It's fine to let the camera's automation do the work for you, but that shouldn't make you lazy. Understanding how the shutter speed works is the first step towards deciding when it's the right time to control the camera by yourself, so that you can get the results you want.

Marshal M. Rosenthal is a technology/entertainment writer whose experience in the industry spans 20+ years.

When you drop the shutter speed to 1/30 or below, you are losing every other line of resolution in your camcorder (unless you are shooting progressive on a special camera). At 1/15, you'll find that the video is noticeably stuttering. At 1/4 (four frames a second), the video will look rather poor and will show a lot of blurred action. You will, however, be able to shoot in very dark situations and, in our opinion, if that is the difference between getting the shot and not, 4 fps is better than zero.

Technically, the minimum shutter speed you should consider for video is 1/60 second. In fact, you should consider this the default shutter speed, since this is a rate that matches television in the US. Any higher shutter speeds (as discussed in this article) are for effect only.