Electronic shutter or mechanical shutter on M6 II w/ 55-200

Hi all

My question in one sentence: with a relatively slow sensor (the one on the M6 II, 1/25s readout time), can one shoot at 200mm handheld with e-shutter?

If the sensor readout time is 1/25s, will the sensor receives the same amount of hand shake/body shake as if the shutter speed is 1/25s even if the e-shutter speed is higher? If this is true, I think it would be unpractical to shoot at 200mm handheld. I am asking because I noticed that there is some serious shutter shock with the 55-200 in m-shutter mode. Using e-shutter with tripod gives better sharpness but I hate tripod (which defeats the purpose of the eos m system).

Thanks

wddxnyr wrote:

Thanks for you explanation. This helps a lot.

It's reassuring to know that I can use my telephoto lens with e-shutter as long as my subject is still.

It doesn’t have to be perfectly still, just not moving fast across the frame. Even then, what you are likely to see is distortion, not the blurriness of hand shake. I use e-shutter all the time for photographing speakers in small seminars. The speakers are often moving slightly, but I set my minimum shutter speed to 1/250, and get pin sharp results with my Sigma 56 F1.4. Luckily, the lighting in most of the rooms doesn’t produce banding with e-shutter.

wddxnyr wrote:

My question in one sentence: with a relatively slow sensor (the one on the M6 II

Actually the M6ii has a pretty FAST readout speed.  That's part of what makes it so darn good at shooting crazy fast action...

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4501836

Also program your EVF to the "Smooth" setting so that it doubles the refresh rate (helps when tracking subjects).

1/25s readout time), can one shoot at 200mm handheld with e-shutter?

You are free to shoot at whatever shutter speeds you would like.  See where your handheld limits are.

However I personally much prefer to shoot action with mShutter, generally at 7 FPS.  I don't have the EF-M 55-200, but results with the EF 100-400 Mark II (+/- 1.4x TC iii) have been spectacular.

If the sensor readout time is 1/25s, will the sensor receives the same amount of hand shake/body shake as if the shutter speed is 1/25s even if the e-shutter speed is higher? If this is true

As has been explained, it's not true. 

I think it would be unpractical to shoot at 200mm handheld. I am asking because I noticed that there is some serious shutter shock with the 55-200 in m-shutter mode.

Are you sure it's not camera shake?  I'd suspect that first.  I don't get anything but (extremely) marginal shutter shock with any of my lenses.

Using e-shutter with tripod gives better sharpness but I hate tripod (which defeats the purpose of the eos m system).

I hate tripods too!

Best thing to do if you're not sure about something is to test it, or just go out and shoot shoot shoot.

Happy snapping! 

R2

Dem Bell wrote:

wddxnyr wrote:

Thanks for your reply. I am still a bit confused.

Let's say I am shooting a still subject handholding my camera.

If I shoot at 1/400 sec with e-shutter, will I get the same amount of hand shake as if

That depends on how you quantify "the amount of hand shake".

I shoot m-shutter at 1/400 sec or

I shoot m-shutter at 1/25 sec because of the readout speed?

If you zoom at the two images to the pixel level to compare how sharp they are, the two images will look about the same.

If you overlay the two images, you might find that shape of the subject is slightly different. The lines in the e-shutter image will be as sharp as in the m-shutter image but they will be slightly bent. My point was that the amount of this bending for still subjects and good camera holding technique will be so small even at 200 mm when image stabilisation is on that no one will ever notice anything.

I agree with this. I shoot with the EF-S 55-250 all time time, very frequently with a 1.5x teleconverter as well bringing it to >350mm.

For moving subjects like fast trains or birds in flight I use mechanical shutter with speeds 1/640 or higher (1/1250 for Amtrak trains and birds), usually with low or high speed drive mode.

For almost everything else I use electronic shutter, including birds not in flight and slow freight trains.

My experience is as above --- once in a great while I can see vertical lines slanted just a bit --- barely noticeable unless I happened to be moving or the subject moved.

Once in a while I forget to shut off e-shutter for fast trains and get interesting rolling shutter effects where the train is quite slanted or distorted!

To avoid this I use the custom C1 and C2 settings --- C1 for still subjects, slower shutter speed, electronic shutter, no drive mode. C2 for moving subjects --- fast shutter speed, mechanical shutter, drive mode. The cool thing is you can switch to the other setting almost instantly on the dial! So when shooting still birds on C1 --- if I think the bird will take off, or if it takes off --- it's second nature for me to switch to C2 and fire away!

avekevin wrote:

If I am understanding the discussion, it sounds like astrophotography would be a great use case for the e-shutter. Is that the general consensus?

I worry about camera shake and the large impression count with astrophotography and mechanical shutter use.

Thanks!

Yes, I use e-shutter, not mechanical shutter, for both telescope prime focus photography (Moon and planets) and for tripod-mounted or drive-mounted deep sky photography.

I use the Canon Connect bluetooth app on my LG Android phone to remotely release the shutter.

For deep-sky photography, with the M6 Mark ii you can also re-purpose the 'focus bracketing' feature ---- with a manual focus lens it becomes a way to set the camera for a certain number of exposures to be taken one after another with no timed delay, and no need to worry about 'buffer limit.' Using focus bracketing, the camera writes each image to the card after the exposure, then takes the next one. This is great for doing many exposures for stacking deep-sky pictures.

Since low noise is very important for astrophotography, it is also usually best to shoot with RAW format, not the lossy CRAW format. CRAW images will have slightly more noise and artifacts in the deep shadows.