Question about mirror lock up

I've heard this term used a number of times and just read on a blog that for serious landscape and nature photos, mirror lock up is a must. Also nighttime photography. Now I have both a D70 and D300 and was wondering if someone would shed some light on mirror lock up and when you would use it. Why would it be used, and last... how do I lock my mirror. Actually the last question I can look in my menu settings to figure out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ziggy

Ziggy wrote: I've heard this term used a number of times and just read on a blog that for serious landscape and nature photos, mirror lock up is a must. Also nighttime photography. Now I have both a D70 and D300 and was wondering if someone would shed some light on mirror lock up and when you would use it. Why would it be used, and last... how do I lock my mirror. Actually the last question I can look in my menu settings to figure out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ziggy

In order to see through your lens (using the viewfinder) you need a little mirror (set at an angle) just in front of the sensor.

When you take a photo, the mirror flicks up and out of the way, the shutter moves across the sensor, and then the mirror flops back down again.

The movement of the mirror can produce minor shake.

When taking a landscape photo at long exposures and/or long focal lengths, even minor shake (like that from the mirror moving up and down) can cause enough shake in your photo to be noticeable.

Mirror lock up does exactly what it says. With a press of your shutter (or cable release). It locks your mirror into the "up" position (you can;t see through the viewfinder at this point). Then, when you press the shutter button again, the shutter opens/moves across the sensor and the exposure is made.

Thus reducing shake.

In many models, a photo taken in live view mode will have the mirror locked up already.

Also in timer mode, often (I can't say all models, because I don't know all the models, but mostly this is true) the mirror locks up before taking a picture. When you press the shutter to start the timer, the mirror locks up. Then the photo is taken after the timer finishes. I use this method combined with live-view mode when taking a photo on a tripod (landscape) because it saves me using my remote shutter triggers.

www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/und...es/mirror-lock.shtml

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

Ziggy wrote: I've heard this term used a number of times and just read on a blog that for serious landscape and nature photos, mirror lock up is a must. Also nighttime photography. Now I have both a D70 and D300 and was wondering if someone would shed some light on mirror lock up and when you would use it. Why would it be used, and last... how do I lock my mirror. Actually the last question I can look in my menu settings to figure out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ziggy

In order to see through your lens (using the viewfinder) you need a little mirror (set at an angle) just in front of the sensor.

When you take a photo, the mirror flicks up and out of the way, the shutter moves across the sensor, and then the mirror flops back down again.

The movement of the mirror can produce minor shake.

When taking a landscape photo at long exposures and/or long focal lengths, even minor shake (like that from the mirror moving up and down) can cause enough shake in your photo to be noticeable.

Mirror lock up does exactly what it says. With a press of your shutter (or cable release). It locks your mirror into the "up" position (you can;t see through the viewfinder at this point). Then, when you press the shutter button again, the shutter opens/moves across the sensor and the exposure is made.

Thus reducing shake.

In many models, a photo taken in live view mode will have the mirror locked up already.

Also in timer mode, often (I can't say all models, because I don't know all the models, but mostly this is true) the mirror locks up before taking a picture. When you press the shutter to start the timer, the mirror locks up. Then the photo is taken after the timer finishes. I use this method combined with live-view mode when taking a photo on a tripod (landscape) because it saves me using my remote shutter triggers.

www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/und...es/mirror-lock.shtml

This might be a silly question, but if we know the mirror will make a ever so slight vibration, why not take every shot with it locked?

BTW thank you for the detailed answer!

One other question please. I'm looking in my manual on how to lock the mirror and it only list it as "Lock mirror up for cleaning".

So was this originally meant for cleaning the camera or am I missing something here? Thanks again!

Ziggy wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

Ziggy wrote: I've heard this term used a number of times and just read on a blog that for serious landscape and nature photos, mirror lock up is a must. Also nighttime photography. Now I have both a D70 and D300 and was wondering if someone would shed some light on mirror lock up and when you would use it. Why would it be used, and last... how do I lock my mirror. Actually the last question I can look in my menu settings to figure out.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ziggy

In order to see through your lens (using the viewfinder) you need a little mirror (set at an angle) just in front of the sensor.

When you take a photo, the mirror flicks up and out of the way, the shutter moves across the sensor, and then the mirror flops back down again.

The movement of the mirror can produce minor shake.

When taking a landscape photo at long exposures and/or long focal lengths, even minor shake (like that from the mirror moving up and down) can cause enough shake in your photo to be noticeable.

Mirror lock up does exactly what it says. With a press of your shutter (or cable release). It locks your mirror into the "up" position (you can;t see through the viewfinder at this point). Then, when you press the shutter button again, the shutter opens/moves across the sensor and the exposure is made.

Thus reducing shake.

In many models, a photo taken in live view mode will have the mirror locked up already.

Also in timer mode, often (I can't say all models, because I don't know all the models, but mostly this is true) the mirror locks up before taking a picture. When you press the shutter to start the timer, the mirror locks up. Then the photo is taken after the timer finishes. I use this method combined with live-view mode when taking a photo on a tripod (landscape) because it saves me using my remote shutter triggers.

www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/und...es/mirror-lock.shtml

This might be a silly question, but if we know the mirror will make a ever so slight vibration, why not take every shot with it locked?

BTW thank you for the detailed answer!

Because it would black out the viewfinder and wouldn't release the shutter till you clicked again, (not practical). Also, with fast shutter speeds, the slight vibration isn't going to be noticeable at all. MLU is for long exposures only (on a tripod or stable surface only).

Ziggy wrote: One other question please. I'm looking in my manual on how to lock the mirror and it only list it as "Lock mirror up for cleaning".

So was this originally meant for cleaning the camera or am I missing something here? Thanks again!

No, it's something that's been around for a while. You have MLU for cleaning because on DSLRs they you need the mirror out of the way when cleaning the sensor.