Mirror LockUp.

[jwbryson1]

What is this and why do I care?

 

[o hey tyler]

Why is this in General Shop talk?

Mirror lockup is used to reduce camera shake, mostly for macro photographers and people that shoot on tripods at long focal lengths. It slaps the mirror at the first press of the shutter, and actuates the shutter on the second press. Or with a remote release as well. It's a pretty useful feature in certain conditions.

 

[Big Mike]

That's right. MLU is a mode/setting on the camera that flips up the mirror, then waits a set amount of time (or waits for you to press the button again) before opening the shutter to start the exposure.

When striving to achieve maximum image quality & sharpness, we should do our best to ensure that the camera isn't moving when the shutter is open. This is especially important when using longer lenses. So the first thing we can do, is to use a tripod and fire the camera without touching it. But the camera has moving parts (mainly the mirror) which may cause some movement and thus rob the image of some sharpness. This is much more prevalent in a certain shutter speed range, usually 1/20 to about 1 second.

So my using MLU, we can hopefully let the camera become still before the photo is captured.

 

[jwbryson1]

Why is this in General Shop talk?

I didn't know where else to put it--it was a "general" question for me.

Mirror lockup is used to reduce camera shake, mostly for macro photographers and people that shoot on tripods at long focal lengths. It slaps the mirror at the first press of the shutter, and actuates the shutter on the second press. Or with a remote release as well. It's a pretty useful feature in certain conditions.

Interesting. I think I've read that this is used when the camera is cleaned too--is that correct? It doesn't do any damage to the camera to use it a lot? I've never used it before.

 

[Big Mike]

I didn't know where else to put it--it was a "general" question for me.

'General shop talk' is in the 'Business District' section...thus is more for professional type questions. I've moved it into the 'beyond the basics' section.

Interesting. I think I've read that this is used when the camera is cleaned too--is that correct?

Not really. It only locks up the mirror, before an exposure. The shutter is still closed, so you can't access the sensor to clean it. That's why cameras have a 'sensor cleaning mode', which locks up the mirror and opens the shutter, so that you can clean the sensor.

It doesn't do any damage to the camera to use it a lot? I've never used it before.

There is no additional risk of damage when using MLU. The mirror has to flip up for every exposure anyway. The only thing I can think of, is that it will use more battery power, as it takes power to hold the mirror open.

 

[ann]

that is correct. to get to the sensor the mirror is locked in place. Doesn't hurt a thing, i use it a lot as i want sharp images.

 

[Big Mike]

that is correct. to get to the sensor the mirror is locked in place.

Yes, but not with MLU mode.

 

[pburwell]

In place of mirror lock up (which is often a pain in the butt to engage and requires multiple buttons to be pressed) and especially if you are a Canon shooter on a newer body with Live View (but unfortunately not the pro bodies), you can use Live View and get even better results in terms of vibration reduction than you can with mirror lockup. Just make sure you have the camera set to Silent Mode 1 and then activate Live View. If you are shooting at extreme magnifications or at very long focal lengths, this can make a big difference for making sharper shots.

Best regards,

Paul

 

[ann]

nikon, is easy, at least on the d700 and then with a wireless remote, two clicks and your done.

 

[480sparky]

Direct from my D7000 manual:

Mirror up; Choose this mode to minimize camera shack in telephoto or close-up photography or in other situations in which the slightest camera movement can result in blurred photographs.

Select Lock Mirror Up for cleaning. Turn the camera on and press the MENU button to display the menus. Highlight Lock mirror up for cleaning in the setup menu and press >....

 

[Garbz]

One of the better articles I've seen on Mirror Lockup is this one: Mirror Lock Up - photo.net

Mainly because it shows a graph of the camera vibration. Because of the duration of the mirror slap vibrations there's actually a very limited shutter range where mirror lockup makes a difference. Shutter is too fast then the mirror lockup doesn't shake the camera enough, shutter is too slow then the mirror lockup shaking the camera doesn't contribute much to the exposure.

nikon, is easy, at least on the d700 and then with a wireless remote, two clicks and your done.

There's another option available in most Nikons called "Exposure Delay Mode". It achieves the same thing but saves you from having to click the button twice.

 

[ann]

thanks Garbz i will check on that, learning something new everyday, even after 64 or photography