Articles Table of Contents   Page 1: Keep and Use Classic Lenses For an Unusual Look Page 2: Shoot One and Only One Subject Page 3: Shoot One Lens, and Not a Zoom Page 4: Choosing a Lens by Focal Length Page 5: Fast Lenses—Shutter Speeds / Background Blur (Bokeh) Page 6: Shoot a Fast Lens at Dusk or Dawn Page 7: Blur Can Be Beautiful Page 8: Making Sharp Photos Handheld Page 9: Shoot Another Format (Size or Aspect Ratio) Page 10: Use Manual Exposure for Perfect Results Page 11: White Balance Tools Page 12: Understand Perspective and Size Variance Page 13: Look For Natural Patterns Page 14: Depth of Field Is Oh-So-Shallow Page 15: Depth of Field—How Far To Stop Down Page 16: Depth of Field and Megapixels Page 17: Never Go Traveling Without a Backup Camera Page 18: Don’t Assume a New Lens is Good! Page 19: Infinity Focus Requires Care! Page 20: How to Carry Large and Heavy Lenses Page 21: Shooting Tip: Use Mirror Lockup Page 22: Shooting Tip: Aurora Borealis Page 23: Shooting Tip: Grizzly Bear vs Black Bear Scat Page 24: A brief glossary of photographic terms

Shooting tip: use mirror lockup

For sharp images on a tripod, use your camera’s mirror lockup function with a remote release whenever feasible.

If your camera does not have a mirror lockup feature, then use an exposure delay mode, if available (Nikon bodies have it).

On a tripod, always use a remote release, like the Nikon MC-36 Multi-Function Remote or Canon Remote Switch RS-80N3.

Be sure to allow at least two seconds to pass after the mirror locks up before releasing the shutter; this allows any vibration to dissipate.

A good rule of thumb is 2 seconds for shorter focal lengths, and 3-5 seconds for long telephotos, depending on your equipment.

I like to program in a shortcut on my cameras to be able to quickly enable or disable mirror lockup.

Example

Both images below were taken with a Nikon D2x on a tripod at 1/8 second with a long telephoto lens. With today’s higher resolution cameras, the loss in resolution would be greater than shown here.

Note that the blur in the bottom image is in a vertical direction: this is a jolt called mirror slap as the mirror rises and slams into the top of the mirror box prior to the exposure being made.