element. That inconsistency seemed to be pretty consistent, lol.
Think I'll still send her to the Canon hospital next week, just for a physical. I'll have a two week break between events, and hopefully as a CPS member, they'll get it turned around in time.

rowdy wrote in post #18248108
I've spent 20 years shooting "outdoor" action. Just in the last year or two, our indoor workload has picked up, and the learning curve has been steep, lol. Shooting gymnastics, obviously without flash, and this past weekend's event kicked my arse! I shot the same event last year, and didn't seem to have as many problems, but then I put it all off on my inexperience with the situation. Given the lighting in this arena appeared to be very bright (over the floor), upon a closer look, I could see "temperature" differences" in the lights, I presume from the aging of the bulbs. Anyways, all things equal... WTH is happening here??? Here's a two shot burst, all EXIF data appears to be identical! Shutter count on the body is getting close to 90K. Reckon it's time for a physical at the Canon Repair Center??? Anyone else have this issue, or an explanation???

This has been discussed many times in the forum but not everybody had read the threads.

Gas discharge lighting (fluorescent and a few other technologies) which are driven at power line frequency can provide big problems for photographer. This is because the intensity and color of the light output changes as the voltage to the lamps changes. These changes happen during every 1/2 cycle of the power line (120 times per second in the U.S. and other places using 60Hz power and 100 times per second in places using 50Hz power).

There is one and only one solution for photographers who must use ambient light from this type of lighting. That is choosing very specific shutter speeds that will have the shutter open for multiples of one half cycle of the power. For U.S. locations, this means that one could use 1/120, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, etc. shutter speeds. Any shutter speeds faster than 1/120 second will result in the sort of random light levels and colors that you've seen.

As suggested previously, one could also overpower the ambient light with flash and avoid the lighting problem that way.

Thanks for the info. Very insightful. Unfortunately, flash is not allowed at these events, and 1/120 is waaayy too slow for the movement. Apparently, it's an issue we'll have to deal with, huh? lol
Thanks again.

If I use anti flicker on my 7D2, along with auto WB, I end up with pretty consistant looking frames.

So... there, now you know you need a 5DIV and can justify it for the anti flicker alone.. *LOL*


Might want to double check the shutter speeds used last year, but could also be they've changed the lighting on you, I would presume even a bulb change may make a difference. Also what white balance did you use last year?

May need to roll with auto ISO as well as auto wb to try and get more consistant, but yeah, it is challenging in arenas and areas where they have different WB and exposures and you have to shoot them seconds apart.