Abstract: An electro-optical shutter apparatus provides optical deblurring of images captured with a video camera. A liquid crystal element in the optical path of a video camera selectively interrupts the optical path of the video camera. An electronic circuit contains a microprocessor that executes a software algorithm to control the liquid crystal element and synchronize its operation to the video camera. Based on input from the user, the liquid crystal element opens and closes at the appropriate times to reduce the time available for the video camera to sample the desired image. When capturing an action sequence, therefore, the camera captures less motion of the subject during each sampling period, resulting in decreased motion blur.