Are these images symptomatic of shutter failure?

Question

This is a burst sequence taken with a Canon 1D Mark II N in high-speed mode (8fps). You can see the bright line down the center and the dark area in the upper-right. I have several other sequences with similar artifacts.

Is my shutter failing, or is there something else going on?

Shutter count utilities at http://www.foxbat.me.uk/2.0/index.php#/1dcount and http://www.camerashuttercount.com/ both indicate a shutter count of ~79,000, though I do not know the accuracy of these sites, nor do I have an estimate of the camera's shutter count as I got the camera used with no pedigree. My understanding is that this particular model's shutter life expectancy is around 200,000 actuations and I've heard of people getting over 400,000.

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UPDATE: I decided to crack it open and inspect the darn thing:

Seems pretty conclusive that it's the shutter, though if anyone wants to dispute the claim I'm game to entertain it :-) Guess it's off to the shop...

Asked by djangodude

Answer

My guess for the shutter speed in the comment was based ob the approximate width of the bright strip relative to the image width, multiplied by the sync-speed. I assumed a 1/250sec sync speed.

Just a speculation: it looks like the shutter blades get stuck for an brief instance around the middle of the frame. It is possible that you have a piece of dirt stuck there, or that the spring or rails are about to fail. Try to decrease and increase the speed by a stop and see if the stripe gets twice as wide and as narrow. If so, it is indicative that it is indeed the shutter having a problem.

UPDATE after the mystery was resolved - I'd think the first thing to do (OK, maybe the second) would be to remove the lens and have a look at the internals... but that's just me ;-)

Answered by ysap

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Why does my camera make a whirring noise during a long exposure?

Question

I have a Sony Alpha a55.

When I take a long exposure photo, while the shutter is open, the camera makes a whirring sound. What causes this noise and why is it necessary to the camera's operation? (I have interface sounds turned off — so I suppose this is some piece of the hardware physically making a noise.)

Asked by jtbandes

Answer

I'm familiar with Canon lenses featuring Image Stabilization that can emit a faint "whir" as IS operates. Your Sony body has a form of image stabilization built into the body, and if that's on during a long exposure, you might be hearing that as it operates.

If you're shooting long-exposure shots with the camera mounted on a tripod (which would be best), it's usually recommended that image stabilization be turned off (I believe this to be the case for your a55).

Answered by D. Lambert

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How to create motion blur in daylight?

Question

How can we create motion blur in daylight with a DSLR?

Asked by meetpd

Answer

The short answer is: use a long shutter speed. To control this, put your camera into Shutter Priority mode (indicated by a "S" on the dial" and adjust the speed to a relatively long time - perhaps a half a second, a whole second, or perhaps longer.

The longer answer for when it gets tricky: You might find that during the daytime, things are so bright that when you set a long shutter speed, even at the camera's smaller aperture (biggest f/ number) you end up with blown-out highlights or overexposure. In these cases, make sure that you're using the lowest ISO possible. If that's not good enough, you might need to look at a neutral density filter, which is a filter that limits the amount of light coming into the camera. These are often used for longer daytime exposures such as those seen with silky waterfall photos.

Another tip that applies to long exposures at any time is that you'll want to stabilize the camera using a tripod or other device to prevent camera shake.

Answered by ahockley

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Does the Sony A77 have a shutter?

Question

I bought last month the new Sony A77 and I am so interested to learn about how its translucent mirror technology works but couldn't find enough information on it.

My question is does it has shutter? If it does is that shutter really mechanical and moving 12 times in 1 second?

Asked by shobani

Answer

Yes, the A77 has a mechanical shutter and it does move at 12 FPS per second. There are a number of cameras with similar shutter-speeds including some ultra-zooms but indeed this is very fast.

What it does not have is a motor to move the mirror. This is more problematic for speed then the shutter itself since a mirror is heavy and has to move out of the way completely and back that fast.

Instead it has semi-transparent mirror (transluscent is not the right word technically). The mirror is made of flexible material that reflects about 30% of the light and lets the rest straight through. This makes the imaging sensor have to work a little harder but the autofocus sensor more so.

Answered by Itai

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How to elimitate light leakage in my Zenit-B SLR?

Question

This question is related to Why is there a strange white spot on all of photos from my Zenit-B SLR?

