What is Electronic Front Curtain Shutter? (for Fujifilm and others)

What is Electronic Front Curtain Shutter (EFCS)? How is it different from Electronic or Mechanical Shutter?
This video explains how Electronic Front Curtain Shutter works, the differences between it and the Mechanical and Electronic Shutter, and when to use the Electronic Front Curtain Shutter.
Though this video is specific to Fujifilm cameras, the concepts can be applied across most other cameras.
00:37 How to Set Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
1:20 How a Mechanical Shutter Works
3:18 How an Electronic Shutter Works
5:57 How the Electronic Front Curtain Shutter Works
9:19 When you May Want to Use Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
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📖 What is Electronic Front Curtain Shutter (article): www.jmpeltier.com/electronic-...
📖 Disadvantages of Electronic Shutter Silent Shooting (article): www.jmpeltier.com/disadvantag...

[@PeltierPhoto]

I'm always forgetting about the Fujifilm X-H1 - this camera _also_ has the Electronic Front Curtain Shutter. Thanks to @Ishijah1 for pointing that out!

[@mrrobbienh]

Excellent 👍🏻. About to upgrade from an old XE1 to the XT5 and there’s a substantial amount of new info to learn 😅

[@PeltierPhoto]

Sounds exciting! Yes it's quite a bit more complex :)

[@tonygreenwoodN10]

I've had my XT-4 for about 6 months but have only just discovered your channel! What a treat!! Calm, concise and clear explanations, that treat the viewer as a sentient grown-up. Many thanks. I shall enjoy doing a bit of binge watching now!

[@PeltierPhoto]

I'm trying to be better about publishing more consistently but I have ADHD when it comes to putting stuff up here :)

[@SummersSnaps]

I've just come back to watch this again, your channel is such a super resource John, thanks very much for your hard work. First time round I missed the fact that on page 2 there is an 'ultimate shutter mode', EF+MS+ES. That sounds to me like the best one to be in for a lot of my own scenarios.

[@PeltierPhoto]

You’re welcome and thank you!

[@shadowfoxsports]

Excellent video. Street photographer here and and I used this setting for sports with my Canon R6 but wasn't sure with my XT5 (when on the street). Thanks for explaining this. I just went into my XT5 menu and changed my shutter to be EF+MS. Thank you.

[@PeltierPhoto]

You’re welcome, glad I could help!

[@vedarius]

Dear John, thanks a lot for this profound explanation!

[@PeltierPhoto]

You’re welcome!

[@sekedarhobby845]

Very clear and concise explanation, thank you 👍

[@PeltierPhoto]

You’re welcome!

[@alanplatt888]

The best explanation I've heard. X-T + GFX shooter.

[@PeltierPhoto]

Awesome!

[@remco2777]

Great video and very helpful to have the full explanation. Thank you! I had my X-T4 set to M+E as I found at times when using the 56mm 1.2 or 16mm 1.4 on bright days the mechanical shutter can't cope anymore. But have now set it to EF+M+E, so that should cover all bases.

[@PeltierPhoto]

Perfect! The automation here works for most situations.

[@zgravity00]

Very informative! Thank you! Quick question; why causes the cut bokeh at faster shutter speed? Also when you say uneven exposures, do you mean uneven picture to picture? Or did you mean uneven in one picture?

[@pedrofcalado]

Great video, but I still have the same question: how is the sensor readout sequence in the mechanical shutter? You would expect that the electronic shutter would readout at maximum readout speed possible. How does the readout sequence changes from on type of shutter to the other? Thanks.

[@PeltierPhoto]

Sometimes "it's just different" isn't a good enough answer :) But this requires an entirely separate video on its own. The maximum readout speed is the same regardless of the shutter type you're using. With the electronic shutter, the camera has to reset a row of pixels, read the light collected at the end of your shutter speed time, then go to the next row and do the same thing. This entire process takes a good amount of time, to reset, read, reset, read, reset, read...for every row. Cameras that have a slow readout time will have a worse rolling shutter effect because the entire process will take longer. With the mechanical shutter, all of the pixels are reset in the beginning, "activated" and ready to collect light. The shutter opens, exposes them to light, then closes, preventing further exposure. The line-by-line readout starts at the beginning of the exposure, but since it's so (relatively) slow, continues after the second curtain has closed. Because the second curtain has already closed, those pixels are no longer being exposed to light, so that's fine if the scan doesn't happen instantaneously. They're just sitting there in the darkness, holding the light they collected until it's their turn to be read. With the E-Front, the electronic row reset occurs at the beginning of the exposure but everything ends with the second curtain covering the sensor, continuing the readout after it's closed. At least that's my understanding, I hope it's clear enough.

[@just_eirik]

That vibration on the sensor from the shutter that you leaked about, does that apply to all cameras, or only to those with IBIS?

[@PeltierPhoto]

All cameras with mechanical shutters.

[@theolich4384]

Certainly a godsend for the GFX to mitigate that giant MS thump.

[@PeltierPhoto]

It certainly does sound & feel like there’s some serious moving parts in there :)

[@Ishijah1]

What about the X-H1 does have the same shutter mechanism as the rest of fujifilm high end cameras.

[@PeltierPhoto]

Yes it does - I'm always forgetting about that camera. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@Ishijah1]

@@PeltierPhoto X-H1 is the best camera from Fujifilm so far.

