rolling shutter

[Weithy]

A while ago I got a cheap CMOS HD video camera to use on a heli, but found the distortion, or "jellocam" effect and lack of wide angle made it useless.
None of my CCD cameras have shown that type of distortion.
Looking at the video camera manufacturer websites didn't help me understand if a camera will or wont give that distortion, as they don't say in the specs "jellocam sensor", but I did notice that all manufacturers have dropped CCD's and use CMOS for the HD video cameras.
I found the technical name for the bad design is called rolling shutter, and contacted a number of manufacturers to ask if their cameras had that design.
Two responded:
Thank you for contacting Sony NZ.

We can confirm that all cameras with CMOS have rolling shutters. The HDR-CX500VE does indeed have stabilisation technology to protect the hard drive; however this was only built for slight knocks. What would be more suited to what you want to do is either a taped based camera or flash memory cameras. Flash memory camras will be good as there will be no moving parts to cause corruption of data. The DCR-SX40E will be the best place to start.

And from Canon:
Thanks for your enquiry.

I have following reply to your query from Camera Tech.

The CMOS sensor itself is a Progressive type CCD instead of interlaced. When recording, the signal is converted to interlaced signal in order to record into AVCHD format so that it can be recognised by general AVCHD compatible editing software.

Progressive recording such as 1080/25P can be obtained directly from the HDMI terminal without recording onto the memory.


The “roller shutter” effect is inherent from CMOS sensors.
It does distort objects if they are spinning or moving fast.


I hope this will clear your confusion.

[SeismicCWave]

One way is to go on eBay or similar to find a Panasonic hdc sd9 3CCD HD video camera. Their HS9 is the same camera with a 60 gig hard drive built in. Writing to the hard drive while flying may not be a great idea but you can bypass that and write to a SD card instead with the HS9.

The other option is to spend $3,000 or more to get the prosumer version HD camera with 3CCD.

[furyphoto]

Originally Posted by SeismicCWave

One way is to go on eBay or similar to find a Panasonic hdc sd9 3CCD HD video camera. Their HS9 is the same camera with a 60 gig hard drive built in. Writing to the hard drive while flying may not be a great idea but you can bypass that and write to a SD card instead with the HS9.

3CCD.

Shhhhhhhh! I'm trying to get one, I don't need the competition!

-A

[PhotoShip One]

actually an SD3 is best but harder to find. the SD3 is 3CCD, shoots full HD (1920x1080) but has larger CCD sensors than the SD9.

but an SD9 is good too!

I just got one of these, 3CCD Panasonic HMC150

[Weithy]

I had a quick look around the camera shops, and one has a clearance item, A JVC GZ-HD5, which has 3CCD, and weighs about 560 grams. It has similar specs to the SD9.

I got a reply from one more manufacturer...
Thanks for your query.
As far as I can ascertain, yes, the TM200 does have a rolling shutter, with the advantages and disadvantages that CMOS brings.
That notwithstanding, anecdotal evidence on the net seems to indicate the TM300 is one of the better performers in the motion area.
Hope this helps

Regards
David Clark
Customer Care Centre
Panasonic New Zealand Ltd