Shutter confusion; Are they still neccessary? On my OM 10 Mirrorless there are different settings for the shutter. Standard, shutter shock, and silent. In silent mode there is no...

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

On my OM 10 Mirrorless there are different settings for the shutter. Standard, shutter shock, and silent.
In silent mode there is no shutter action. So apparently it's all computerized.
So why does it need a shutter?
I think without the shutter action will reduce out of focus pictures.

There is no shutter in front of the sensor. So the camera is always in live mode.
When I push the button I saw the shutter jump up in front of the sensor then back down. That didn't make sense.
I am familier with the shutter in front then it opens and closes.

Somehow I am missing something here.
Is it ok to always use the silent mode?

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

With my Olympus OMD-E-M5II the silent shutter caususes a lot of distortion when shooting moving subjects. I never use when shooting classical music concerts where I thought it would be great.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

kenArchi wrote:

I think without the shutter action will reduce out of focus pictures.

Shutter actuation has no effect on focus.

LarryFB Loc: Depends where our RV is parked

kenArchi wrote:

On my OM 10 Mirrorless there are different setting... (show quote)

All cameras do have shutters of some sort. Over a century ago, the shutter was the photographer who removed a lens cap for a number of seconds, then replaced it. I'm sure your camera has a settable shutter speed, so yes it does have a shutter, but, not a mechanical shutter, but it probably an electronic shutter.

An electronic shutter would set the amount of time that the image on the sensor is recorded. This is relatively new technology.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

kenArchi wrote:

On my OM 10 Mirrorless there are different setting... (show quote)

Placebo!
SS

Lucasdv123

Richard taylor when the hell did they start letting people photograph in classical concerts.every where we go they will turn people back when they show up with camaras.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Lucasdv123 wrote:

Richard taylor when the hell did they start letting people photograph in classical concerts.every where we go they will turn people back when they show up with camaras.

I am asked to cover those events by the organisers in some cases.
If I am not asked I don't even take a camera (like the Sydney opera house).

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

There is a warm feeling to film people to hear the "click" sound of the shutter. Some cameras have a choice of sound level and it otherwise has no effect on the shot.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

kenArchi wrote:

On my OM 10 Mirrorless there are different setting... (show quote)

The shutter helps in preventing "rolling shutter". Rolling shutter can happen with fast objects (airplane propeller blade, fast rotating wheel, etc.) when using the electronic shutter instead of the mechanical shutter. And, yes, there are no restrictions for when to use.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

LarryFB wrote:

All cameras do have shutters of some sort. Over a century ago, the shutter was the photographer who removed a lens cap for a number of seconds, then replaced it. I'm sure your camera has a settable shutter speed, so yes it does have a shutter, but, not a mechanical shutter, but it probably an electronic shutter.

An electronic shutter would set the amount of time that the image on the sensor is recorded. This is relatively new technology.

I think our cell phone cameras must work like that...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

RichardTaylor wrote:

With my Olympus OMD-E-M5II the silent shutter caususes a lot of distortion when shooting moving subjects. I never use when shooting classical music concerts where I thought it would be great.

Pictures of race cars in the early 1900s often had lots of distortion, like this 1910 shot of Barney Oldfield in a Mercedes.

Largobob

RWR wrote:

Shutter actuation has no effect on focus.

Perhaps not directly, RWR, but it CAN affect the quality of the image. Too slow a shutter speed CAN produce motion blur. Mirror slap and "cheap" focal plane shutters CAN cause camera vibration, which in turn causes less sharp images. (I use Mirror Lock Up whenever I can). IMHO, leaf shutters produce crisper images than focal plane shutters.

All of this CAN lead to substandard images that may appear to suffer from focus issues.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Ok....camera is on STABLE platform; image is landscape of NON MOVING objects. Any objections to using silent shutter ? Will quality be affected in any way ? If answers are No, no, then why even use a shutter on a tripod... ? Seems to me that the more mechanical movements are eliminated, the better the potential image can be.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

wdross wrote:

The shutter helps in preventing "rolling shutter". Rolling shutter can happen with fast objects (airplane propeller blade, fast rotating wheel, etc.) when using the electronic shutter instead of the mechanical shutter. And, yes, there are no restrictions for when to use.

Mechanical shutters have rolling shutter if they operate linearly. That is how most digital shutters work as well.

Largobob

Architect1776 wrote:

Mechanical shutters have rolling shutter if they operate linearly. That is how most digital shutters work as well.

I once owned and used a 4x5 Speed Graphic, with both leaf and focal plane shutters. Yes, in order to use one as a shutter, the other had to be open.

The focal plane shutter had a control for both curtain width (the width of the "slit" that ran across the film), and for spring tension (controlled how "fast" the curtain moved across the film plane). There was an engraved chart on the side of the camera that listed combinations of curtain/spring tension....that led to equivalent shutter speeds.

One could get some very interesting results by using a relatively large curtain width, with a relatively slow speed, on a moving object or while panning. The resulting image seemed to be "distorted" (leaning, stretched) as it moved across the area of the curtain that was open.

I'm guessing that might be an early example of "rolling shutter" on some cameras today?