Questions about DVX100a shutter speed

[RandB]

Pretty much a bonehead question, but bear with me on this...

I understand the concept of shutter speed from my days of fiddling around as an amateur shutterbug with my old 35mm still image cameras. The shutter opens and closes in the blink of an eye (1/60th of a second, 1/100th of a second, etc.) to let the light in to expose the film. I get that.

But with a video camera, is it really the same thing? I mean isn't the shutter ALWAYS open to let the image in? Is the term "shutter speed," as it pertains to the DVX video camera, merely nomenclature that goes back to the days of still photographs, and is the actual function of shutter speed in a digital video camera something completely different?

What am I missing here? I mean surely the shutter isn't actually opening and closing 60 times per second when set to 1/60, is it?

Is this merely a digital equivalent to the physical opening and closing of the shutter? What's actually happening here?

Finally, is "progressive mode" a function of recording, or is it something that passes thru the camera? In other words, let's say I was shooting a live feed with the Pana in 30p or 24p mode -- would it yield that same "film look" that it would otherwise record (if I were actually recording)?

Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks in advance for your answers.

Randy

 

[Barry_Green]

Re: Questions about DVX100a shutter speed

It's my understanding that in video cameras, there is no physical shutter. What happens is, the CCD is allowed to gather light for a certain amount of time before it's told to stop gathering any more light. The duration of which it's allowed to gather light is called the "shutter speed", even though there's no actual shutter. Same basic principle, but an electronic implementation rather than a physical one.

As for progressive, that's done at the CCD level. A live feed will retain all the same look as one recorded to tape, whether you output it via composite, S-video, or firewire.