Global Shutter Camera: Unlocking Dynamic Imaging with Global Shutter

An electronic shutter electronically turns the image sensor on and off to control exposure. The sensor starts detecting light when activated and stops detecting light when deactivated.

Rolling Shutter vs Global Shutter

Rolling shutter cameras capture the scene line by line, from top to bottom, causing a time difference between top and bottom parts. Motion or camera movement results in the distortion known as the rolling shutter effect.

On the other hand, global shutter camera is designated to capture an image by simultaneously exposing all the pixels in its image sensor to light for a brief period of time. Unlike a rolling shutter camera, which scans the image sensor row by row, a global shutter camera captures the entire image instantaneously.

Rolling Shutter Distortion

Rolling shutter distortion effect

Rolling shutter distortion is an effect that can occur while using rolling shutter camera to capture fast-moving subjects. It is caused by the delay between the beginning and the end of the sensor readout, this can result in vertical or horizontal lines appearing bent or slanted, giving the image a distorted appearance.

Visual anomalies

Since the rolling shutter captures different parts of the image at slightly different times, it can create motion blurriness. When there is an object moving at a very high-speed, it may appear distorted or elongated due to the time difference in capturing different parts of the target. This can be particularly noticeable in situations such as sports photography or capturing moving vehicles.

A faster shutter speed can help to the amount of time that the sensor is exposed to light. This means that there is less time for the subject to move while the sensor is being read, which can help to reduce motion artifacts. However… even with a fast shutter speed, rolling shutter distortion can still occur if the subject is moving at a very high speed. In these cases, the only solution is to use a global shutter equipped camera. For catching high speed or motion image, we recommend to try our USB global shutter camera to see the advantages. 

More USB global shutter camera information please review camera module introduction or custom camera module flow.