Let’s begin with a question: have you ever tried out a new camera and then been disappointed with the quality of your photographs? If the answer is yes, then it’s likely that the culprit might be a phenomenon known as “rolling shutter”.
Whether you’re an amateur or a professional photographer; knowing what rolling shutter is and understanding how it can affect your photographs can greatly improve your chances of taking beautiful and high-quality shots. In this post, we’ll take a look at just what rolling shutter is, the different types you might encounter, and what that might mean for your pictures.
What Is a Rolling Shutter?
A rolling shutter is the mechanism within a camera that records images in a series of lines from top to bottom. This is a stark contrast to a global or electronic shutter, which records the entire image all at once, offering an image quality free from the anomalies typical of rolling shutters.
Rolling shutters were standard on all digital camera models before the advent of digital SLRs. Nowadays, most digital SLRs are equipped with electronic or global shutters to deliver higher-quality images. However, rolling shutters are still standard on many phone cameras and point-and-shoot cameras, which are often less expensive.
How Does a Rolling Shutter Work?
A digital camera that uses a rolling shutter captures an image by scanning from the bottom of the frame to the top. This is in contrast to a global shutter, which captures the entire frame all at once. This means that the different parts of the frame can be captured at slightly different times.
When the camera is still, rolling shutter artifacts aren’t typically visible. However, the effects of scanning can quickly become apparent when you are taking pictures of a fast-moving object, such as a bird in flight or a car moving at speed. These artifacts can present as curved lines, diagonal bars, or other anomalies across the frame.
The Types of Rolling Shutters
There are typically two types of rolling shutters you’ll encounter: mechanical shutters and electronic shutters.
Mechanical shutters consist of a series of blades that slide past the camera’s sensor to capture an image. While mechanical shutters can be powerful and robust, they can also be loud and prone to issues with vibration.
A more modern type of shutter, an electronic shutter, is made up of an array of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) that individually control each pixel on the sensor. This offers much greater control over the scanning process, and it’s typically much less susceptible to vibration-induced artifacts.
How a Rolling Shutter Affects Your Photographs
Because a rolling shutter captures different parts of an image at different times, the resulting image can be distorted. This can present as motion blur, skewing, or other artifacts.
Furthermore, rolling shutters are generally slower to capture an image than electronic shutters, and they can also be more susceptible to vibration-induced artifacts. This can make it more challenging to capture fast-moving or low-light subjects.
All of these issues can combine to give you less detail and reduced image quality in your photos. However, understanding how a rolling shutter works can also allow you to exploit its advantages and make better use of it. For example, you can take action shots with a rolling shutter with a little practice.
Tips for Mitigating Rolling Shutter Effects
If you find that the rolling shutter on your camera is too slow or is producing unwanted artifacts in your photos, there are a few tips for minimizing its impact.
Slow Down the Camera: Slowing down the shutter speed of your camera can help to mitigate rolling shutter artifacts. If you have the option to use an electronic or global shutter setting, use that instead.
Use a Stabilization Technology: If you have an image stabilization technology on your camera, use it to keep the lens still while capturing the image. This can help to reduce the vibration-induced artifacts that can result from a rolling shutter.
Practice Your Technique: Understanding how a rolling shutter works and experimenting with different techniques can help you master the art of capturing fast-moving subjects. Practice can give you more control over your camera and let you take more unique and interesting shots.
Conclusion
Rolling shutters can be a source of frustration for amateur and professional photographers alike. They are a type of camera shutter that scans the image from the bottom to the top, which can produce a variety of image artifacts, especially in fast-moving subjects.
However, understanding rolling shutters can help you to make the most of your camera and take higher-quality photographs. By understanding how a rolling shutter works and taking advantage of the techniques mentioned above, you can mitigate the effects and take more unique and interesting shots.