Shutter Mechanism

Canon patents new electromagnetic shutter design to minimise “shutter shock” vibrations

Mar 10, 2022 by John Aldred 1 Comment

In the days of DSLRs, even when your camera was on a tripod, it was possible to get a little motion blur in your shots due to what we called “mirror slap”. In these mirrorless days, mirror slap isn’t really a thing anymore, but there is a chance that the vibrations from the shutter can cause the tiniest of motion blur. With lower resolution cameras, it’s not much of an issue, but with cameras getting higher and higher resolution with each new generation, it may become one.

There’s also the hope that Canon expected to announce a high-resolution monster soon, which would make any potential blur from the shutter moving quickly more noticeable. So, Canon has patented a new mechanical shutter design to help minimise the “shutter shock” vibrations caused by fast-moving shutters suddenly reaching their end limits.

Springs, levers and electromagnets are what makes a DSLR shutter mechanism work

Jul 31, 2017 by John Aldred Add Comment

We’ve posted about what shutter speed is, from a photographic standpoint, and shown the basics of how shutters works before. But this video from photographer Chris Marquardt takes things just that bit further. He literally pulls a shutter mechanism out of a Nikon D500 to show us the nitty gritty.

We all know the basic principles of how a shutter works. The front curtain opens, exposes the scene, then the rear curtain closes and our shot is complete. But the mechanism by which it all happens and the technology that allows it to work is quite fascinating.

See just how many photos a Canon DSLR shoots before the shutter dies

Jul 6, 2017 by John Aldred 18 Comments

They say that a camera’s shutter life expectancy is only a guide. Chances are your shutter will die either long before that expectancy, or long after. At least, that’s been my experience. Most dead shutters I’ve heard of have been nowhere near the life expectancy. And I have a couple of bodies myself that are well over the number Nikon suggest.

When YouTuber ContinueCrushingTech had a problem with his Canon 7D Mark II, he decided to test its life expectancy for himself. He had to send it back to Canon for repair anyway, so why not? Canon gives the 7D Mark II a life expectancy of 200,000 actuations. Surprisingly, it was pretty close to that when it died.

Nikon expands their D750 recall to cover a much longer manufacturing period

Mar 1, 2016 by John Aldred 4 Comments

Nikon USA have announced that they are expanding their recall of Nikon D750 bodies to cover those manufacturered over a significantly longer period of time.

Since the silent recall of the D750 in January of last year, Nikon announced an official recall in June covering cameras produced in October and November of 2014, warning that they “may not function normally”.

This has now grown to cover potentially all D750 bodies manufactured between October, 2014 through to June, 2015.