Camera Shutters
Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades and has extensive experience in both film and digital photography. Being an electronics engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. He has published more than a 100 articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-known international magazine Popular Photography. An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography through teaching and writing. He is the only Indian photographer to be featured on the Nikon Centenary website. He is presently working as a Management and Engineering consutant. He can be reached at kashokk@gmail.com.
Most of you would have seen a camera shutter tucked inside the camera body and hiding behind the lens, and if your camera is a D-SLR, behind the mirror. The shutter plays an extremely important role in controlling the duration for which the sensor is exposed to light. Hence, along with the diaphragm in the lens, it is a critical component to regulate the light falling on the sensor and hence, to determine the exposure. Still camera shutters come in three main types, viz.
• Leaf shutters
• Focal Plane shutters
• Electronic shutters
This article describes these along with their relative merits. Apart from the above, depending on how shutters operate, they can also be called Global or Rolling
