Shutter angle
Also known as: shutter degree, 180 degree shutter angle
A way of describing exposure time relative to frame rate, borrowed from film cameras. 180 degrees means each frame is exposed for half its duration.
Updated
What it means
Film cameras used a rotating disc shutter. The size of the open segment, measured in degrees, decided how long each frame was exposed. A 180 degree shutter was open for half of each frame interval. Digital cinema cameras kept the term because it describes motion blur independently of frame rate.
The math is simple: shutter speed equals shutter angle divided by 360, divided by the frame rate. At 24 fps, 180 degrees gives 1/48 second, and at 60 fps it gives 1/120 second. This link is what the 180-degree shutter rule is built on.
Larger angles mean more motion blur per frame, smaller angles mean crisper, more staccato motion.
How it works in practice
Cinema and some mirrorless cameras let you set shutter angle directly, so you can change frame rate without recalculating shutter speed. Action cameras and drones use shutter speed instead, but the concept still helps you choose settings.
A 180 degree look gives natural-looking motion for most scenes. Small angles, such as 45 or 90 degrees, make motion choppy and sharp, which suits fight scenes, rain or a gritty sports look. In bright light, keeping a 180 degree angle often requires an ND filter.
For footage you plan to slow down or stabilize heavily in post, a smaller angle gives sharper individual frames.
What to watch out for
Small sensors in bright sun often force very short exposures, effectively a tiny shutter angle, which makes fast motion look jittery. Without ND filters, you cannot keep 180 degrees outdoors on most action cameras.
Very large angles in dim light produce heavy blur, and combined with electronic stabilization, that blur can pulse in an unpleasant way. Keep angles moderate when you rely on EIS.
Mixing clips shot at different angles in one edit makes motion look inconsistent. If you care about the look, keep shutter settings similar across cameras, as you would for color matching.
How RawClip handles it
RawClip does not change motion blur or shutter settings. Footage with consistent, natural motion blur cuts together smoothly, and the AI arranges the best moments into one highlight synced to music.