I found that the problem is in the shutter. When it is cocked left shutter blind looks like that (the right one that is used while shutter is not cocked is fine):

Front view of shutter. Note that the special opaque coating (looks like a thin rubber) is dried and damaged at the right side causing a light leakage.

That's why I get strange white spots on my photos. Now the question is how to repair it. Shutter replacement is not an option (I don't think that they are still produced).

I need something dark enough to block light and flexible enough to not to affect shutter operation.

Black marker didn't help (pretty naive, but some people advised it, had to try). Heared about glue with black ink. Any other suggestions?

P.S.: I know that in general case it is easier to buy new Zenit rather then repair it. But this breakage seems able to be easily fixed and this camera is dear to me as a memory.

Answer

Ask around in your local photo forums, perhaps someone has another Zenit-B (or its successor Zenit-E) for sale/giveaway; if you intend to use your existing lens, note that they usually came with M42 mount, but some were with M39. For example, a quick search in an Estonian forum found two recent offers, for 8€ (body+lens) or 5€ (body+leather case). That's less than I'd expect materials plus time for repairing be worth. On eBay, Zenits seem to be overpriced given how widespread they once were.

When buying another one, you can still keep your original Zenit as a memento - "the old dear camera". When trying a DIY fix, you might append "... that I clumsily broke" to that. Zenit isn't exactly designed to be serviceable by user.

To me, the holes in shutter fabric tell that the shutter material has become very fragile over time, and trying to attach some fixing materials might make it much worse. But that might be just me, I've never appreciated sock darning either. If it were my camera, and I'd choose to fix/kill it instead of keeping as is, I might try using something like black rubber spray to paint over the holes. I'd try on some other fabric first to see if it gives me a thin but strong layer.

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What are the physical limits of a mechanical shutter?

Question

I've recently found myself shooting a lot of photos on the maximum speed that my camera (a Canon 600D) allows (1/4000). This is quite extreme when thinking about mechanical movements, so I assumed that the digital shutter must be used at that speed. What is the maximum speed that is possible for the mechanical movements and where does the electronic shutter kick in if at all?

P.S. My brain also tells me that there is a possibility that with the amount of light available and the speed being so high that the entire sensor might not actually have to be fully exposed( at one time) to the light source but that a small slit between curtain 1 and 2 should be sufficient.

Answer

The Canon 600D uses a mechanical shutter, and it does indeed go up to 1/4000th rate. There is no "electronic" shutter in Canon DSLR's that I know of. You pretty much nailed it on the head with your 'ps'...the two shutter curtains race over the sensor with a tiny slit (see 'Focal plane shutter, high speed' figure), with the second curtain a minuscule fraction of a second behind the first curtain.

As for maximum speed, I can't say for sure, but pretty high. There are many DSLR cameras that have a 1/8000th or 1/10000th shutter rate, usually "pro grade" models. The high maximum speed of this type of shutter is one of its strengths (leaf shutters, for example, tend to be limited to about 1/500th.)

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What is Quiet mode on a DSLR?

Question

I've heard that some newer DSLRs have a "Quiet" mode that reduces the noise the camera makes when you take a picture (as mentioned in answers to some questions) How does it work? Are there any potential consequences from using this mode, like a reduced shutter life?

Answer

Quiet mode slows down the motion of the mirror when it goes up and delays it going back down until the shutter-release is released.

Normally the mirror going up and down is the loudest noise the camera makes. So slowing it down causes a longer shutter-lag but makes less noise. Also, the mirror normally comes back down immediately after a shot is taken so that you can follow action and compose the next shot. In Quiet mode, the mirror stays up and your viewfinder remains black until you release the shutter at a time when noise is less disruptive.

Shutter life is not affected at all since nothing changes for the shutter. The mirror actuation mechanism should last a little longer but no data to that effect is provided by manufacturers.

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How much does it cost to replace a DSLR shutter?

Question

I own a Nikon D5000 and I've read in numerous places that the earliest part that fails in a DSLR is the shutter. This is rated to 100,000 actuations, and since there are weeks when I shoot 1000 pics, I am getting a bit worried.

Can it be replaced? Is it (very) expensive? Is it a routine thing?

