mirror lock up

[swmocity]

I have a ton of them, I could show extremes if I can find them. Mirror lock and shutter delay are absolutely required for true macro work and night work.

im going to have to try dat...i love night photography

 

[Big Mike]

I really depends on your shutter speed, the focal length and stability of your camera/tripod etc and what you are shooting.

If you are shooting a 30 second exposure...a slight vibration for a quarter of a second, probably won't matter much. I think someone mentioned it, but mirror slap caused blur, is usually more prevalent between one second and 1/30...or something like that. That is really where MLU is needed the most.

 

[josealb]

Also don't forget that the mirror protects the camera sensor, so leaving it open all the time isn't a good idea

 

[swmocity]

Also don't forget that the mirror protects the camera sensor, so leaving it open all the time isn't a good idea

yea you right, i never thought about that...thats something to think about

 

[Big Mike]

Also don't forget that the mirror protects the camera sensor, so leaving it open all the time isn't a good idea

Protects the sensor? From what?

The sensor is behind the mirror and the shutter.

 

[ksmattfish]

Here's a link explaining mirror lock up and reducing vibration.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/mirror-lock.shtml

It depends on the camera, but the shutter range where mirror slap is the biggest problem is approx 1/8th to 1/30th. As you go slower and faster mirror slap becomes less of a problem. I agree with Mike, for exposures longer than a few seconds it shouldn't matter; 99.99% of the exposure will occur after the mirror slap vibrations have stopped. That said I still use it almost all the time when my camera is on a tripod. It's just a habit I've gotten into.

Check out this other article reviewing the Pentax 67II. Scroll about halfway down and check out the example of shutter bounce (the sample photo was taken with the mirror locked up).

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/pentax67ii.shtml Yikes! Although I never ever noticed this in any photo I ever took with my Pentax 67II.

A huge help in reducing vibrations is a heavy, sturdy tripod. Hang a heavy camera bag or rock from the center post for more stability.