Why a shutter curtain?

[Kim]

I know from digital medium format that it is a necessity with a curtain. This is due to the sensor keeps reading and "flushing" the information while not exposing.

If the sensor did not have the curtain you would get corrupted images with a lot of strange colors when reading your images from the sensor.

[photosites]

Electronics shutters are used in almost all Point and Shoot cameras, including the Powershot G12 and S95. As we are all aware, the G12 can hit a shutter speed of 1/4000, so there should be no limitations in terms of the speed of sensor read out.

So why not dSLR?

This could answer your question:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/why-digital-cameras-have-mechanical-shutters.html

"Cameras, typically smaller point-and-shoot cameras, that use no mechanical shutters typically use an interline transfer sensor. An interline transfer sensor dedicates a portion of each pixel to store the charge for that pixel...
....Interline transfer sensor's typically have higher noise levels and lower sensitivity than the full frame sensor's used in high end digital SLR's."


I am truly impressed with the amount of technology that goes into our point and shoot really... Despite all that pixel cramming into a 1/2.5" sensor, you've got to deal with interline transfer... blah blah"

[awinphoto]

the mirror is still there so we buy the mk3 or mk4 when they release the electronic shutter versions... (Nikon used to make one like this)...  perhaps cynical but the manufactures need a range of new features to make us part with our cash for each new version...

Sooo.... you're saying if IF they release a DSLR with an electronic shutter vs a real one, you would be more inclined to buy it?  Really?  REALLY?  How does that improve the IQ?  How does that improve DR or noise performance or the AF? What benefit does an electronic shutter have over a real (and if you think that the price will be cheaper you are fooling yourself).  If not anything, as I mentioned before and neuro acknowledged, the light hitting the sensor consistently could degrade the sensor, give burn in, and shorten the lifespan of the camera, let alone the nightmare of dust... P&S does not change lenses so this isn't an issue with them, but would be horrible with DSLR's.  I see ABSOLUTELY no up side in an electronic shutter...

I know from digital medium format that it is a necessity with a curtain. This is due to the sensor keeps reading and "flushing" the information while not exposing.

If the sensor did not have the curtain you would get corrupted images with a lot of strange colors when reading your images from the sensor.

exactly...  Plus medium format also utilized leaf shutters and 3 shot studio capture... You're not going to take these out in the field to get dust or anything else...  Also... considering you can buy a decent car for the price of a leaf digital back... and they rely of lenses shutters for their capture or if they thought it would be more beneficial to do that, they would have put pressure on camera manufacturers to make new lenses... hence they have not...