Mirror Lockup

[CMoore]

Do you guys use this feature very often.?
Other than (possible) mirror slap moving the Camera/Tripod a bit, what else do you use the lockup for.?
Thank You

 

[AgX]

In the past it was used to mount a lens with rear-protruding barrel, framing had to be done by accessory finder. As the repective lenses were wide-angle, focusing could be done by scale.

 

[bdial]

I use it rarely. On my Hasselblad, I've not noticed a difference in image quality between using it and not, even doing very close macro work. I've used it with the Hasselblad a time or two to be very quiet at the time of making the picture. And I've done the same occasionally with 35mm.

Nikon has a few lenses, mostly fisheyes, mostly very old, that can't be mounted with the mirror down. I presume some of the other makers have such as well.

 

[voceumana]

For extremely long lenses mirror lockup would eliminate any vibration caused by the mirror movement--the long focal length would serve to amplify the image effect of any vibration.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Not that often, but certainly in certain situations.

The Nikon F3 has an eye piece blind, which is designed to be used when the camera is on a tripod and your face is away from the viewfinder glass. The idea being that it stops stray light entering via the viewfinder. Whenever I'm using the DW3 waist level viewfinder and on a tripod, mirror lockup pretty much ensures there is no light leak happening as the mirror swings up during normal exposure. I do the same when using the DW4 6 x magnification finder.

Whenever doing a long exposure, I will lock the mirror up, regardless. As for really long exposures, think hours, I use the T for time and trip the shutter with the manual shutter switch. The mirror goes up, the curtain opens and everything stays in their place until I take it off the T on the shutter speed dial. Not really a mirror lock up, but effectively the same thing.

Also great for cleaning the camera meter with the mirror locked up and the shutter open, this allows one to clean the meter which is in a recess and faces the film.

Mick.

 

[MattKing]

I don't use it often, but I use it.
One other advantage is that, for some cameras with leaf shutters, locking the mirror up can permit you to be almost silent when you take a photo.

 

[CMoore]

Not that often, but certainly in certain situations.

The Nikon F3 has an eye piece blind, which is designed to be used when the camera is on a tripod and your face is away from the viewfinder glass. The idea being that it stops stray light entering via the viewfinder. Whenever I'm using the DW3 waist level viewfinder and on a tripod, mirror lockup pretty much ensures there is no light leak happening as the mirror swings up during normal exposure. I do the same when using the DW4 6 x magnification finder.

Whenever doing a long exposure, I will lock the mirror up, regardless. As for really long exposures, think hours, I use the T for time and trip the shutter with the manual shutter switch. The mirror goes up, the curtain opens and everything stays in their place until I take it off the T on the shutter speed dial. Not really a mirror lock up, but effectively the same thing.

Also great for cleaning the camera meter with the mirror locked up and the shutter open, this allows one to clean the meter which is in a recess and faces the film.

Mick.

I don't use it often, but I use it.
One other advantage is that, for some cameras with leaf shutters, locking the mirror up can permit you to be almost silent when you take a photo.

Those are two new (to me) reasons.... Thanks (insert thumbs-up emoji)

 

[AgX]

One should not overlook that many, even refined, cameras do not even got that feature.
In all those years I just these days got my first model with this feature.

Though some models that lack this feature got a mirror that can be lifted up by hand nonetheless. So in case one thinks one needs that feature one could take off the lense, lift the mirror, block it with some selhmade arrest and the put back on the lens. I assume there would be no issue with such models with the shutter cycle running through and the mirror beiing arrested uowards.

 

[narsuitus]

Other than (possible) mirror slap moving the Camera/Tripod a bit, what else do you use the lockup for.?

For sensor cleaning

 

[Sirius Glass]

In the past it was used to mount a lens with rear-protruding barrel, framing had to be done by accessory finder. As the repective lenses were wide-angle, focusing could be done by scale.

I used to do that with the f/4 21mm Rokkor lens on a Minolta SR-7 fifty years ago.

I use it rarely. On my Hasselblad, I've not noticed a difference in image quality between using it and not, even doing very close macro work. I've used it with the Hasselblad a time or two to be very quiet at the time of making the picture. And I've done the same occasionally with 35mm.

Nikon has a few lenses, mostly fisheyes, mostly very old, that can't be mounted with the mirror down. I presume some of the other makers have such as well.

I have the same experience in the first paragraph. My 30mm Fisheye does not need the mirror moved out of the way.

