Eli5: Why does a camera have to flash and time it perfectly when it takes a picture? Can’t the light just stay on?
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There are several discussions about continuous vs a flash, but cameras only have a fully open shutter when below around 1/250 sec. If you shoot faster than that, the 2nd curtain starts closing before the first one has fully cleared the lens. This causes a bright band and dark band. It actually is a scrolling slot across the sensor or film.
So there’s actually a 3rd thing flashes can do: they can pulse their power across the entire time it’s open so that the slot always has some light, which is additive.
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