sony a9 Is there any fix for banding when using the electronic shutter?

[joshdunn]

I'm a little over a year or so into owning an a9, the first one, not the a9ii (I thought I was slick saving $1500, and now I'm feeling kind of stupid).  Tonight I shot some indoor basketball and was having some pretty significant banding issues, first time it had happened, and I was definitely not happy to say the least.

I've scoured the internet, and there doesn't seem like there is any fix if you're shooting with the electronic shutter (which is, of course, why I bought the a9 in the first place).

Anyone have any advice, or better yet, a solution?

[Pieter]

Can you show us a pic of what kind of banding you're experiencing?

[craig50]

You have to play around with shutter speed as it's picking up the refresh of the lighting. Really E-shutter isn't good for sports as you can get distortion from panning or fast movement (look up e-shutter rolling). There's unfortunately no way around it as it has to do with the way the sensor reads the signal and sends it to the processor. It's not just a Sony thing, any camera with electronic shutter has this issue. 

[Pieter]

2 hours ago, craig50 said:

You have to play around with shutter speed as it's picking up the refresh of the lighting. Really E-shutter isn't good for sports as you can get distortion from panning or fast movement (look up e-shutter rolling). There's unfortunately no way around it as it has to do with the way the sensor reads the signal and sends it to the processor. It's not just a Sony thing, any camera with electronic shutter has this issue. 

You obviously know nothing about the e-shutter in the A9. The A9 is not just 'any camera with electronic shutter': it has quite a special one. Which is why I'm asking for sample pics: the banding will likely look different from what you'd get with 'any camera with electronic shutter'.

[craig50]

Chill out dude, was just trying to help. No need to get snippy. I did look up A9 and while it's more immune to the effect, it's still susceptible to a degree

Edited December 4, 2021 by craig50

[Pieter]

Wasn't snippy, was just saying you're giving advise on something you don't know the specifics of. Guess it came across wrong in written text.

The e-shutter in the A9 is hardly more susceptible to rolling shutter/banding than a camera with a mechanical shutter. What it is susceptible to is banding due to high frequency LED billboards, which flicker at about 10000 Hz.

[joshdunn]

@Pieter sorry for the late reply ... this is just one of many  ... as soon as I pressed the shutter button to focus, red areas would appear ....   

Shooting again tonight, different gymnasium, and if it happens again, I'm going to try 1/60 and 1/1000 shutter speed (I've heard that those are common frequencies that LED lights pulse at)

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!