Long exposures using mirror lock up

311

I've tried a couple of times in the last week or so ,to take landscape shots at night using a window clamp for my car .
I noticed the shots were slightly blurred ,probably due to the fact that the clamp is fairly rigid and the mirror shake stays in the camera.
Looked into mirror lock up today ,but with the canon 350D there is still a tud from the shutter when it opens and it feels almost the same as a standard shot.
Anyone familiar in these type of problems ,whats noticable in my shots is the city lights in the distance are blurred and close up is fine.

Thanks
Brian.

digitalbeginner

Hi Brian,

trying using 'Bulb' and place a dark sheet of card or paper in front of the lens - choose a smaller aperture to make sure the exposure is in seconds.

After releasing the shutter, wait a second or 2 to let the camera settle down. Take the card away and use whatever method helps you get consisent time (eg one on thousand, two two thousand etc). This will minimise camera shake.

As to the clamp, either attach it to something without springs (like a post), or use a tripod at its lowest extension (the higher it is the more unstable it is).

I take a lot of night shots with my Nikon D70s, which has no mirror lock-up.

Dave

311

thanks dave ,wasn't sure if that would work ,sounds perfect.

Brian.

bp_me

Are you using a cable release or pressing the shutter button?

311

bp_me wrote:

Are you using a cable release or pressing the shutter button?

I have the wired release with running lock .

JMcL

_Brian_ wrote:

I've tried a couple of times in the last week or so ,to take landscape shots at night using a window clamp for my car .
I noticed the shots were slightly blurred ,probably due to the fact that the clamp is fairly rigid and the mirror shake stays in the camera.
Looked into mirror lock up today ,but with the canon 350D there is still a tud from the shutter when it opens and it feels almost the same as a standard shot.
Anyone familiar in these type of problems ,whats noticable in my shots is the city lights in the distance are blurred and close up is fine.

Thanks
Brian.

Are you sure it's not the car that's moving? I've been using mirror lockup on my 300D quite a bit, though on a tripod, with wide angle and telephoto lenses, generally without problem.

Try using the self timer to make sure there's no vibration from you pressing the shutter. If there's still blurring, as an experiment try putting the camera on a wall or something that's definitely not going to move, and use the timer/MLU. If there's STILL blurring after that, it may time to get your lens checked

311

I'll try daves suggestion with the card ,then theres no question of shutter shake.
The yokie I was using is a manfrotto 243 and 482 ,if you've seen them you'd know why i think they are causing a problem. I've gotten shots of stuff that would be almost impossible with a tripod.

Heres one i took from the naas dual carriage way ,I don't think i could of got out and taken a shot with my tripod here.
It was a longish exposure with the 10-20

digitalbeginner

I see what you mean! Your clamp propably saved your life!

The sky is good and black in that shot. Does the 350D give that naturally or is there some photoshopping here?

Dave

311

I don't use photoshop for anything other than saturation,crop and resizing.
Still have the camera to deal with:)
I'll probably end up on one of your courses .