Sony A7: Electronic Front Shutter .. A7r Mechanical Shutter

[bwcolor]

Dpreview has a very good discussion regarding the possible downside of having a high megapixel camera without an electronic front shutter. Samples from a NEX camera with electronic shutter engaged vs. disabled are provided and discussed.


Another discussion group discusses electronic shutters and specifically the D800 shutter.

Hi Andre I read the article and I think it relates to 3T and some early 4T (T = number of transistors per pixel) designs and was written in 2007. Since then the technology has advanced with some sensors now able to integrate(sample) while the previous capture is still being read. This ability completely changes the requirement or function of mechanical shutters and also eliminates the rolling shutter problem in video applications. I understand the Sony sensor (IMX094) used in the Nikon D800 is based on the functionality of a 5T design but two of the transistors are shared with an adjacent pixel. However 6T designs are in the pipeline.

So, likely the A7r is the same sensor as the D800, but with differing microlenses. It looks like we must wait for the next generation of high megapixel sensors to also have an electronic front shutter (and phase detection autofocus).

Of course, the A7 has both electronic front shutter and PDA.

 

[pvdhaar]

..Of course, the A7 has both electronic front shutter and PDA.

For me, there were two tremendous improvements in going from the original NEX-3 to a NEX-6. One was -obviously and expectedly- the finder, the other one came as a nice surprise: the electronic first shutter. I'd find it very hard to go back to a camera that does the whole clickety clank twice for a single picture..

 

[bwcolor]

.....and there seems to be a subtle sharpness penalty, which runs counter to an interest in a high megapixel camera in the first place.