[@Kdkjdjewerdnxa]

I genuinely cannot find info on how modern mechanical shutters fix the rolling shutter problem of digital sensors. I’m really curious how that works but everyone seems to just say it isn’t important so I can’t find out how the physical shutter prevents the appearance of rolling shutter when the same amount of pixels need to be scanned by the sensor regardless. How does the shutter speed up the sensor’s read speed?

[@PeltierPhoto]

The MS doesn't speed up the sensor's read speed - that's the same regardless of the shutter type. It just speeds up the cycle of switching the photoreceptors off and on and off because it has to do less of those cycles. The ES has to reset, read, then reset every row of pixels line by line during the exposure, and this process of resetting, reading, resetting each line takes a while. With the MS (and EF, to an extent), the pixels are already reset and collecting light before the exposure begins. But they're blacked out by the mechanical curtain before & after the curtains slide over, so there's no need to reset them multiple times in the middle of the exposure. The curtain slides over, the exposure ends, the readout finishes, and the photoreceptors are reset for the next exposure.

[@SummersSnaps]

Thanks John, good content as always. So I just want to ask... what is EFS really useful for (genre wise)? I saw your 3 points for pros but am still a little unsure of benefits really 'in the field'. I have my Fuji set to MS+ES, in that if I need to go above 1/8000 then it toggles to ES to give me the necessary shutter speeds (something very useful in Australia with bright sunny days and using fast glass). I'm wondering if EFC is good for sports or something (provided under 1/2000 is sufficient for motion capture content)? Does it help blackouts or anything?

[@PeltierPhoto]

Yes, it also does reduce the blackout time between photos on the front end (you still have blackout on the back end when the MS closes). But that could be advantageous when capturing sports and fast action, given your S.S. isn't too fast. I like it for documentary/photojournalistic photography because it sounds less like a distinct camera shutter, the softer click is less obvious. And sometimes I wander down into those shutter speeds where it eliminates the shutter vibration, and even though it's not very noticeable, it still gives me the sharpest photos there.

[@SummersSnaps]

@@PeltierPhoto Thanks, will give it a try. After this video I watch Manny Ortiz's video on it; kzbin.info/www/bejne/goK3kqWDqsSsbLs (as others pointed out he has probably slightly missed the point it is a EFC rather than ES issue). I did find it interesting that he was trying to allude that XT-3 suffers the same fate as Sony, but then this contradicted I think your point about Fuji building in a max 1/2000 feature? In his video I didn't think the XT-3 actually shifted that much between his frames (compared to the Sony), and now I'm wondering if the cut off for 1/2000 came later than XT-3?

[@PeltierPhoto]

@@SummersSnaps no it's all good in the X-T3, as long as you choose "EF+M", the camera will switch to the MS when faster than 1/2000.

[@SummersSnaps]

@@PeltierPhoto Thanks.

[@TheChadWork2001]

There is no shutter. The sensor just doesn’t record. That’s not a shutter.

[@TheChadWork2001]

How does a faster electronic “shutter” work slower than a slower mechanical shutter? Makes no sense.

[@PeltierPhoto]

With the electronic shutter, each photosite (the pixels that record the brightness of the light hitting it) has to be reset, started and stopped for your chosen shutter speed, and read to memory. That entire process will take longer to do than your chosen shutter speed. With the mechanical shutter, the metal curtains are whats starting & stopping the photosites recording the light, so they don't have to be reset individually.

[@TheChadWork2001]

So then there really is no such thing as an electronic shutter. A shutter is real and an electronic shutter is imaginary and therefore misnamed. Therefore the shutter button on the Nikon Z8, which has no mechanical shutter, isn’t really a shutter button anymore?

[@PeltierPhoto]

A shutter is what allows the film/sensor to record the light coming through the lens. For hundreds of years this was done with a physical curtain. Today it can be done electronically. I suppose you can call it the "start/stop" button if it's bothering you.

[@edwinov]

Thee ONE things that nobody talking about EFCS seems to adress is how it works EXACTLY. If you, like in this video, assume that ok, we start taking the picture with the sensor fully exposed and then yes, the mechanical shutter moves in to block the sensor then there is a difference in amount of light that the bottom and top parts of the sensor receive. It could ONLY work if the speed at which is mechanical shutter moves in is extremely closely correlated to when the lines of the sensor are being read. Let's compare the sensor and the light with a sheet of regular A4/Letter paper that we lie flat on the ground outside. Now imagine it's drizzling a bit, the paper is slowly getting wetter. Now I want get an indication of how much drizzle in total falls on the paper in say 10 seconds. I start measuring (=looking at wetness of paper) at t=0.0 seconds, at the same time I slowly move a big piece of cardboard (same size or bigger than the paper) from the top of the paper further and further down until after 10.0 seconds the cardboard is exactly covering the paper below it. CLEARLY the BOTTOM of the paper that has been exposed the longest to the drizzle will be wetter than the TOP of the paper that right after I started got covered first by the cardboard. In fact the distribution of drizzle will be a linear function of the distance to the bottom. The very same is true for the sensor in EFCS. It's all nice to hear the mechanical curtain moves in but that part of the sensor that gets covered LAST by it will have received MORE light. I have yet to see a satisfactory explanation in full detail of how EFCS works.