[xattt]

You seem knowledgeable about the Nikon world. The current Z9 is being touted as the first ILC with a completely electronic shutter. How is this possible without having an impact on image quality when so many DSLRs/MILCs have been dependent on physical shutters?

[formerly_proven]

The mechanical shutters used in photo cameras are a mechanical rolling shutter, where each curtain takes about 1/500s or so to travel across the frame.

The electronic shutter in a rolling shutter CMOS is very similar: The first curtain is where rows of pixels are reset, the second curtain is when they are sampled/read out and digitized. For normal camera sensors this takes between 1/20s and 1/60s, depending on the resolution - high resolution cameras take longer.

The limiting factor for that isn't actually the pixel array itself, but the speed at which data can be transferred off the sensor. This is where stacked sensors come in: you can move data way more quickly between the front sensor die and the back logic/storage die than you can move it off chip. So the trick of the fast stacked sensors is that they read the image from the sensor die into the memory die, and then transfer the image through the usual, much slower link to the image DSP. But at that point the image has been fully exposed and the slowness of the link doesn't matter, except for the maximum frames per second.

This way you can make an image ~50 MP sensor whose electronic "shutter curtains" travel at a similar speed as the shutter curtains of a mechanical fp-shutter and so you don't reeallly need the mechanical shutter any more, because the motion artifacts will be basically the same. There are some edge cases, e.g. high frequency flickering light sources can apparently create issues, but they don't seem to be a show-stopper.

(There are some additional tricks, like CMOS sensors have been column-parallel for a long time, where each column of pixels have their own PGA and ADC, but these newer sensors seem to sample multiple rows in parallel as well)

((There are also global-shutter CMOS sensors, which can "near simultaneously" sample all pixels in the array, in the analog domain, but since this requires extra transistors in each pixel, it's always detrimental to other parameters for a ceteris paribus rolling shutter sensor. These are used mostly for machine vision / slow motion purposes. Higher-spec global shutter sensors are export controlled.))

[PicardsFlute]

I can answer that as I own a Z9 and was I am interested in the tech as well. Essentially, it is using a "Stacked CMOS" sensor that has a readout time of ~1/270 s. For comparison, the Z7ii is 1/30s if I am remembering correctly. Essentially, it just reads out the data on the sensor fast enough to hide any shutter artifacts (with the exception of LEDs, but this happens even with mechanical shutters as well, and isn't that big of a deal)

The only other camera from the big 3 flagships that matches this speed is the Sony A1 with 1/250s. The Canon R3 is 1/180s. It has a mechanical shutter, but I think the Z9 proves that its worth the omission in 99% of the shooting scenarios. Especially when it is coming in $1000 cheaper than the Sony.

Edit: I was beaten to it!

[Wistar]

My friend, a very talented photographer, has the Z9 and thinks it is simply the finest camera on the market. His recent imagery seems to confirm this.

https://www.instagram.com/timdurkan/?hl=en

[fooker]

These are great pictures, sure. However none of these rely on the capabilities of a camera like the Z9. Your friend (and most skilled photographers) could have clicked those pictures with entry level cameras paired with appropriate lenses.

[fleddr]

There's no such thing as an image relying on the capabilities of a Z9. In terms of raw image quality, it uses the same-ish sensor as a high-end DSLR, say a D850. Resolution and dynamic range are highly similar.

A mirrorless system does not create better pictures. It does increase the likelihood that you capture the image you want at all.

[fooker]

> There's no such thing as an image relying on the capabilities of a Z9

Sure there is. For example consider the problems involved in taking a high resolution picture for a fast moving but difficult to focus object in low light. A Z9 will do brilliantly but cheaper cameras -- not so much.

A camera is not just the image sensor, modern sensors are all fairly close technologically in the grand scheme of things.

[Wistar]

I linked to his photos as a confirmation that he is an adept photographer whose opinion about a camera is valid. But, hey, the shots are—at the least—not worse than his pre-Z9 images.

[lttlrck]

Not that long ago they'd be on Flickr and it would actually be possible to scrutinize those pictures.