Minolta 9 DOF preview behaviour

[EdoNork]

Hi,

I have just received a new, to me, Minolta 9.
It's seems to work OK but the DOF preview behaviour it's something strange, again for me. When the DOF button is pressed, the aperture closes to the selected position, at the button release it completely opens, it's OK, but the camera seems to move the mirror up and down too. Is it designed that way?

 

[wiltw]

HiMatic 9, or Maxxum 9, or Alpha 9 or....?

 

[EdoNork]

Dynax/Maxxum 9.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

The mirror shouldn't be doing anything during or after a DOF preview operation.

What kind of lens is on the camera?

 

[wiltw]

Any chance you have actuated the self timer, and the camera has a 2 second time for the mirror to flip up and stay in place to reduce vibrations before the shutter opens?

 

[neilt3]

Hi,

I have just received a new, to me, Minolta 9.
It's seems to work OK but the DOF preview behaviour it's something strange, again for me. When the DOF button is pressed, the aperture closes to the selected position, at the button release it completely opens, it's OK, but the camera seems to move the mirror up and down too. Is it designed that way?

Yes this is normal behavior for the Dynax 9 .

Unlike most other cameras , after the DOF Preview button is pressed and released the aperture control mechanism resets itself .
Part of this function is that the mirror is also reset .

The DOF Preview button on Minolta A/F SLR's is an electronic switch rather than a mechanical button/linkage so the aperture is stopped down the same way as if a shot is taken .
Just checked if other models do this and they do , not checked them all as I have every Minolta autofocus SLR and most of the manual focus ones too .
The Dynax 5 doesn't flip the mirror up when the DOF preview button is released though , other models might work the same .

Don't worry about it , just because the mirror is raised doesn't mean the shutter opened !

 

[neilt3]

Any chance you have actuated the self timer, and the camera has a 2 second time for the mirror to flip up and stay in place to reduce vibrations before the shutter opens?

The Dynax 9 does have a mirror lock up function when the 2 second self timer is selected as the drive mode .
Pressing the shutter release button on the camera or preferably the remote release activates this .
It doesn't stop the aperture down in advance , and pressing the DOF Preview button doesn't start the self timer or fire the shutter .

The 10 second self timer doesn't enable mirror lock up .

 

[neilt3]

The mirror shouldn't be doing anything during or after a DOF preview operation.

What kind of lens is on the camera?

This is normal function for most Minolta A/F SLR with a DOF Preview button , regardless of which auto focus lens is mounted .
I think an exception to this might be the original Minolta 9000AF and the Dynax 7000i & 8000i ( need to check if I've got a battery that fit's the "i" series to check ) .
The Dynax 5 doesn't flip the mirror up when the DOF preview button is released though , other models might work the same .
I would need to check them to be sure though .

 

[EdoNork]

Thank you neilt3.
I can enjoy my Dunax 9 now without bad feelings.
A great Minolta camera collection you have.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

This is normal function for most Minolta A/F SLR with a DOF Preview button ...

I just confirmed that my Maxxum 7 (Dynax 7) does NOT exhibit this behaviour. Pressing the DOF button merely stops the lens down and does not flip the mirror.

Neither the 7 or the 9 manuals mention any mirror activity (that I could find).

Perhaps since the 7 followed the 9 chronologically, perhaps Minolta removed that quirk - which seems to do nothing useful.

 

[AgX]

Flipping up the mirror at activating the DOF button makes no sense at all, but makes the DOF button useless.
Thus it would not be a quirk, but a fault.

 

[AgX]

Any chance you have actuated the self timer, and the camera has a 2 second time for the mirror to flip up and stay in place to reduce vibrations before the shutter opens?

Some cameras keep the mirror low at activating the self-release, some flip it up that moment.
And now I learned some offer both (if I understand you right).

 

[neilt3]

I just confirmed that my Maxxum 7 (Dynax 7) does NOT exhibit this behaviour. Pressing the DOF button merely stops the lens down and does not flip the mirror.

Neither the 7 or the 9 manuals mention any mirror activity (that I could find).

Perhaps since the 7 followed the 9 chronologically, perhaps Minolta removed that quirk - which seems to do nothing useful.

The Dynax 5 doesn't do this either , but it's normal behaviour with the 9 and some if not all models before it .

 

[neilt3]

Flipping up the mirror at activating the DOF button makes no sense at all, but makes the DOF button useless.
Thus it would not be a quirk, but a fault.

It's normal behaviour on several Minolta SLR's , not a fault .
Why they do this , I do not know , but it's normal .

 

[WilmarcoImaging]

I just tried this with my Dynax 9. The mirror does not flip up when the DOF button is pressed. I conclude this because I can see through the viewfinder during DOF preview. I don't use the DOF preview feature, so the comment is based on 5 minutes' worth of experience.

