What does “AES” (auto electric shutter) mean on a camera, and is it the same as a global shutter?
Asked 2/20/2018
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I found a surveillance/TV camera manual that lists two DIP switch modes: “AES” (auto electric shutter) and “DC IRIS.” What does auto electric shutter mean in this context? Is it simply automatic shutter-speed control for use with a manual/fixed-iris lens, and is it related to or different from a global shutter?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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This is a bit of an apples to oranges scenario but I will try to answer the spirit of the question. Auto Electric Shutter (AES) is the mode where a desired Iris value is set and the resulting shutter speed is chosen by the camera. This tends to have drawbacks in the versatility of the camera but has the advantage of allowing a camera to be manufactured with either a manual or a fixed iris, eliminating costly and unreliable motors.
In Auto-Iris mode the exposure is chosen by the user and the camera automatically adjusts the Iris. This is more common in industrial and surveillance applications where the noise-response curve is more critically optimized than it is for consumer applications. Note that to many sensor developers, the Iris and indeed lens are considered "external" This means that an automatically operated iris is an "accessory" as far as the control circuitry of your camera is concerned. It makes sense, then, that your camera would have a switch to turn on iris power.
Some cameras will operate in either mode, some will be limited to one. A webcam, for example, usually has a fixed iris and AES. In either AES or A-I, the setting of the dependent parameter occurs via some sort of control loop. This is often a PID loop and can be implemented in hardware or software. So that DIP switch on your camera basically switches it from Aperture Priority to Shutter Priority
An abridged note on nomenclature:
- Industrial calls it AES, Photographers call it Aperture Priority
- Industrial calls it Auto Iris, Photographers call it Shutter Priority
Industrial calls it an Iris, Photo calls is Aperture, Imaging Science calls it a field stop
Many years ago there were Soviet made cameras which featured a spring actuated shutter which was set via light meter. They were called Auto Electronic Shutter and are probably also unrelated
Electronic Shutter means there is no mechanical shutter and is not necessarily related to AES
Global Shutter is a type of sensor not actually a type of shutter, although it does serve as the "shutter" for cameras with no mechanical shutter
Now let's address global shutter. I'll make this brief since it is only tangential to the question. In global shutter (which is a misnomer) the entire sensor is "read out" at once. This means that every pixel has its value pulled out at virtually the same time (in the span of tens of microseconds.) This allows the sensor to stop motion. Global shuttered sensors can be used without a mechanical shutter but aren't exclusively so. Adding a "slow shutter" to a global shuttered device increases its contrast and reduces noise. The opposite of global shutter is rolling shutter. This type of sensor is read out line by line. To further complicate things, manufactures have figured out how to make rolling shutters global. And global shutters that can operate as rolling shutters.
The bottom line? Rolling vs Global shutter is about the sensor. Your camera has a global shutter which allows it to use Automatic Electronic Shutter. They are not different modes, they are technologies which work together.
Originally by user71671. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user71671
8y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
AES here means the camera controls exposure by changing the electronic shutter time when the lens aperture is not automatically controlled. In practice, it’s for use with a manual-iris or fixed-iris lens: you set the aperture on the lens, and the camera adjusts shutter speed as light changes.
“DC IRIS” is the opposite case: it’s for lenses with automatic aperture control, where the camera drives the iris instead.
So AES is an exposure-control mode, not a shutter architecture. A global shutter is a sensor readout method where all pixels are exposed at the same time. AES does not imply global shutter, and the two terms describe different things.
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