[butangmucat]

So I was digging the menus of my (new) NEX-6 and I noticed the option of electronic first curtain shutter. From what I've read, EFCS can prolong shutter life and reduce shutter lag. However, both Sony and When to use/not use Electronic First Curtain Shutter on A7II: Sony Alpha Full Frame E-mount Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review suggested turning EFCS off when at high shutter speeds. Sony also suggested turning EFCS off when using Minolta lenses. I would like to know shall I regularly turn this off? I am going to use this to shoot trains a lot under good lighting conditions because of its 9fps burst, and I would be adapting Pentax glass, or use the Sigma 19mm f2.8 DN Art (the only native E-mount lens).

Sincerely

[clackers]

Don't use it for moving objects (like your trains!), you can get artefacts.

Don't use it for flash.

Don't use it under certain kinds of fluorescent lighting, either.

[butangmucat]

Don't use it for moving objects (like your trains!), you can get artefacts.

Don't use it for flash.

Don't use it under certain kinds of fluorescent lighting, either.

From Fuji and Leica camera reviews, I have seen that electronic shutter (both curtains) can cause rolling shutter effect on moving objects.

However, I haven't seen this on EFCS (but with mechanical last curtain).

Thanks for the tip.

[clackers]

Well, apparently the NEX-5 manual says something along the lines of: "When you shoot at high shutter speeds with a large diameter lens attached, the ghosting of a blurred area may occur, depending on the subject or shooting conditions. In such cases, set this item to [Off]."

so artefacts are a real danger. The first curtain is much slower than a real mechanical one.

The Pentax K-1 has EFSC and the official warning is that moving subjects may be distorted.

[photoptimist]

Well, apparently the NEX-5 manual says something along the lines of: "When you shoot at high shutter speeds with a large diameter lens attached, the ghosting of a blurred area may occur, depending on the subject or shooting conditions. In such cases, set this item to [Off]."

so artefacts are a real danger. The first curtain is much slower than a real mechanical one.

The Pentax K-1 has EFSC and the official warning is that moving subjects may be distorted.

Yep!

When the mechanical shutter is open, the entire sensor becomes one giant solar cell. The EFCS tries to drain this excess current away to reset the each pixel just before the official exposure begins but just like a full bathtub is still a little wet immediately after draining, each pixel will have a residue of whatever the camera saw before the electronic curtain officially opened.

[jcdoss]

...and here's an example of what you get when you use electronic first curtain shutter under fluorescent lights....