Mechanical Shutter vs E.Shutter for shooting mountain bikes

[Generationfourth]

Hi,

Trying to shoot some action tomorrow with my friends on their mountain bikes. I want to try SH burst on my G9 but was wondering if the Electronic shutter will be an issue (in particular the spokes of the wheels). Anyone have experience with this? and any other suggestions?

 

[SilverShutter]

Fast action is generally not a good subject for electronic shutters. It's likely you would see some rolling shutter effect. I'd personally stick with the mechanical shutter to be on the safe side.

 

[13148]

I use a EM1 Mk3 but I basically only take pictures of bikes and dogs I use the continuous focus AF with low consecutive images (which is like 18 9(?) shots / sec) and get good results.

-Joe

 

[Panolyman]

^^^^ He does indeed.

 

[Generationfourth]

I use a EM1 Mk3 but I basically only take pictures of bikes and dogs I use the continuous focus AF with low consecutive images (which is like 18 shots / sec) and get good results.

-Joe

Haha I easily could've just messaged you now that I think of it. Looking at the mk3 specs 18 shots/sec suggests you use the e-shutter?

I haven't got the chance to shoot MTB yet but I did shoot surfing/animals recently on my G9 and at 12 shots/sec mechanical in high I find that is almost too much and occasionally preferred Medium at ~7fps. Might be safe to say I may not need the SH modes.

 

[LilSebastian]

I'd say try out the E-shutter for the first few sets of action and then check results. Might even have to send to you phone/tablet if feasible. You can always go to mechanical shutter for the rest of the time.

 

[ac12]

So what did you find out?

I shoot sports with the e-shutter, in order to shoot at 18fps with autofocus on each frame.
Yeah it is a lot to sift through, but I get a few more keepers.
I do select the frame rate depending on sport.
Tennis = max 18fps, baseball/softball = max 18fps, volleyball will prob be max 18fps (or mech at 10fps)
Swim = 9fps, basketball not sure maybe 9fps (or mech at 6fps).
Field sports (football, soccer and lacrosse), day = max 18fps, night = mechanical shutter max 10fps

 

[Generationfourth]

So what did you find out?

I shoot sports with the e-shutter, in order to shoot at 18fps with autofocus on each frame.
Yeah it is a lot to sift through, but I get a few more keepers.
I do select the frame rate depending on sport.
Tennis = max 18fps, baseball/softball = max 18fps, volleyball will prob be max 18fps (or mech at 10fps)
Swim = 9fps, basketball not sure maybe 9fps (or mech at 6fps).
Field sports (football, soccer and lacrosse), day = max 18fps, night = mechanical shutter max 10fps

So far whatever FPS is on High + AFC has been pretty good. I think SH mode could have been beneficial in a couple instances... I just forgot to even try! I need to make a list because once I get out there everything just goes out the window. I am impressed with the focus modes and the rate of in focus shots is much higher than I expected.

I think mountain biking maybe more in line with Tennis or Field sports in terms of how fast the subjects are moving so thanks for your examples.

 

[ac12]

I used continuous LOW, max rate, in order to have AF on each frame.
Continuous HIGH, will only focus on the first frame. That is OK for some things, when the subject won't move towards/away from you.

In watching Robin Wong's video, he recommended NOT using the e-shutter in low light, to minimize high ISO noise.
So I am switching to mechanical low, max rate, for night games.

 

[Generationfourth]

Hmm, are you on a G9 as well? I'm using BBF, typically holding AF-on during bursts and it seems to hold focus as the rider is moving towards me... but I could definitely be wrong.

I was going off this chart from the manual which says AFC but doesn't clarify if it's first frame only:

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[Generationfourth]

Still haven't been able to get out again but I did a test today shooting cars out my front window with the SH burst modes/electronic shutter. I figured the cars on my corner are going 5-30mph which are similar speeds I shoot my friends mountain biking.

Electronic shutter did perfectly fine on cars with nothing funky going on around the wheels. I think shooting bikes should be no problem and I don't anticipate anything funny with the spokes.

 

[Generationfourth]

Ok I was trying out the E-shutter while panning and noticed some funkiness. The large black vertical line is part of the divider in my window (don't be alarmed) but you'll notice it's slanting at an angle, same with the garage in the background. There is some weirdness going on with the wheel as well.

I'm not sure if this is exacerbated by the slow shutter speed...

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[John King]

You will get pronounced rolling shutter effects no matter what the shutter speed is. It is caused by how long the camera takes to read out the entire sensor.

With the E-M1 MkI, that's 1/30th second.
With the E-M1 MkII, it's 1/60th.

Not sure for the G9.