I am using the 24-200 on the z6 and using the built-in timelapse movie function.I've set everything manually and triple checked that. I shot at f4 when at the wide and 6.3 zoomed in. I've also tested other apertures. In all tests I get crazy flicker. I tried both silent shooting on/off and smoothing on/off. All tests suffer the same flicker.https://vimeo.com/541986022/dee81da780I normally shoot raw files and build at TL but wanted to try this method but not having any luck.Any tips/help? Thanks

I have found, after doing a lot of time lapse with my Z7, with both the 14-30 and 24-70 f/4, that it suffers from severe aperture flicker. I assume this is what you're seeing too. It looks the same as what I see in your linked video. Essentially, the camera closes down the aperture on every frame and the mechanical nature of doing this isn't perfect so can result it micro differences in the size of the aperture from frame to frame, resulting in flicker.I see this in my exposure line in LRTimelapse, where its completely jagged instead of smooth like it was with my D850 or D800. Indicating slight differences in exposure from frame to frame, even though they have identical settings and were often taken with as little as 1 second between them.I love time lapse and this has frankly been a huge disappointment of the Z system. While the latest version of LRTimelapse is pretty good at removing flicker, aperture flicker seems to be a little harder, and it isn't always successful at removing it even with multiple passes.For now, I've snagged and A7III with a Tamron 17-28 which I bring for time lapse and use my Z7 for anything else I need to do (mostly landscape).Hopefully someone else will have a more productive idea or solution, but so far I haven't found anything.Good luck.

The Nikon Z system is very capable at creating great time lapse sequences as long as one follows the route of (A mode aperture priority) or full manual M mode. Using the built inTime-lapse moviefeature is not that great to use in the 1st place, for static (non movement, no pan, no tilt, no slide etc.) sessions the nativeInterval timer shootingis highly recommended. In order to achieve the best results it is advised to leave exposure smoothing ON, Silent photography mode ON (why to wear that mechanical shutter off after all, right?) and Interval priority ON.Chances are there will be a good portion of flickering - much depending on how dynamic the scene is naturally - involved in the initial sequence when thrown into the LRTimelapse and Lightroom combo. But LRTimelapse can deal with it perfectly fine as long as it is not aggravated during post processing in Lightroom (too much contrast, too much white or black slider, haze etc.).Truth is however that Sony FF camera systems deal better overall with initial time-lapse sequence straight out of camera, Nikon Z are generally more prone to flicker. I could clearly observe this when comparing Z6/Z7 (1st gen) to Sony ARIV. Perhaps this was improved with Z6 II/Z7 II, don't own any of these two camera, so can't confirm this.So once again, Z6/Z7 are just fine for time-lapsing, all it takes is to do the job right during the post processing stage. I'd highly recommend Gunther Wegner's eBook on this matter, it's full of great tips and guides you through the technical craft of time-lapse as a genre. After all, he's the creator of LRTimelapse:-)

It would be very nice to know what lenses you are using, course if it is the aperture, it is a lens problem and not a camera problem.

I have done two three hours night sky timelapse videos with my Z6 mk 1 with no problems whatsoever, maybe I got lucky but I am more than happy with the results. If you ever watch any of Nightscape Images videos on YouTube Richard Tatti produces some stunning timelapse videos with his Z6.

owenleve wrote:I am using the 24-200 on the z6 and using the built-in timelapse movie function.I've set everything manually and triple checked that. I shot at f4 when at the wide and 6.3 zoomed in. I've also tested other apertures. In all tests I get crazy flicker. I tried both silent shooting on/off and smoothing on/off. All tests suffer the same flicker.https://vimeo.com/541986022/dee81da780I normally shoot raw files and build at TL but wanted to try this method but not having any luck.Any tips/help? Thanks...did you have IBIS off or on? The reason I ask this is that in my experience IBIS is causing this sort of flicker when the camera is on tripod. I have seen this in both time lapse and ordinary video when I forget to switch IBIS off.Also, I have just discovered the new firmware, and it includes saving the last focus position. I'll be downloading the new firmware as soon as possible, because this was really irritating me since I often use the camera on tripod for YouTube video and often keeping the position of everything but when the camera goes to sleep or I switch it off, the focus is lost.Another thing related to time lapse in the new firmware is that Nikon fixed an issue that would sometimes cause the camera to stop responding when time-lapse movie recording was interrupted. I never had this problem, but that may be because of luck, so it's good if they found an error which is now fixed.