A few times I have used a mirror lockup on time exposures over many decades.

 

[Ariston]

I don't see why lockup might be needed for long exposures. The exposure is so long that any temporary vibration won't register. I make people who walk in front of my camera completely disappear by using a long exposure. I would be more worried about for shorter, middle-timed exposures. Am I missing something?

 

[DWThomas]

I don't see why lockup might be needed for long exposures. The exposure is so long that any temporary vibration won't register. I make people who walk in front of my camera completely disappear by using a long exposure. I would be more worried about for shorter, middle-timed exposures. Am I missing something?

It can depend on subject matter. In a dark, night scene situation if there are bare bulbs in signs or street lights they may blur, as they are being roundly overexposed in the long exposure.

I generally shoot my Bronica SQ-A on a tripod, and tend to use the mirror lockup but have never done any really careful testing.

 

[CMoore]

I don't see why lockup might be needed for long exposures. The exposure is so long that any temporary vibration won't register. I make people who walk in front of my camera completely disappear by using a long exposure. I would be more worried about for shorter, middle-timed exposures. Am I missing something?

That is one reason i asked.
I have NO Idea, but i was thinking it might matter more for the 1/2 to 3 second kind of exposures than the 20 second to 2 minute scenarios.

 

[Paul Manuell]

I use it virtually all the time on my Pentax 645NII, combined with a 2 second shutter delay.

 

[David Lingham]

I use it on my F2a for speeds under 1/30th. Then it is mounted on a tripod as well. It all helps towards image sharpness why not use it. 35mm you need all the help you can get.

 

[Alan9940]

I use it all the time with my Pentax 67 II and Hasselblad 500C/M. Never done any formal testing to determine if any real difference, but, since I work with these cameras on a tripod I figure it couldn't hurt.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I use the mirror up on my Hasselblad 501CM when it is tripod mounted. But I have not done any careful tests of up or not.

 

[destroya]

if I have the camera on a tripod, I always use it.

 

[AgX]

I read this thread as that anybody uses his tripod only for static subjects.

 

[Paul Howell]

I use mirror lock up when shooting 35mm with the intention of making very large prints, static subject, camera on tripod, shutter release or remote and mirror lock up. Other wise I just use a tripod and shutter release. By large print I mean a 16X20.

 

[GRHazelton]

I've used MLU occasionally with my Pentax LX for closeup work. Since the LX reads the exposure off the film while the shutter is open MLU has allowed me to wait until the flower stops waving the the breeze to make the exposure without worrying about changing light.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I don't see why lockup might be needed for long exposures. The exposure is so long that any temporary vibration won't register. I make people who walk in front of my camera completely disappear by using a long exposure. I would be more worried about for shorter, middle-timed exposures. Am I missing something?

+1
The tripod is the important part. I bought a tripod to France to photograph the Eiffel Tower at night from my hotel window and I never considered using the mirror lock up.

 

[wiltw]

quote]That is one reason i asked.
I have NO Idea, but i was thinking it might matter more for the 1/2 to 3 second kind of exposures than the 20 second to 2 minute scenarios..

Decades ago, Modern Photography had an article about the relative benefits of mirror lockup. It turns out that in the shutter speed range of (about) 1/8 - 4 sec. any vibration has it most visible effect on a photo. For longer exsposures the shake is such a small fraction of the total exposure time that its use does not make much of a difference.

 

[GRHazelton]

I remember seeing similar information somewhere. The Luminous Landscape conducted an experiment with the Pentax 645n which lacks MLU. The found that even with long lenses and long and short exposures no effect was noted from mirror slap, or whatever. I don't recall whether they had a 645nii, which does have MLU. The Bronica S2a, proud possessor of the LOUDEST shutter in the known universe (horses shy, chidren cry, etc) doesn't seem to cause blurred pictures. Apparently the racket occurs after the shutter closes.... Go figger!

 

[Sirius Glass]

I remember seeing similar information somewhere. The Luminous Landscape conducted an experiment with the Pentax 645n which lacks MLU. The found that even with long lenses and long and short exposures no effect was noted from mirror slap, or whatever. I don't recall whether they had a 645nii, which does have MLU. The Bronica S2a, proud possessor of the LOUDEST shutter in the known universe (horses shy, chidren cry, etc) doesn't seem to cause blurred pictures. Apparently the racket occurs after the shutterT
While RF photographers cherish and some even worship a quite shutter, many SLR photographers revel in the crescendo of a self satisfying TH-WHACK!!!