Could Someone Explain this Camera Anomaly?

[highlander]

Hi,

In the video capture from a standard mobile phone camera shown in the link below, repeated downward red flashes appear from one of the light sources which is obviously some camera anomaly. I would be very grateful if someone could provide me with the technical reason for this occuring. The reasons for my query are self evident in the link below.

Thanks,

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi6fmSw-2n8

[beejaybee]

I believe it is caused by the sensor saturating, the accumulated charge leaks away through the column of pixels through which the CCD is normally read. The issue can be avoided in manufacture by installing "anti blooming gates" in the chip (at the expense of making the response non linear at high light levels) or avoiding overexposure. The streak is probably red because the overexposure in this case is hitting the red filtered pixels but not the others, as a consequence of the colour balance of the lights in the image.

In a scene where almost everything visible is "point" light sources, like distant street lights or stars, overexposure of the bright points is very, very hard to avoid.

[highlander]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my query. Thats very helpful.