Mirror Lock Up

[Mikesht]

Just curious, how many of you do use this feature and find it very usefull.
Thank you.

[yalemba]

it is very useful and i use it for my portraits...does seem to make a difference at large aperture values such as f/2.8...

[G3]

It is indispensible for macro work.

[Scottes]

I use it quite often. I just about always use it for macros. And setting MLU sets timer mode to 2 seconds, which is sometimes easier than digging the remote cord out of the bag.

[ssim]

I use it on all my macro work and night time shots that I do. It is an indispensable function in my opinion.

Ya just gotta remember to reset it. (a little voice of experience)

[wintoid]

Would someone be kind enough to explain to this newbie what mirror lockup actually does?

[iwatkins]

It locks the mirror up. :twisted:

Usually when you take a shot, you press the shutter release all the way down.

The camera then flips the mirror up out of the way and then the shutter opens, exposes the sensor, the shutter then closes and then the mirror drops back down again. You can see this happening as during an exposure as the viewfinder going black. That is the mirror in the way.

When the mirror flips up, it induces torque on the camera itself causing a little camera shake. In most situations with high shutter speeds, it'll make no difference to the shot at all.

However, when shutter speeds drop or if you have a very carefully focused shot (say for minimum DOF) you don't want the camera moving at all. Therefore, you can use the mirror lockup facility to break the process up into stages.

With mirror lockup set, pressing the shutter release all the way will flip the mirror up and keep it up. Pressing the shutter button again then will open the shutter, expose the sensor, close the shutter and then drop the mirror back. You decide how long between the two steps by deciding when to press the shutter release fully down the second time (preferably via a remote release or using the self timer).

Cheers

Ian

[G3]

To add to Ian's comments, lenses with high magnification factors are most affected by mirror vibrations. The vibrations are magnified right along with the image. That would include telephoto and macro lenses. The idea is to compose, set exposure, flop the mirror up and lock it, allow the vibrations to settle down, then fire the shutter.

[mr_clean001]

Can you do mirror lockup with the 300D? I'm not at home this week and don't have the manual with me so I apologize if the question highlihgts my newbieness.

[tpinchback]

Can you do mirror lockup with the 300D? I'm not at home this week and don't have the manual with me so I apologize if the question highlihgts my newbieness.

Thats a BIG negetive!

Sucks

Still waiting for a 300d Hack that will allow for the mirror lock-up.

[Mikesht]

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/1/149429/678764/comparasing-vi.jpg?1078617214

I just did some quick comparasing, very rough, hand held with build in flash. The image on a left is taken with a mirror lock up engaged. Lens is Canon 70-210 USM
Images are TIFF. No post-processing, just size change in Photoshop.
The example may be not accurate enough, but works for me...

[wintoid]

Thank you for the explanations, I had no idea such a thing was available.

[Jesper]

(image tag removed)
I just did some quick comparasing, very rough, hand held with build in flash. The image on a left is taken with a mirror lock up engaged. Lens is Canon 70-210 USM
Images are TIFF. No post-processing, just size change in Photoshop.
The example may be not accurate enough, but works for me...

You can clearly see that the image on the left is sharper than the one on the right. But you did this hand held?? I thought mirror lockup was only useful if you had the camera on a tripod. The shaking of your hands (even if you think you're holding them perfectly still) is much more than the vibration that the mirror causes. I can sometimes through the viewfinder see the camera vibrate to my heartbeat when I'm holding the camera still in my hands!

At what shutter speed did you make those images? Were they both the same shutter speed?

By the way, the 10D has a smaller mirror than full-frame SLRs, so probably the mirror vibration will already be less than on a full-frame SLR.

[PacAce]

http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/1/149429/678764/comparasing-vi.jpg?1078617214

I just did some quick comparasing, very rough, hand held with build in flash. The image on a left is taken with a mirror lock up engaged. Lens is Canon 70-210 USM
Images are TIFF. No post-processing, just size change in Photoshop.
The example may be not accurate enough, but works for me...

How many test shots did you take? I fail to see how mirror lockup would help in a situation where you are hand holding the camera and using a flash to boot. From what I can see (and it's hard to tell with such a small image), the picture on the right seems to be out of focus and not blurred due to camera shakes.

[Mikesht]

I'll try and get another example using a tripod.
You are right, the test is not accurate enough hand held.

[PacAce]

I'll try and get another example using a tripod.
You are right, the test is not accurate enough hand held.

And I recommend the lens be set to manual focus to eliminate that as a factor in the test. Both should have the same focus setting.

[Mikesht]

О'кey, here is a new comparasing
Both images taken seconds apart, from a tripod, both are TIFF converted from RAW, both are shutter speed 1/45, f-stop 8.0, ISO200, manual focus (not changed from one to other), no post processing other than conversion.
Lens is Canon 50mm/1.8
I wonder if you can tell which one is wich?


http://images5.fotki.com/v57/photos/1/149429/678764/comparasing1-vi.jpg?1078671009

[G3]

My guess would be the one on the left was using MLU. Once you get faster shutter speeds than about 1/4 sec on a tripod, the effect is less.