Doorbell live feed image sometimes flickers rapidly when being previewed or viewed

[jamesmacwhite]

Hi,

I just recently got a Nest Doorbell battery and noticed the live feed will sometimes have a rapid flickering effect, where the whole feed image is flickering very fast, almost as if it's trying to switch between a different mode but can't decide. This occurs both in on the home screen as a preview and on the live feed itself. I suspect it might be when certain lighting conditions are present. The doorbell faces out in an open area where the sky and natural light is directly visible by the camera lens. There is no LED light around. I suspect that rather than a defect it is due to specific lighting conditions triggering something with the camera.

There are third party cases with hoods that might solve the problem by removing some of the direct sunlight/natural light being projected onto the lens when it is brighter. I don't believe it is a glitch with the Google Home app as it happens on the web interface version as well, therefore it leads me to believe it is coming from the camera device itself.

Just wondering if others have experienced similar?

[GTrejo]

Same issue here. Noticed doing this in the past few months . It Seems that users have been complaining about this since well before 2021 and these devices are still being sold , even when Google has been aware of this from the beginning. This clearly calls for a world wide recall of defective devices unless the tech company comes clean and don’t put gathering data on you  first.

[jamesmacwhite · Accepted solution]

It seems that certain lighting conditions trigger it. For me it seems to be happening when a lot of direct sunlight/brightness is on the lens. It doesn't happen at night or when there's lower light i.e. not as bright or sunny. Sometimes it only happens for a few seconds and then stabilises, while other times it remains constant. 

I have purchased a third party case that has a hood which is possibly more designed to prevent rain on the lens, but by chance may also reduce the amount of light that shines directly on the lens, which may also reduce the flickering from happening, I'll have to test it out.

I have also noticed that when it is happening, if I turn the doorbell camera off entirely and then back on again this also seems to stop it, but then it can happen again after a period of time.

It is probably not a defect, but certain ambient light scenarios triggering firmware features related to the lens.

[Pete_L]

Same issue here - it's like the camera is struggling to set its white balance and is almost flashing.

[jamesmacwhite]

Yes, when it occurs it makes the entire camera feed flash very rapidly (possibly should be cautious for anyone with epilepsy or sensitivity to rapid flashing images).

The case I bought did not do anything to help the problem, while it has a hood, it is more to protect the lens from rain at certain angles, but doesn't really block any of the lens area. It does however at least provide some protection from general weather.

It is certainly triggered by bright light conditions I'm pretty confident of that. I can only think of submitting feedback directly from the Google Home app highlighting the issue. Google Nest support was the usual reboot it, which won't do anything other than perhaps make it stop for a short while before the "right" lighting conditions trigger it again.