A number of you might not have ever come across a rotary shutter camera. All cameras do not have the same kind of shutter mechanism. Different types of cameras have different shutter mechanisms that increases their utility in particular conditions. There are three major kinds of shutters in still cameras, and one of them is a rotary shutter.

A number of you might not have heard of this shutter mechanism, and that is because this kind of shutter was used initially in cameras because it was simple and easy to construct. Univex Mercury and Olympus Pen Ft are two major still cameras that were manufactured with a rotary shutter. This kind of shutter is primarily used in motion picture cameras and projectors. Of course, even analogue cameras like the Leica R9, no longer use this mechanism, and it is quite outdated. In still cameras, as you can see in the picture on your left, the shutter is in the form of a rotating disc with a circular opening. As the shutter is released, the circular opening in the disc aligns itself with film and the set aperture and the image is captured on film. The cameras that were manufactured with rotary shutters were primarily half frame 35mm cameras; that is to say the image was captured on half a frame of the 35mm film.

Rotary shutters can be within the lens as well as on the focal plane. The shutter was extremely elegant and precise. The unique feature of this kind of shutter mechanism was that it could be synchronized with an electronic flash at all shutter speeds, even at 1/250. One major characteristic and identifying feature of rotary shutter cameras is the unusual hump on the top intended to accommodate the circular shutter. (see the picture on right).