Electronic Shutter

An electronic shutter controls the exposure with the sensor itself. The camera resets the pixels, lets them gather light for the chosen shutter speed, then reads the values out. No curtains move, so the exposure is silent, free of vibration, and able to reach speeds such as 1/32000 s that a mechanical shutter cannot. Almost every mirrorless camera offers it as a menu or drive-mode option, often labeled silent shooting.

A mechanical shutter uses two curtains that travel across the sensor in a few milliseconds, so motion stays straight and flash syncs below about 1/250 s. It clicks, vibrates slightly, and tops out near 1/8000 s. An electronic shutter has no moving parts, so it is silent, shock-free, and faster, but on most sensors the row-by-row readout takes 1/15 to 1/30 s, which bends fast motion and blocks flash.

Not exactly. Rolling shutter describes how the sensor is read, one row at a time from top to bottom. Electronic shutter describes who times the exposure, the sensor instead of curtains. On most cameras the electronic shutter reads rows in sequence, so it behaves as a rolling shutter and shows skew with fast motion. A global shutter camera has an electronic shutter that reads every pixel at the same instant, with no skew at all.

A mechanical shutter cannot move its curtains faster than physics allows, and the narrow slit they form above 1/4000 s is hard to keep even, so 1/8000 s is the usual limit. The electronic shutter only needs the gap between resetting a row and reading it, which can be a few microseconds. That is how cameras reach 1/16000 s, 1/32000 s, or 1/180000 s, and shoot wide open in full sun without an ND filter.

A flash burst lasts about 1/1000 s. With a slow row-by-row readout of 1/15 to 1/30 s, that burst lights only the rows being exposed at that moment, and the rest of the frame stays dark or shows a bright band. Most cameras therefore disable flash in electronic shutter mode. Cameras with a stacked sensor read fast enough to allow flash at a slow sync speed, and a global shutter camera syncs at any speed.

Sometimes. To read the sensor quickly, some cameras switch from 14-bit to 12-bit RAW in silent mode, which costs about a stop of usable dynamic range in the deep shadows. Under LED or fluorescent light, horizontal bands can appear. In good light with a still subject, files from the electronic and mechanical shutters look identical. Check the manual for the bit-depth note, since newer bodies keep 14-bit in both modes.

Electronic first curtain shutter, or EFCS, starts the exposure electronically by resetting the sensor and ends it with the mechanical second curtain. There is no first-curtain slam, so shutter shock disappears, and because the real curtain closes the exposure, fast motion stays mostly straight and flash still works. The drawback appears above about 1/1000 s with fast lenses: bokeh balls get clipped on one side and the top of the frame can go slightly dark.

Yes. Mechanical shutters are rated for a set number of actuations, often 200,000 to 500,000. Every frame taken with the electronic shutter skips that count, so sports and wildlife shooters who fire long bursts save real wear. Some cameras, such as the Nikon Z 8 and Z 9, go further and have no mechanical shutter at all. The sensor still ages normally, so the saving applies only to the shutter mechanism.

Switch to the mechanical shutter for fast subjects and fast pans, such as propellers, golf swings, birds in flight, and cars crossing the frame, unless the camera has a stacked sensor. Avoid it with flash, under LED or fluorescent lighting where banding appears, and in high-contrast scenes if the camera drops to 12-bit RAW in silent mode. For a still landscape, a portrait, or a quiet interior, it is the better choice.

The exposure itself makes no sound, since nothing moves. Many cameras add an artificial click through the speaker so the photographer knows a frame was taken, and that sound can be turned off in the menu. Lens aperture blades and autofocus motors can still produce a faint tick. For weddings, theatre, and street work, turning off the fake click gives a camera that is quiet enough to go unnoticed.