Looking at this video of the GQ Glee photo shoot, I notice a lot of white banding going on. Is this the infamous CMOS flash issue?
And am I a total geek to even notice this while watching video of a half-naked Lea Michele?

Video: The cast of 'Glee' burns it up in a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot: Video: GQ (http://www.gq.com/video/videos/glee-video-shoot-cory-monteith-lea-michele-dianna-agron)

Yes, this is that flash problem. BTW, I've seen a similar problem with CCD cameras, too.

And, thought the flash artifacts are really obvious to the point of distraction, yes you are definately a geek for noticing this amidst the frolicking of half naked babes. To be fair, I was also distracted by the blown out whites in several shots, so you're not the only one!

ill see that onmy shoots every once in a while while shooting receptions. its on for a split second, so it doesnt bother me, moreover my customer in the least.
if they were shooting with a motordrive continuous shots of the same thing10-15times, it would be annoying, but one? not at all.

In and of itself, flash-banding either bothers you or it does not. It absolutely drives some folks to distraction. Others (myself included) are very nearly indifferent to it. That's the subjective side of it.

On the objective side, it can be a big problem if use slow-mo effects. I've also found that It can be more annoying with very large displays. I rarely saw it with video from my CCD cams, but I've noticed it a lot more with my AVCHD and HDV cams. I'm particularly aware of flash-banding because I do a lot of multi-cam shoots and use flashes as sync points.

But apart from going frame by frame for synching, and otherwise functioning in "geek" mode for editing, flash banding in full motion video does not usually register with me. Except when people like Glen call it to my attention. And that makes me wonder how many times Glen had to watch the clip --- for professional reasons, of course --- before he noticed the flash banding.

So, here is how I come down on the geek thing. ;) ---> if you noticed flash banding the first time through, Glen, you have the eye of a professional editor. If you only noticed it on the second or third viewing, you are a geek. If it was the fourth (or later) viewing, you need a life and some real friends.

I noticed it immediately. It bothered me, I'd rather the video be clean.
So I had to watch the video several more times. To...umm...confirm my original observation. Just to be sure.