{"id":360606,"date":"2021-05-07T12:40:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T11:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/?post_type=learning-centre&p=360606"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:14:53","slug":"electronic-vs-mechanical-shutter","status":"publish","type":"learning-centre","link":"https:\/\/www.fujifilm-x.com\/en-gb\/learning-centre\/electronic-vs-mechanical-shutter\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic vs Mechanical Shutter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The shutter in your X Series camera has a simple job to do:\u00a0open long enough for light to make a picture, then close again. But your camera actually has two types of shutter \u2013\u00a0one mechanical, the other electronic \u2013\u00a0and both have their advantages and disadvantages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your camera\u2019s mechanical shutter is virtually identical to the shutters found in film cameras and DSLRs. With the exception of the X100F, all X Series cameras have a focal plane shutter, which consists of two metal curtains that work together to exclude and allow light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you shoot, you can hear the clicks of the mechanical shutter operating as it first covers the sensor, then exposes it again to start the exposure, before shutting it a short time later and \u2018recocking\u2019 for the next shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The X100F uses a leaf shutter \u2013 a circular arrangement of identical overlapping metal blades that open and close in much the same way as a lens aperture. While leaf shutters don\u2019t allow speeds as fast as focal plane shutters, they do offer flash synchronization at all speeds and are very quiet in operation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, an electronic shutter operates just by turning the sensor on and off \u2013\u00a0no moving parts required. This gives the electronic shutter two key advantages: it\u2019s completely silent and it\u2019s completely shake free. This is great when you want to stay really discreet (street photography, events etc) or when you\u2019re shooting with long exposure times and you want to avoid any chance of camera shake completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Electronic shutters can also offer much faster shutter speeds (up to 1\/32,000 sec) and continuous shooting rates (up to 30fps on some of our cameras).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, you could be forgiven for wondering why mirrorless cameras don\u2019t just use electronic shutters exclusively. However, the technology behind CMOS imaging sensors means that mechanical shutters still have an important role to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you shoot a picture, image data is read from your camera\u2019s sensor line by line, not all in one go. This means that when an electronic shutter ends an exposure, there is actually a short time delay (of around 1\/200 sec) between the top of the frame and the bottom. This is called a \u2018rolling shutter\u2019 and is used in video cameras, too. For most normal scenes, rolling electronic shutters work just great, but there are some examples where they\u2019re not so suitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving Objects and Electronic Shutters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When shooting pictures of fast-moving scenes, there is often time for a subject to move slightly as the electronic shutter closes line by line, and this can cause some pretty strange-looking effects. The propellers on aircraft appear to bend, for example, and the wheels on fast-moving cars can look oval. You\u2019ll also notice problems in the background of images shot with a panning moving-camera technique.<\/p>\n\n\n

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