I did NOT turn off stabilization. I will try that and see if that makes a difference.I should clarify this is only an issue with using the in-camera built TL. Shooting NEF files and creating a 'proper' TL should be no different than using any other camera. My D850 seemed to make MUCH better built in TL sequences.Will test again today with IBIS off. Maybe that is the missing link-and the last thing I can toggle on/off.I fully understand that the aperture will never open/close to the exact same spot-which is why I've tried it wide open and also stopped down-no difference however in end results.More testing and will report back.

Here’s the bottom line. The 24 - 200 lens is causing massive flickering no matter what aperture you set. Wide-open or stop down it gets the same results. I mounted the FTZ adapter and my 24-120 to the z  no flickering.  I also used the 24 - 120 on my D850 and no problem.The conclusion is the native Z mound lens is the issue. What a freaking joke. It’s the only z lens I have So I’m not sure if it is specific to this lens or if all of the Z mount lenses will have the same issue.i’m seriously struggling to see the advantages of having a new mount. Honestly I love the mirrorless system but having to juggle an F mount and Z mount is a super pain and now that this does not work for shooting camera built time lapses it’s sort of a joke.it would be great if someone has another Z mount lens to do a in camera tl and see if the flickering is also still present

One last comment. I used the trick where you can somewhat unmount the lens and the flickering issue is gone.this is beyond extremely disappointing.

owenleve wrote:Here’s the bottom line. The 24 - 200 lens is causing massive flickering no matter what aperture you set. Wide-open or stop down it gets the same results. I mounted the FTZ adapter and my 24-120 to the z no flickering. I also used the 24 - 120 on my D850 and no problem.The conclusion is the native Z mound lens is the issue. What a freaking joke. It’s the only z lens I have So I’m not sure if it is specific to this lens or if all of the Z mount lenses will have the same issue.This is a lens issue definitely, not a mount issue. I can't remember ever seeing this issue with my 24-70mm f4, 14-30mm f4 or 50mm f1.8.i’m seriously struggling to see the advantages of having a new mount. Honestly I love the mirrorless system but having to juggle an F mount and Z mount is a super pain and now that this does not work for shooting camera built time lapses it’s sort of a joke.The new mount allows more freedom for the lens designers, since the mount is wider and closer to the sensor.The larger mount doesn't guarantee stable aperture though, this still needs to be designed into the lens. It is possible that the missing 'S' (superior) designation of the 24-200mm has something to do with it, but that's pure speculation on my part.My suggestion would be to either shoot RAW using the interval timer and use LRTimelapse to fix the flickering (as suggested earlier), or to try to check if your video editing software supports deflickering.it would be great if someone has another Z mount lens to do a in camera tl and see if the flickering is also still presentI am pretty sure I have never seen flickering this bad, but I can run a quick test tomorrow to make sure.

Thanks for commenting. I am super curious if you could do a test with an S line lens using the built-in time lapse mode on a Z body. I know the better method is to shoot raw files and create a time lapse via a proper edit. But sometimes for some of the social media work that I am asked to do a quick in camera time lapse is perfect. Flickering is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I would assume that even shooting raw files I would run into a major flicker issue. And I’ve only looked through a handful of my NEF files as a test and I can tell there is a major problem with the stills. The lens is 100% the problem.I did a few more tests with the lens slightly unmounted and it works no problem. I just can’t believe that’s the best we can do!

I happen to run into my friend today who has a 2470 S line. I did a quick test shooting at F 10 no flicker whatsoever.it’s my 24 to 200 that is the problem.

owenleve wrote:I happen to run into my friend today who has a 2470 S line. I did a quick test shooting at F 10 no flicker whatsoever.it’s my 24 to 200 that is the problem.Honestly, I'm glad to hear its lens based, and not a problem in the cameras. Because as I said above, both my 14-30 f/4 and my 24-70 f/4 have terrible aperture flicker. I had been sort of assuming that it was a camera problem and hence the Z series sucks for time lapse.I might rent the 14-24 f/2.8 and test it out.The luminance curve of my 14-30 looks like this for example:

