MLU usefulness test

[timmyquest]

**EDIT**

I moved the crops and resizes next to eachother, they are still in the right order.

**EDIT**

The 300D hack is great, i figured i'd test out if the MLU is worth all the fuss. They say it's great when used for telephoto shots and for macro shots, so how about both at the same time. These are 300mm Macro shots, no post proc at all.

Can you tell which one is using MLU?

the first is a resize, the second is a 100% crop

http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/1.jpg
http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2.jpg


Second shot


http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/1crop.jpg
http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2crop.jpg

[Belmondo]

Just a WAG*

Numero uno


(*WAG = Wild A$$ Guess)

[ron chappel]

Mmm,why are more people (so far) voting for the softer 2nd set??

[Jesper]

What shutter times did you use for these photos?

Note that mirror lock-up is most effective with shutter speeds between about 1/30 s and 1/4 s. For faster speeds, the vibrations of the mirror are too slow to have a noticeable effect, and for slower speeds, the duration of the vibration is such a small part of the time the shutter is open that it doesn't have a large effect.

[DocFrankenstein]

I see absollutely no difference

What's happening here?

[rick barclay]

Maybe it's just psychological, but ever since I activated MLU in my 300D
my pictures taken with a 100-400mm look sharper to me. One thing I'm
sure of re the 300D: with MLU active, my camera is noticeably quieter
and vibrates less on shutter activation. But I haven't done any long
exposures with it yet, so the sharpness issue is probably my wishful thinking imagination.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd pick the top two as being taken with MLU on. Close vote. That dosen't speak well for MLU, does it?

[Scottes]

I generally can spot minute differences but they look identical to me.

Try shooting 1/8 shutter and subjects with distinct edges. As Jesper said, MLU doesn't affect every shot. And these curved, shiny chess pieces are poor subjects for a focus test IMHO.

[drisley]

I read that the 300D has mirror dampening, so MLU really wont make much difference.

[timmyquest]

The shots were all taken at 1/60 f/5.6

I'll gladly redo this test, they were all taken on a tri-pod....at 300mm. How often are you going to be shooting at 1/8 @ 300mm in Macro.

Like i said, i can do it, but i see no point.

And for the record, the polls are currently incorrect with shot one in the lead. The fact of the matter though is that even i know the 2nd set was using MLU, and I cant even tell.

[Scottes]

How often are you going to be shooting at 1/8 @ 300mm in Macro.

You don't, but I do. And 300mm vs 100mm vs 50mm... it's the mirro shake that you're testing, and the mirror is the same regardless of lens. Which, one would think, would be more prevelant at 100mm since the heavier 300mm might help dampen the shake. Of course, some 100s are heavier than some 300s... and 300mm would magnify more than 100mm....

[Tom W]

The difference is very, very minute with this particular type of exposure. I'd guess that #1 is the MLU shot.

As mentioned earlier, you'll see more of a difference when you shoot a somewhat longer shutter speed than 1/60.

[timmyquest]

The first set did not have MLU on

Lets try this again, this time 1/1 f/32 @300MM macro ISO 100 w/ 550EX no post proc

http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2/1.jpg

http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2/2.jpg


http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2/1crop.jpg

http://www.antiwall.com/mlu/2/2crop.jpg

[Scottes]

Lets try this again, this time 1/1 f/32 @300MM macro ISO 100 w/ 550EX no post proc

1/1? Did you mean 1 second? As has been mentioned, MLU will only make a difference between 1/30 and 1/4 second.