mirror lock up

[neuroanatomist]

im just trying to find out what shutter speeds with what focal lengths its worth using it for, which i guess ill have to just individually test for each of my lenses and different shutter speeds, as everything im reading or hearing is just contradicting each other!  but so far with my 85 and below focal lengths it seems irrelevant for any shutter speed.

Camera shake, whether due to handholding or mirror slap, causes some amount of physical motion of the image sensor relative to the scene, resulting in angular blur. Whether or not that blur can be perceived depends of the amount of angular motion relative to the angle of view.  That's the basis of the 1/focal length guideline (and why the crop factor must be applied to that estimate).  Since the amplitude of mirror slap is fixed, the narrower the AoV (longer focal length), the more pronounced the effect, and vice versa. Other factors, like tripod stability and damping capability, play a role.

From a practical standpoint, MLU may help and may not, but it will never hurt. So, time permitting there's no real reason not to use it (except maybe battery life, not a concern for me, at least). 

As stated, Live View is an even better option.

[jimjamesjimmy]

i

If it's APS with an 85mm lens shooting something close to the camera then I'm not surprised there's no camera shake without MLU

how does an object close to a camera induce the camera to shake?

6d

[jimjamesjimmy]

thanks for the replys

i just find it amazing its only now that ive realised MLU is almost pointless for a lot of shots, i get what your saying that you might aswell do it just in case, but nowhere ive read in all the tutorials/magazine article or youtube videos says that MLU is only relevant for certain focal lengths etc,  and its even more amazing that this live view thing isnt more widely talked about.

thanks again

[bdunbar79]

i

If it's APS with an 85mm lens shooting something close to the camera then I'm not surprised there's no camera shake without MLU

how does an object close to a camera induce the camera to shake?

6d

It doesn't.  He's saying he's NOT surprised there's no camera shake.  Objects farther away will be more adversely affected by camera shake vs. objects closer.

[Sporgon]

Exactly. The more the subject fills the frame the easier it is to achieve perceived sharpness.


Also maybe on the 6D the mirror is better damped on its lifting stroke than say the 5D mk1 and 2. I've seen a slow mo vid of the 5D mk1's mirror flipping up and it actually bounces on it's buffer about three times before settling !

If youre not seeing any shake at around 1/20 sec I'd say that's top marks to the 6D.

Probably another subtle improvement built into the camera that no one is aware of !!

[Don Haines]

thanks for the replys

i just find it amazing its only now that ive realised MLU is almost pointless for a lot of shots, i get what your saying that you might aswell do it just in case, but nowhere ive read in all the tutorials/magazine article or youtube videos says that MLU is only relevant for certain focal lengths etc,  and its even more amazing that this live view thing isnt more widely talked about.

thanks again

There is an engineering term called "black aluminum". It is a reference to using material A in the same way that you would use material B. For example, when they first started making carbon fibre bicycle frames, they used the carbon fibre like they used steel.... they made it into tubes and glued the tubes into frames. This made a pathetic bicycle frame that was very prone to catastrophic failure... when they started using carbon fibre to it's strengths by molding the entire frame at once and with swoopy lines they ended up with a far superior product.

You have to realize that digital photography is still fairly new and there are a lot of people out there who learned on film. That learning affects the way people think about things.... like shutters. Film cameras had mirrors and shutters.... and they moved and shaked. There was no "live view" so when these people talk about minimizing shake they don't consider it. It's that "black aluminum" thing all over again.

[Sporgon]

But when shooting from Live View you are using MLU   

[motorhead]

I found that the tripod weight was more important than mirror lockup. I have a pair of tripods.... the old heavy one moves a lot less than the new lightweight one.... but hang a weight off of the lightweight tripod and it gets very steady. I have a eyelet in the bottom of the central collumn that I attach to the camera bag with a length of light rope.... makes the setup much more stable.

surely if it was a bit windy your bag would be swaying all over the place?   my tripods pretty sturdy and there was no hint of wind in my room or shake on my floor!

The "trick" is to have the bag just touching the ground, or hung using a bungy cord. That way the tripod is pulled down to steady it and the bag cannot sway about.