Why do LED lights sometimes flicker on camera even when they look steady to your

LED lights often flicker on camera because they use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), which rapidly switches the light on and off to control brightness^[5]. While your eyes average these pulses into a steady glow due to visual persistence, a camera captures individual moments^[5][6]. If the camera's shutter speed or frame rate captures the light during its 'off' cycle, you see dark bands or pulsing^[5].

To prevent this, the PWM frequency must be significantly higher than the camera's frame rate, ideally 30 times higher or more^[5]. Matching your shutter speed to the light's frequency can also help the camera integrate the light more consistently^[5].