The camera makes a click/whir sound when stopping down, which might be mistaken for the mirror flipping.

 

[EdoNork]

Mine does it at button release, try again, please.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

After doing some research, I found this:

http://www.photographyreview.com/pr.../konica-minolta/maxxum-9-dynax-alpha.html?p=2


The July 25, 2003 posting reveals the same mirror flipping when using DOF on the Minolta 9. So, it is a known behaviour for that camera.

 

[AgX]

But even if all models do so, and thus do so by design and no by fault in the common senses, it nevertheless is absurd.
What function then the DOF button has?
Or is it just a mirror-up button?
What does the manual say?

 

[EdoNork]

Answers:

Preview the deep of field.
It's a DOF button, but moves the mirror after the button is released, not when it is being pressed.
Nothing about that.

 

[vlasta]

The Dynax 9 does have a mirror lock up function when the 2 second self timer is selected as the drive mode .
Pressing the shutter release button on the camera or preferably the remote release activates this .
It doesn't stop the aperture down in advance , and pressing the DOF Preview button doesn't start the self timer or fire the shutter .

The 10 second self timer doesn't enable mirror lock up .

Manual, page 56:

Use the self-timer to delay the shutter release for 2 or 10 seconds (approx.) after
the shutter-release button is pressed all the way down. In addition to delaying
release of the shutter, the 2 second delay pops the mirror up two seconds before
the shutter opens to reduce blur caused by camera vibration.

 

[neilt3]

I just tried this with my Dynax 9. The mirror does not flip up when the DOF button is pressed. I conclude this because I can see through the viewfinder during DOF preview. I don't use the DOF preview feature, so the comment is based on 5 minutes' worth of experience.

The camera makes a click/whir sound when stopping down, which might be mistaken for the mirror flipping.

That's right .
The mirror does not flip up when the DOF preview button is pressed . Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see threw the viewfinder to assess the DOF !
When you press the DOF preview button , the aperture stops down , the same as any other camera with a DOF preview button .

When you release the button is when it goes thru a cycle where the mirror flips up as well as the aperture mechanism re-sets itself .

As already mentioned , try again .

Mine does it at button release, try again, please.

 

[neilt3]

After doing some research, I found this:

http://www.photographyreview.com/pr.../konica-minolta/maxxum-9-dynax-alpha.html?p=2


The July 25, 2003 posting reveals the same mirror flipping when using DOF on the Minolta 9. So, it is a known behaviour for that camera.

I put some batteries in a few of my other cameras with a DOF preview function .

Dynax 9xi , 7 & 5 ; aperture stops down when the button is pressed , opens when released , mirror does not move .

Dynax 600si , 650si , 700si , 800si , 9 ; all behave the same . Aperture stops down when pressed , aperture opens and mirror flips up when released to reset itself .

This is just the way they work .

 

[neilt3]

But even if all models do so, and thus do so by design and no by fault in the common senses, it nevertheless is absurd.
What function then the DOF button has?
Or is it just a mirror-up button?
What does the manual say?

Whether you think it absurd or not , the Minolta engineers must have had a reason for doing things this way .
The Dynax 600si , 650si , 700si , 800si , 9 all do this the same way .
Yet the earlier Dynax 9xi and later Dynax 7 & 5 work the same as other brands cameras operating only the aperture .

The DOF preview button does the same as any other camera when pressed .
It stops the aperture down to the selected setting to allow you to assess the DOF . The mirror only flips up while the camera resets the aperture .
This isn't mention in the manual , as there is no reason to .

The DOF preview button is for DOF preview , it's not a mirror lock up button .
The only way to do this on a Dynax 9 is to set the 2 second self timer . When doing this and pressing the shutter button , the mirror locks up and 2 seconds later the shutter fires .

 

[AgX]

Well, most of the concern has been raised by the word "released".
A storm in a water glass...
A shutter is released just when the release button is pushed in. For a non-native speaker the term release then gets a different meaning in context with a button.

This is not about the mirror going up when the DOF button is pressed, but when this button is let free again.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Whether you think it absurd or not , the Minolta engineers must have had a reason for doing things this way .
...
This isn't mention in the manual , as there is no reason to .
...

Since mirror flipping accomplishes nothing useful after the DOF preview operation, I suspect this is either a flaw in the camera's firmware or there is something about aperture actuation in the Minolta 9 that requires a mirror flip cycle. Since no other cameras, nor later Minoltas have this mirror flip, I suspect that Minolta wanted to correct this useless distraction.

It certainly should be mentioned in the manual because it's unexpected behaviour (hence the origin of this thread). I cannot think of any other camera where mirror flipping is a consequence of a DOF preview operation.