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Here’s why you shouldn’t use electronic shutter for portraits

Dec 6, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 9 Comments

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Did you know that using an electronic instead of a mechanical shutter can affect a background in your images? After a subscriber pointed it out to Manny Ortiz, he tested it on a Fuji and a Sony mirrorless camera. And indeed, it turned out that an electronic shutter may not be the best option when you shoot portraits.

Manny points out that using an electronic shutter affects your background at a certain point, not all the time. If you shoot above 1/1000 s, you’ll see a pretty obvious change in the images. In other words, if you shoot with, say, a f/1.4 lens, you won’t get a f/1.4 result.

First of all, there’s a difference in the exposure. Manny took the photos at the same settings with both electronic and mechanical shutter at f/1.4. In the video, you can see the differences in exposure. The histogram shows them, but they’re even obvious when you just look at the photos.

Another difference is in the bokeh. There’s clearly more bokeh with mechanical shutter than with the electronic shutter. You can see it clearly when the photos are zoomed in, but you don’t need to have an eagle eye to see the differences even when the photo is zoomed out.

Manny tested this with a Fuji X-T3 and his Sony A7R II, and the results were the same. So, he assumes that this is the case with mirrorless cameras in general. You can read more about this issue here. Have you noticed the same issue with your mirrorless camera?

[Why you SHOULDN’T use the ELECTRONIC SHUTTER for PORTRAITS! | Manny Ortiz]

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Related posts:

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Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: Electronic Shutter, Manny Ortiz, Mirrorless camera, portrait photography

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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