Geekery: The Rolling Shutter Effect Explained

Ever wonder why moving objects on cell phone videos look a little warped?

The camera on your phone doesn’t capture images like film cameras. When you take a still shot there’s no shutter – it takes a digital scan, line by line. This can cause fast moving objects to warp. This is the rolling shutter effect. In his most recent video Destin Sandlin uses high speed camera footage to simulate the effect to explain it using planes, guitar strings, and other fast moving objects…

Behind the scenes shows how they did the rolling shutter videos….

I’m a bit more impressed with the method than the result. That took a lot of work, and math, to accomplish.

You can check out more entertaining and education videos from Smarter Every Day here.

Author: Mars Garrett

Pop culture writer and news editor that has been on the BoLS team since 2010. Contributor on the One of Us podcast. Marvel, Vertigo, Batman, and dystopian sci-fi fan. Enjoys bad movies, amazing stunt performances, and the internet. Hates rom-coms. (she/they)