Answer

I wouldn't worry about it. Shutters can (and do) eventually fail, but the good news is that repair is relatively affordable. I know a few folks who have had shutters replaced, the cost has generally been between $200-300.

Take a look at another question which discussions how many actuations are "too many" and talks about the likelihood of failure. Enjoy your camera, create some great images, and if you wear the thing out it's a sign you're enjoying your hobby :)

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In what way does Shutter Speed affect a photo?

Question

Is it like the lower the speed the better quality?...I tried taking at different speeds but couldnt understand the difference

Answer

Shutter speed affects image quality in two principal ways. Firstly the longer the shutter is open (the slower the speed) the more light you get. The more light you get the less noise you have as it evens out the random emission of photons from a lightsource, and raises the signal produced by the sensor above the noise floor (the camera electronics produce a background level of noise, the bigger the signal you generate, by having more photons hit each pixel in the sensor, the less this background noise is noticed). This assumes you alter the other settings (aperture, ISO) to maintain the same exposure (overall brightness) in the image.

There is a point however when a long exposure can make an image noisier as it allows heat to build up on the sensor, which affects the recorded image.

Secondly shutter speed controls the impression of motion in an image. A long exposure/shutter speed blurs motion, giving the impression of greater motion of the camera or subject. It can enhance the image by making athletes or cars look like they're going very fast. It can detract from the image if the subject is not intended to be moving (e.g. a portrait) or if camera motion causes the image to come out blurred.

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What is an easy way to remember the full stop scale?

Question

If you were teaching someone new to photography the full stop scales, is there a better way then flat out memorizing these values? Does anyone have an easy way that they remember the scale? Would it make more sense as a type of mathematical equation without getting overly complex?

Aperture Full Stops:

1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64

Shutter Full Stops:

1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s, 1/60s, 1/30s, 1/15s, 1/8s, 1/4s, 1/2s, 1s

Obviously the shutter stop scale is very easy to remember, but how can I use the square root to determine the aperture easily in my head?

Answer

F-stops deal with doubling/halving the amount of light hitting the sensor. Everything revolves around twos.

With the shutter speed, it's easy to understand, as you say. Every shutter f-stop is (roughly) half/double the amount of time as the previous one. Personally, I don't even bother paying attention to the numerator ("1/") part of the shutter speed; I've drilled it into my head that bigger denominator = faster = less light = darker exposure.

Note that shutter speeds aren't exactly doubles/halves. I think that this is just because manufacturers think people like to see "round" numbers. At the fast end, that means 1000, 500, 250. At the slow end, you need more accuracy, so you have true halving of speed (1, 2, 4, 8). Then, they have to make the numbers meet in the middle, so they start to fudge the numbers a bit (15 is almost 8 * 2, 125 is almost 60 * 2). (I'm a programmer, so personally, I'm fine with seeing a shutter speed of 1/1024s :-) )

Aperture is a bit trickier. Double the light means doubling the area of the aperture, which is where the squares/roots come into play (Area of a circle = pi * r^2). That's a pain to mentally calculate, but there is an easier trick to consider: every two stops represents a doubling (or halving) of the aperture's f-number:

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64.

If you know those, then you can guesstimate the in-between stops by calculating slightly less than half of the average of the surrounding f-stops:

1.5 -> 1.4, 3 -> 2.8, 6 -> 5.6, 12 -> 11, 24 -> 22, 48 -> 45.

As with shutter speed, bigger number = smaller aperture = less light = darker exposure.

Something similar happens with ISO. Each doubling of the ISO value represents a stop, which you can trade off (with consequences) with stops of shutter and aperture. Note that this transition is reversed though: bigger number = more sensitive = more light = brighter exposure. The common ISOs are:

50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800

And just to be complete, there's another similar scale with flash power:

1 (Full power), 1/2 power, 1/4 power, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128

This is very much like shutter: bigger denominators (forget the numerators) = less power = less light = darker exposure. (Note that true powers of two is fine here).

Honestly though, I don't bother with any of these mnemonics myself. I usually do "three clicks of my control wheels on my camera" when I want to go up/down one stop. (My camera, and many others, set one click of the control wheel to be 1/3 of a stop.) The absolute numbers aren't usually as important as the amount of change relative to "where you are now".

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