Mirror Lockup

GRHazelton said:

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!

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While RF photographers cherish and some even worship a quiet shutter, many SLR photographers revel in the crescendo of a self satisfying TH-WHACK!!!

Way back in the mid-80s, I bought a Sigma 600mm mirror and later bought a Canon FTb, specifically because it had mirror lock up. I used that Sigma to great success with the FTb in the mirror up position. About a year later, I bought an original F-1, specifically because it had mirror lock up and the New F-1 didn't. The original F-1 continues to be my favorite 35mm camera, and its mirror up feature is an important part of that. In fact, it is because of my preference for this feature, that most of the cameras I've collected over the years has it. The aforementioned Canons. Nikons F through F4. Pentax KX and LX. Minolta SRT-101. Oh, and my Bronica ETRSi and Pentax 67, both of which I bought specifically because they have MLU.

As to the question, how often do I use the mirror up feature of my cameras, my answer is "often." Whenever I'm shooting with one of my long lenses, I will often use a stout tripod and mirror up -- with a cable release.

In more than 50years of photography I don't think I have ever used a mirror lock.

CMoore said:

Do you guys use this feature very often.?

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I routinely used the mirror lockup feature on my Nikon F, Nikon F2, Nikon F4, and Mamiya RB67 when attaching my camera body to a microscope, telescope, a high-magnification macro lens, or a long telephoto lens.

I also routinely used the mirror lockup feature when taking tripod-mounted exposures in the 1/15th to 2-second range.

Canon said that mirror lock was not necessary on the New F1 because the mirror is so well damped, although my F1n's have it.

wiltw said:

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.

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I shoot a Mamiya RB67 medium format on a tripod with MLU all the time. Every shot. For landscapes. SInce I shoot Velvia 50, often the shutter speed is in that range especially during magic hour. 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 , 1 sec maybe 2 sec. Adding a polarizer filter also adds one to two stops so shutter speed slows down a lot especially because of small aperture to gain DOF. I also use a cable release for the final shutter and use my finger to release the main mirror up sequence. It's really no big deal. It's just one extra action.

What's cute is when I shoot people with it. I then use the double cable release where the first action release the shutter with a big twak. Then, as you press further, the final shutter in the lens is released snapping the picture. What happens is when the subjects hear the first twak releasing the mirror to its up position, they assume the photo was taken and relax. Then when they're at their extemporaneous best, I release the shutter catching them most natural. It's a neat routine.

Janet and Marilyn by Alan Klein, on Flickr

benjiboy said:

Canon said that mirror lock was not necessary on the New F1 because the mirror is so well damped, although my F1n's have it.

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Yep. Back in the early 80s -- probably around 1983 or so, Modern Photography wrote an article about this claim. They compared images taken with the New and old F-1, where the mirror up feature was being used on the old F-1. The results were clear and obvious. Canon overstated its claim. The New F-1's images showed mirror-induced blur, whereas the old F-1's images were clear. This article ended up selling me on the old F-1. Shortly after this, I bought an FTb, which has mirror lock up, and not too long after that, I bought an old F-1. I didn't buy my first New F-1 until maybe 7 or 8 years ago, and it was more out of curiosity than anything else. Great camera, solid as a brick. But if I have to do slow shutter speed photography, I'll put away the New one and drag out the old one.

I didn't see that article and can well believe that, but I have 2 F1n's and 3 New F1's so it makes little difference to me and never use it anyway,

Well I will admit that I never used the mirror lockup on a RF Leica nor on my Hasselblad 903 SWC.

Nor should you