5dsr keep mirror locked up over multiple exposures?

[Zeidora]

Just started to play around with my 5dsr, coming from a 5d2.

On the 5d2, when live view is enabled, the mirror stays up even over multiple exposures (z-stacking). No mirror slap, no vibrations.

On the 5dsr, when pressing the shutter (via cable release, of course) in live view, the mirror goes first down, then back up, then takes exposure, hence introduces vibrations. I try to minimize vibrations by setting it to single shot silent mode.

In video mode, I can take images without mirror movement, but flash does not fire.

I could also go to mirror-lock up and set for 1 s delay, and adjust timing on Cogynsis StackShot. I routinely shoot 50-100 frames, so adding 1 second, plus Stackshot adjustments for each frame, adds a couple of minutes to a series.

Is there an elegant solution?

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Zeidora.
Do you have AF QUICK selected for live view, this would cause a mirror cycle, mirror down to enable phase detect focusing, mirror up to return to live view. Selecting AF LIVE or AF (face detect) would prevent the mirror cycle.
If you are not using AF QUICK then please disregard the above. ;D
Hope this helps.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Loswr]

Agree, sounds like Quick AF.

Also, the flash will fire in live view only if you set Live View Silent Shooting to Disable (it's not the default setting).

 

[Zeidora]

Thanks to both of you for pointers. AF method under live view has option FlexizoneAF and Face+Tracking (p. 264 of manual). I don't see AF LIVE or AF Quick. Both in Face+Tracking and Flexizone prevents the mirror cycling without flash. So far so good.

For Flash, mirror cycling happens regardless of AF method chosen (Face+Tracking/Flexizone). I tried Mode 1, Mode 2 and disable for Live View Silent Shooting, and also changed main drive to single (non-silent). No matter what I set, with flash, mirror cycles every time.

P. 266 of manual notices, that silent LV shooting is impossible with flash, and that when flash is detected it will automatically disable Silent LV shooting. I cannot detect any difference in noise anyway.

However, setting flash to manual avoids the mirror cycling! So it seems to have to do with TTL flash control. I also tried all metering modes with flash set to ETTL, but no difference. In a sense, this solves the problem, because with z-stacking I set flash to manual anyway to have consistent exposures between all frames.

 

[Loswr]

However, setting flash to manual avoids the mirror cycling! So it seems to have to do with TTL flash control. I also tried all metering modes with flash set to ETTL, but no difference. In a sense, this solves the problem, because with z-stacking I set flash to manual anyway to have consistent exposures between all frames.

Yes, you have it. E-TTL flash metering uses the camera's metering sensor, which is in the VF prism housing and therefore requires the mirror to be down.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Zeidora.
Glad you got to the bottom of this, as with most problems, it seems obvious once you know, E-TTL : oh well I may not have helped you, but I've learned a bit from this so not a total loss. ;D
I guess there are a lot of changes in the menus as well as the huge MP sensor! I was working from the 5DIII manual, will have to download another manual.

Cheers, Graham.

 

[Zeidora]

Hi Graham,

yes 20/20 hindsight! Isn't that true in so many cases? The changes from 5d2 to 5ds are rather dramatic. Steep learning curve. But also good changes such as locked shooting mode wheel. I remember when I got the 5d2 it took me 2-3k frames to get comfortable with it. Will take it out to an orchid nursery today and just shoot a bunch.

Thanks again for providing the a direction to look into. That was immensely helpful!

 

[Loswr]

P. 266 of manual notices, that silent LV shooting is impossible with flash, and that when flash is detected it will automatically disable Silent LV shooting.

Now that you mention it, I think many of the more recent cameras do that. The catch is that they only do so with a Canon flash, so you must change the setting manually if using a third party flash. IIRC, there's a note to that effect in the manual.