just a few questions on this:

i've noticed on my HC1 the output looks slanted (skewed) during fast pans - presumably due to the rolling shutter.

am i right in thinking that this effect will be diminished at higher shutter speeds?

also i've heard people say rolling shutter causes tearing - is that true?

do the HC3/7 also have rolling shutters? canon HV10/20?

and finally given the skewing of the image how does the image stabilisation work on the camera? does sony perform some deskewing or is the image just shifted?

am i right in thinking that this effect will be diminished at higher shutter speeds?Hi - nope the effect will get MORE noticeable at fast shutter speeds.

The HC1 and Sony A1 seem to be the Sony HDV machines where this effect is most noticeable. Avoid using fast shutter speeds, and keep pans and zooms smooth and slow (and don't pan at telephoto if you can help it at all) and the effect should be much less noticeable.

and finally given the skewing of the image how does the image stabilisation work on the camera? does sony perform some deskewing or is the image just shifted?I dont think there is any electronic "deskewing" going on with the image. Thats just my opinion on that.

Hi - nope the effect will get MORE noticeable at fast shutter speeds.

really? strange. i wonder why that is. so essentially you trade off motion blur with skew.

is skew the only nasty side effect of the rolling shutter or are there other things i should know about?

Hi - nope the effect will get MORE noticeable at fast shutter speeds.

The HC1 and Sony A1 seem to be the Sony HDV machines where this effect is most noticeable.

To my eyes the HC3 and hv10 exhibit the exact same amount of "rolling". Haven't seen other cameras though.

is skew the only nasty side effect of the rolling shutter or are there other things i should know about?

The skew happens because the upper part of the image is recorded earlier than the lower part. Side effects include tearing up of flashes (fireworks etc), strange bobbing when doing handheld shots that shake (upper part stops moving earlier than lower part), something going side to side will look skewed, something going up to down will look stretched etc.

It basically sucks. Higher shutter speeds will make it more apparent but there's always the same amount of skew anyway it's just easier to spot without motion blur.

Once again, we've arrived "here."
There are enough threads out there on rolling shutter. Google the subject, and the majority of the hits point to here. In other words, it's a big issue for those that don't know how to manage the camera.
Rolling shutter can be avoided.
Avoid fast shutter on fast moving objects.
Avoid very fast movement of the camera with high shutter speeds.
Both of these practices will avoid rolling shutter issues on a CMOS camcorder.

Unless someone has something sigificant to add, please use the "Search" option on this website for more rolling shutter information.