What’s a Rolling Shutter

All I am capable of here is a simple answer. The shutter rolls when it samples a frame line by line instead of all at once. This causes parts of the frame to shift in real time so you see bends or distortions that create what is considered an “alias” for the real object being filmed in motion.

I’ve looked at numerous dSLR movies to try to detect the effect and I simply could not see it.

But here is a spectacular demonstration using an iPhone and filming a propeller in motion … it’s the weirdest video I’ve ever seen and perfectly demonstrates why you can’t make great movies with this kind of device unless you know what you are doing …

Bendy Propeller from Steve Talkowski on Vimeo.