Mirror lockup is a feature available on some SLRs that allows the reflex mirror to be locked in the up position before a shot. This function eliminates the camera vibration caused by mirror slap, helping the photographer produce sharper photos.
Mirror Lockup
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What is mirror lockup and when do you need to use it?
When you press the shutter button on your digital SLR camera to take a photograph, the first thing that happens is the mirror flips up and out of the way to expose the digital image sensor.
Mirror Lockup A feature that allows you to manually raise and lock the reflex mirror in a single-lens reflex camera. Useful for preventing camera shake caused by mirror movement. Mirror Up Mode Mode featuerd in select D-SLRs.
Mirror Lockup (MLU)
Photographs involving long exposures often require the camera to be as steady as possible to get a reasonable sharp image.
Mirror Lockup: Advantage: Canon
The 20D has MLU, the D70 doesn't. This is critical for long telephoto lenses used on tripods for exposures between about 1 and 1/30 second and meaningless otherwise.
Mirror Lockup
We are not done with the vibration problem yet. Even if the camera is set up on a tripod, even if the tripod is weighted down, even if a remote switch is used, image quality can still be degraded due to vibration.
What is mirror lockup?
Nearly all SLRs use a flip-up mirror mechanism. When you take a photo the mirror flips up out of the way to expose the film or digital image sensor.
Mirror lockup on an SLR lets you raise and lock the mirror before taking a picture so it's swinging up when you take a photo doesn't add any imagesoftening vibrations. This is especially useful when taking macro close-ups, or using very long lenses.
Mirror lockup separates this process into two steps. First, you flip the mirror, and then you take the shot. Wait a few seconds between the two to give the camera a chance to stabilize.
Mirror lockup is a wonderful and oft-neglected feature, but its use is not always practical in wildlife photography.
Use the mirror lockup function. If your camera allows you to lock the mirror in place, do so. Believe it or not, on some long exposures, the internal workings of the camera cause enough vibration to make camera shake visible in the photo.
If you don't have anything to cover your lens, most dSLR cameras have a "mirror lockup" feature. Normally, when you push down on your camera's shutter release, a mirror inside flips up, enabling light to hit your sensor, and the shot is taken.
Also, some cameras have an optional "mirror lockup" feature that locks the mirror up when the shutter is pressed the first time. The shutter is released when the shutter button is pressed the second time.
Some digital camera features require substantially more money to make, such as super-high-quality sensors, and others such as mirror lockup or distortion correction don't (the parts of the camera are electronically controlled so they can operate in ...
Here's an example of how to use mirror lockup. Let's say you are taking close up photographs of flowers in a light breeze at a low shutter speed. Set up your composition, focus and find your exposure.
Many people will recommend mirror lockup, but truthfully this is less important these days than it once was. The mirror on modern cameras is well dampened and should not be a problem except at extreme magnification.
Fn III-17 enables 'Mirror lockup' mode, in this mode the first press of the shutter release locks the mirror up, the second press opens and closes the shutter curtain (and thus takes the shot).
If that isn't possible and if your camera includes a mirror lockup feature, use it. The image in the viewfinder will be blackened, but the actual moment of exposure won't be impacted by mirror movement.
Use the mirror lockup feature in the camera. This eliminates any possible vibration from the mirror going up and down inside the camera body.
The mirror box also prevents lenses with deeply-recessed rear elements from being mounted close to the film or sensor unless the camera has a mirror lockup feature; this means that simple designs for wide angle lenses cannot be used.
 See also: Camera, Shutter, Light, Exposure, Image
  
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