When shooting video, sometimes the scene seems distorted, almost jelly-like. Why is that?
When shooting video, like all mobile phones and the vast majority of digital cameras including some digital SLR cameras, a rolling shutter is used. For various reasons, mechanical shutters can’t be used for video. Furthermore, usually due to bandwidth issues, it’s not possible to read each pixel at the same time. A rolling shutter overcomes this by allowing each pixel to be read in sequence. For example, starting with the top left pixel of the frame and then reading the pixels to the right until reaching the end of the row before moving to the left pixel on the next row down. So, as you move the device, pixels which are in the bottom right corner of the image are being read later in the movement path than those that were in the top left. Damian’s tip: Smoothness is one of the most important aspects when filming video. Avoid sudden movements. Avoid moving at all, if you can. This isn’t as crazy as it may first sound. Next time you’re watching a movie, take notice of the camera moves. In
