More capable mechanical focal plane shutters with a flash sync speed of 1/200s or faster do not show objectionable rolling shutter effects for most practical stills photography, including wildlife and most sports. Better mirrorless cameras use the same types of shutters.
Older film cameras may have had flash sync speeds of 1/60s, and rolling shutter was sometimes a problem with them.
Mirrorless cameras also have a fully electronic shutter, for silent shooting and shooting video. (Some DSLRs could also shoot video this way.) In all but a handful of very expensive cameras, it takes a long time to scan the sensor and rolling shutter is obtrusive – in many cameras it is as slow as 1/15s. In that handful of expensive cameras it is around 1/200s, like a fast mechanical shutter. Nikon’s expensive cameras don’t even have a mechanical shutter any more.
That last bit of speed, from 1/200s to the 0s of a global shutter, is detectable in certain examples Sony showed off in their presentation. Most of these examples relate to high-end sports photography.
Flash sync at any speed means flashes can be built more cheaply and cycle faster. Currently, to shoot faster than the flash sync speed the flash must emit a long burst instead of a single pulse. For this reason, some cameras used a leaf shutter, which can sync at any speed, but they were typically expensive to make and sometimes less reliable.
There are related problems to do with the refresh rate of LEDs in the field of view, which are solved by the global shutter and somewhat clumsily worked around in cameras without one by trying to sync the shutter with the refresh rate. Again, high-end sports photographers are the ones who usually encounter this problem.
Older film cameras may have had flash sync speeds of 1/60s, and rolling shutter was sometimes a problem with them.
Mirrorless cameras also have a fully electronic shutter, for silent shooting and shooting video. (Some DSLRs could also shoot video this way.) In all but a handful of very expensive cameras, it takes a long time to scan the sensor and rolling shutter is obtrusive – in many cameras it is as slow as 1/15s. In that handful of expensive cameras it is around 1/200s, like a fast mechanical shutter. Nikon’s expensive cameras don’t even have a mechanical shutter any more.
That last bit of speed, from 1/200s to the 0s of a global shutter, is detectable in certain examples Sony showed off in their presentation. Most of these examples relate to high-end sports photography.
Flash sync at any speed means flashes can be built more cheaply and cycle faster. Currently, to shoot faster than the flash sync speed the flash must emit a long burst instead of a single pulse. For this reason, some cameras used a leaf shutter, which can sync at any speed, but they were typically expensive to make and sometimes less reliable.
There are related problems to do with the refresh rate of LEDs in the field of view, which are solved by the global shutter and somewhat clumsily worked around in cameras without one by trying to sync the shutter with the refresh rate. Again, high-end sports photographers are the ones who usually encounter this problem.