Electronic shutter: advantages and disadvantages

Jacques Cornell wrote:

Raist3d wrote:

Jacques Cornell wrote:

Helen wrote:

Raist3d wrote:

Henry Richardson wrote:

Raist3d wrote:

Henry Richardson wrote:

I discovered today that Auto ISO is broken when using the electronic shutter. I am using A mode.

electronic shutter: @ 150mm - ISO 200, 1/30 f5.6

mechanical shutter: @ 150mm - ISO 2000, 1/250 f5.6

I have been using Auto ISO a lot since I got the E-M5 in 2012. Use it on the E-M5, E-M10, and E-M10II. But, now with the electronic shutter there is a bug.

This is not a bug. What I believe Olympus is trying to avoid is banding in the shot in low light conditions.

Would you mind elaborating? I thought banding was just with fluorescent, LED, etc. lighting.

Of course, the camera can't know, but I was outside late in the afternoon.

What I am saying is that Olympus is most likely trying to avoid situations where the camera would do banding due to one of those lights that has a frequency. The camera can't just guess exactly the type of light particularly in a mixed situation, so I think in general they just try to make sure banding can't ever happen by keeping the shutter speed slow in program-auto modes.

Using a slow shutter speed does not eliminate banding.

You should try shooting out in the real world with short shutter speeds vs longer.

Your assumption that I don't is faulty.

Well i only mention it because when I go out and do it, it's what I can observe.

This is my experience shooting out on the streets with both the Fuji X-T10 and the Olympus (where the Olympus does notably better here than the Fuji).

With several Pansonic cameras I get banding at pretty slow shutter speeds - at least down to 1/15 - under several kinds of flickering artificial light when shooting corporate events indoors.

Yes, but that's Panasonic.

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Henry Richardson
http://www.bakubo.com

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Raist3d/Ricardo (Photographer, software dev.)- I photograph black cats in coal mines at night...
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” - George Orwell

Good point - they might well think that situations likely to encourage the photographer to wish to shoot silently are most likely to be indoors and thus lit with artificial light (museums, ceremonies. etc.).

This seems a more plausible explanation than the banding theory.

I don't buy that. I mean, isn't it just more confusing to change the program of exposure just because you selected silent shutter vs non silent?

I agree that the implementation seems odd. I meant that the low light theory was a more plausible explanation of the engineers' thinking, not that their thinking or the solution they implemented was a good one. I also didn't realize that banding goes away (according to another poster - I haven't tested yet) at shutter speeds longer than readout time. So, I didn't see any reason other than low light for engineers to push the shutter speeds down.

If, on the other hand, banding does go away at very slow shutter speeds, your theory makes more sense, as I subsequently acknowledged elsewhere.

Saw it, cool

However, given that readout speed on my cameras is around 1/10, that would be pretty appallingly bad reasoning on the engineers' part if true. It's hard to imagine them being willing to routinely drive shutter speeds that low even in good light just to avoid banding under flickering light.

To be honest, I haven't thought about the exact relationship to readout. I am only relaying what I have observed specifically on OMD EM5 MKII and Fuji X-T10.

We may never know what the intention was, and I haven't yet given it enough thought to understand whether what the OP is reporting would pose a problem for me. I'll be following the thread closely to find out, though.

And, I promise not to dismiss your next theory out of hand.

We are cool, no prob

Keep in mind what he said goes in line with the banding theory, not against it. He didn't say that Olympus wants to encourage the photographer. The situations he already is in do, and those situations he mentioned have artificial light which can trigger banding.

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The way to make a friend is to act like one.
www.jacquescornell.photography

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Raist3d/Ricardo (Photographer, software dev.)- I photograph black cats in coal mines at night...
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” - George Orwell

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The way to make a friend is to act like one.
www.jacquescornell.photography