MarshallA wrote:owenleve wrote:I happen to run into my friend today who has a 2470 S line. I did a quick test shooting at F 10 no flicker whatsoever.it’s my 24 to 200 that is the problem.Honestly, I'm glad to hear its lens based, and not a problem in the cameras. Because as I said above, both my 14-30 f/4 and my 24-70 f/4 have terrible aperture flicker. I had been sort of assuming that it was a camera problem and hence the Z series sucks for time lapse.I might rent the 14-24 f/2.8 and test it out.The luminance curve of my 14-30 looks like this for example:Truth is, my 14-30 f/4 behaves in a similar fashion and I remember at first I was freaked out by it thinking this will be a mission impossible to remove the flicker. But LRTimelapse can deal with this fairly well tbh. Only in some highly dynamic scenes I sometimes use another 3rd party deflicker software (my favourite is Davinci Resolve's built in one, does some magic!) - think of cityscape time-lapse with traffic and people moving by, be it a day or night time... or even more challenging holy grail lapse. But then again, in most scenarios LRTimelapse can deal with this rather nervous initial curve in the final stage of post processing when you apply its deflicker pass.At the same time I can confirm that both my Nikon 85 f/1.8 and Nikon 24-70/f2.8 lenses have much smoother initial curve compared to 14-30/f4.Anyway, if anyone really wants to do time-lapses on higher level, I'd still recommend going the LRTimelapse route instead of using the built-in time-lapse movie mode. Results will be smoother and cleaner in the end. But that's just me:-)

Using the 24-200 in aperture priority the aperture does not change during shooting unless shooting smaller than f5.6.In the first "landscape" video clouds are moving across the sky creating moving areas of shadow in the image area. These can cause exposure differences between frames unless you set the exposure manually

7gismo wrote:MarshallA wrote:owenleve wrote:I happen to run into my friend today who has a 2470 S line. I did a quick test shooting at F 10 no flicker whatsoever.it’s my 24 to 200 that is the problem.Honestly, I'm glad to hear its lens based, and not a problem in the cameras. Because as I said above, both my 14-30 f/4 and my 24-70 f/4 have terrible aperture flicker. I had been sort of assuming that it was a camera problem and hence the Z series sucks for time lapse.I might rent the 14-24 f/2.8 and test it out.The luminance curve of my 14-30 looks like this for example:Truth is, my 14-30 f/4 behaves in a similar fashion and I remember at first I was freaked out by it thinking this will be a mission impossible to remove the flicker. But LRTimelapse can deal with this fairly well tbh. Only in some highly dynamic scenes I sometimes use another 3rd party deflicker software (my favourite is Davinci Resolve's built in one, does some magic!) - think of cityscape time-lapse with traffic and people moving by, be it a day or night time... or even more challenging holy grail lapse. But then again, in most scenarios LRTimelapse can deal with this rather nervous initial curve in the final stage of post processing when you apply its deflicker pass.At the same time I can confirm that both my Nikon 85 f/1.8 and Nikon 24-70/f2.8 lenses have much smoother initial curve compared to 14-30/f4.Anyway, if anyone really wants to do time-lapses on higher level, I'd still recommend going the LRTimelapse route instead of using the built-in time-lapse movie mode. Results will be smoother and cleaner in the end. But that's just me:-)Thanks for this, really good info. I didn't even realize Resolve could address flicker.I also only ever take raws and I always use LRT for my timelapses. Rarely have I seen a better piece of software for the price tbh.

owenleve wrote:I am using the 24-200 on the z6 and using the built-in timelapse movie function.I've set everything manually and triple checked that. I shot at f4 when at the wide and 6.3 zoomed in. I've also tested other apertures. In all tests I get crazy flicker. I tried both silent shooting on/off and smoothing on/off. All tests suffer the same flicker.https://vimeo.com/541986022/dee81da780I normally shoot raw files and build at TL but wanted to try this method but not having any luck.Any tips/help? ThanksI suspect this is the culprit:Please file a support ticket with Nikon.  They seem to be dismissive and perhaps clueless as to whether or not this is an issue that could have adverse effects.

While no cure for the problem with Z  lenses, has anyone tried a manual lens with manual aperture ring to see if the problem goes away?  An old Ai lens for instance? That would seem a definitive test for the source of the problem.

Richard Katris wrote:While no cure for the problem with Z lenses, has anyone tried a manual lens with manual aperture ring to see if the problem goes away? An old Ai lens for instance? That would seem a definitive test for the source of the problem.I tried an AFS lens, and this did not happen on that.  I did not try my AF, AI, or AI-P lenses.I would be interested in how AF-P lenses work (since they also use stepper motors like the Z lensee), but I don't have any.

Richard Katris wrote:An old Ai lens for instance?Using an old Ai lens is no different to setting manual exposure and manual focus on a Z lens.