Can someone tell us how 40D mirror lock-up works?

Hi all.

I'm wondering how the multiple-exposure mirror lock-up option works. It sounds like a great step forward for time-lapse. How do you raise the mirror, fire off a bunch of shots, and then lower the mirror? How does the camera know you're done?

Francis Sawyer said:

Hi all.

I'm wondering how the multiple-exposure mirror lock-up option works.
It sounds like a great step forward for time-lapse. How do you raise
the mirror, fire off a bunch of shots, and then lower the mirror?
How does the camera know you're done?

Click to expand...

It doesn't. No such feature on the 40D.

Unless you use multiple flashes in the dark, or remove/replace the lens cap quickly enough!

As the first reply stated, there is no multiple exposure option on the 40D, but you're better off doing it afterward in image editing software anyway.

Mark

Francis Sawyer said:

Hi all.

I'm wondering how the multiple-exposure mirror lock-up option works.
It sounds like a great step forward for time-lapse. How do you raise
the mirror, fire off a bunch of shots, and then lower the mirror?
How does the camera know you're done?

Click to expand...

Multiple exposure on single frame is not possible on 40D , but I guess that you mean to take multiple shot while the mirror remains up.

Conventional mirror lock up will only work for single shot & will come down & again go up the next time, but if you use live view then the mirror is up during the whole time live view is ON & you can shoot as many shots you want & then switch off the live view.

For time lapse Live view can be easily used via tethered shooting using location laptop & canon supplied software. I think 3rd party software is also available to support canon camera for time lapse shooting.

--
Ranjan Sharma
http://www.lightzoneindia.com

Thanks for the responses, guys, but I'm talking about time-lapse, not multiple images on one frame.

A major drawback of using an SLR for time-lapse is the continual slapping of the mirror up and down. It's noisy as hell and places unnecessary wear on the mechanism. But the ability to lock the mirror up for multiple exposures would eliminate that problem.

So you can only do it when Live View is active? Lame. And the computer-tethering approach is just out of the question (I appreciate the suggestion; I used Canon's SDK in the past to write a custom time-lapse program). If I'm in Hawaii getting time-lapse of an ocean-front sunset from a rocky shore, no way am I dragging a laptop and USB cable out there. Ridiculous.

Ugh, Canon, come on. You have the image quality, but you're digressing from common sense. Nikon is creeping up.

BOAT = MISSED

on this one.

Is there not a remote control gadget that adds this feature?

Francis Sawyer said:

Thanks for the responses, guys, but I'm talking about time-lapse, not
multiple images on one frame.

A major drawback of using an SLR for time-lapse is the continual
slapping of the mirror up and down. It's noisy as hell and places
unnecessary wear on the mechanism. But the ability to lock the
mirror up for multiple exposures would eliminate that problem.

So you can only do it when Live View is active? Lame. And the
computer-tethering approach is just out of the question (I appreciate
the suggestion; I used Canon's SDK in the past to write a custom
time-lapse program). If I'm in Hawaii getting time-lapse of an
ocean-front sunset from a rocky shore, no way am I dragging a laptop
and USB cable out there. Ridiculous.

Ugh, Canon, come on. You have the image quality, but you're
digressing from common sense. Nikon is creeping up.

BOAT = MISSED

on this one.

Click to expand...

--You can do time-lapse with a Canon TC-80N3 remote switch
Brian Schneider

Yes, I have the remote. It does the job, although the mode you'd use most (total number of shots) is crippled by a ridiculous 99-shot limit.

The topic here is mirror lockup, and mirror lockup is not controllable by a remote.

There is no "mirror up and stay up for multiple shutter releases" function in normal shooting. AFAIK you can use Live View for that - the morror goes up and stays up regardless of the number of exposures. The Live View function has a time out, though. And then there is the battery life issue...

Don't know what timer you've got, but if you buy the TC80N3, you can use it to take an unlimited number of shots using the interval timer.

Sorry - Just saw that that's not your interest. You are wanting to discuss unattended mirror lock up. I haven't tried that.

Francis Sawyer said:

Yes, I have the remote. It does the job, although the mode you'd use
most (total number of shots) is crippled by a ridiculous 99-shot
limit.

The topic here is mirror lockup, and mirror lockup is not
controllable by a remote.

Click to expand...

Francis Sawyer said:

If I'm in Hawaii getting time-lapse of an
ocean-front sunset from a rocky shore, no way am I dragging a laptop
and USB cable out there. Ridiculous.

Click to expand...

It's not advisable to leave the mirror locked up for periods while pointing the camera at the sun. You'll risk damage to the shutter curtains.

Thanks. I have the TC-80N3, and in the total-number-of-shots mode, there is a dumb 99-shot limit. Check it out.

So if you know you want to shoot X seconds' worth of time-lapse that'll run at, say, 24 FPS, you have to set the interval and then do the math to set the total duration limit appropriately; or sit there and baby-sit the camera and watch the counter. And if you set the duration and then decide on a different interval, you get to re-do your calculations and change two settings. Or you have to just let your card fill up.

Given that I usually know how many seconds of footage I want, I would seldom set any limit other than the total number of shots. But Canon has made that mode worthless with the inexplicable cap of 99 (three to four seconds of footage). It's the only real flaw in the device (other than its price and the fact that its functions should be built into every digital camera by now).

But anyway, we can work around this buffoonery, but not the mirror lockup apparently. The multi-exposure mirror lockup really sounded like a smart innovation from Canon. But again we see a feature's usefulness hobbled by a pointless limitation.

Sun damage to metal shutter curtains?

...he might have been referring to the sensor...not the curtain.

"Life is what happens to you, while you're busy shooting pictures"

It's in the manual, and given the precision to which these things are built, I would believe it. But only directly into the sun.

Francis Sawyer said:

Hi all.

I'm wondering how the multiple-exposure mirror lock-up option works.
It sounds like a great step forward for time-lapse. How do you raise
the mirror, fire off a bunch of shots, and then lower the mirror?
How does the camera know you're done?

Click to expand...

--I just got my TC-80N3 & according to the manual if you leave the frame count at 00
blank, the # of frames is unlimited. Doesnt help with mirror lock tho.
Brian Schneider

"if you leave the frame count at 00 blank, the # of frames is unlimited."

Right, but most of the time, you know how many frames you want to shoot. Thus, you want to dial that number in. You can't, because that number is almost always greater than 99.

So you're left with using the other modes and doing the math to figure out how many minutes it'll take to shoot N pictures with X interval in between. A pain in the ass, especially if you decide to change the interval.