“Rolling Shutter” Plagues Nikon’s D300s Video

August 31, 2009 by admin 


Nikon’s brand new D300s is hitting store shelves this week. It’s an incremental upgrade on the legendary D300. It adds a few new features but the big one for me was video.

Unfortunately, a problem that plagued Nikon’s first SLR video feature in the D90 continues with the D300s – rolling shutter. Basically fast moving objects or camera pans can result in some distortion due to how the camera’s sensor reads and outputs data. While not a deal breaker for me, it is disappointing that a problem that existed in a Nikon product from last year is still going unfixed on their latest mid-level flagship product.

You can see the problem first hand in the video above.

Read more about the problem (and a fix) at Chase Jarvis’ excellent blog.

Here’s some footage I shot during a recent vacation to Hawaii. It works much better when the camera is locked down:

Here are some additional videos I shot with the D300s earlier, mostly handheld:

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Comments

  • TC
    Thanks. But let's remember, no one shooting video should ever be panning that fast. You point out that the camera has a hard time doing something that should not be done anyway. I don't think it's a deal breaker.
  • It's not just pans that are a problem -- it's also fast moving objects too. I'll play with it a bit more this week and post some additional samples so people can make a better judgement.
  • WOW! You have an awesome dog. And wow that is wobbly! It's a shame because the quality of the image(s) are so superb!
  • amrulkareem
    hai, i bought mine too. but what could you say about the lines when we shoot under pendaflour light?
    the jelly effect is not an issue, but the lines is kinda heartbreaking.
  • I haven't experienced that yet. I will say I took some great shots at a
    birthday party yesterday. Looks like film. The D300s is really starting to
    grow on me.
  • amrulkareem
    i mean shoot video. the pictures came out great. but the video. under pendaflour lights, u could see lines
  • ben
    I agree, watching the video of the D90, and 300, its definitely a weakness. Sure it shoots great stills, but the next generation should be able to provide both. There is nothing wrong for wanting both features as they will merge eventually.. plus who wants to carry a camera and a camcorder? If they get the frame rate up to 30fps i think a lot of these issues would be solved
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