Using the electronic shutter

Using the electronic shutter lets you perform various kinds of shooting that are difficult to achieve using the mechanical shutter, such as shooting without sounds or shaking, shooting with a super-fast shutter, and blackout-free shooting*.

*During blackout-free shooting, the screen does not black out or drop frames and you can keep looking at the subject through the viewfinder or monitor while shooting images.

Shutter types and camera performance

The camera’s shutter speed range, shutter sound, occurrence of blackout, and availability of the flash for each setting are as follows:

Shutter Type
Auto Mechanical Shutter Electronic Shutter
Shutter speed Single shooting:
BULB – 1/32000
Continuous shooting:
1/8 – 1/32000
Single shooting:
BULB – 1/2000
Continuous shooting:
30 – 1/2000
Single shooting:
30 – 1/32000
Continuous shooting:
1/8 – 1/32000
Shutter sound Single shooting: Mechanical shutter sound and electronic shutter sound
Continuous shooting: Electronic shutter sound
Mechanical shutter sound and electronic shutter sound Electronic shutter sound
Blackout Single shooting: Occurs
Continuous shooting: Blackout-free*1
Occurs Blackout-free*1
Flash Available*2 Available Available*3

*1When [Shoot. Start Disp.] is set to [On], blackout occurs only when the first image is shot.

*2 The maximum shutter speed is 1/2000 second when using the flash.

*3 The maximum shutter speed is 1/100 second when using the flash.

Advanced shooting using the electronic shutter: Shooting without shutter sound

You can use the electronic shutter to shoot without shutter sound.

  1. MENU (Camera Settings2) → [Shutter Type][Electronic Shutter].
    • Select [Electronic Shutter] or [Auto] for continuous shooting.
  2. MENU (Camera Settings2) → [Audio signals][Off].


Advanced shooting using the electronic shutter: Blackout-free continuous shooting

You can use the electronic shutter to perform continuous shooting with focus and exposure tracking, without the screen blacking out.

  1. MENU (Camera Settings2) → [Shutter Type][Auto] or [Electronic Shutter].
  2. Turn the mode dial and select P (Program Auto), A (Aperture Priority), S (Shutter Priority), or M (Manual Exposure), then set the shutter speed and aperture value. (For example: shutter speed of 1/250 second and aperture value of F2.8)
    • The product will not adjust the exposure in manual exposure mode when [ISO] is set to other than [ISO AUTO].
  3. MENU (Camera Settings1) → [Drive Mode] → Select [Continuous Shooting: Hi], [Continuous Shooting: Mid], or [Continuous Shooting: Lo].
  4. MENU (Camera Settings1) → [Focus Mode][Continuous AF] → Start shooting images.

Hint

  • If you want to display the timing of shooting on the screen during blackout-free shooting, adjust the setting using MENU (Camera Settings2) → [Shoot. Timing Disp.].
  • To take advantage of the performance of the camera, we recommend that you use an SDHC/SDXC memory card (U3).

Note

  • When shooting without the shutter sound, do so on your own responsibility, with sufficient consideration to the privacy and portrait rights of the subject.
  • Even if you set the camera to shoot without the shutter sound, it will not be completely silent.
  • Even if you set the camera to shoot without the shutter sound, the aperture and focus will make sounds.
  • If you set [Audio signals] to [Off], the camera will not beep when the subject comes into focus or when the self-timer is in operation.
  • During blackout-free shooting, the slower the shutter speed, the lower the refresh rate of the screen. If you want the screen display to be smooth in order to track the subject, set a shutter speed faster than 1/60 second.