While photographing close-up images with my macro lens, I noticed something very curious. As I increased the depth of field for the images, they were becoming less sharp. I ran down my mental list of potential culprits and was unable to come up with a solution.
I was...
See the example photos at the bottom of this post to see the effects of mirror vibration. You will want to click on each photo to enlarge it to 100% to see the image clearly.
The solution to mirror slap is to either lift the mirror manually (mirror lock-up) or delay the exposure until the effects of mirror slap have passed.
The mirror lock-up feature is uncommon on digital slr cameras; most cameras feature either an exposure delay or two-step shutter release.
Some examples of how to avoid mirror slap:
Canon dslr cameras:
Live View also lifts the mirror out of the way to avoid mirror vibration.
Nikon dslr cameras:
Example photos showing the effects of camera shake caused by mirror slap.
I was...
- shooting on a tripod with legs and head firmly locked
- shooting with the remote cable
- shooting where I didn't expect ambient vibrations from machinery or foot steps
- not using image stabilization/vibration reduction
(the lens I was using didn't have it)
- the mirror of an slr camera can cause the camera shake when it lifts during an exposure
See the example photos at the bottom of this post to see the effects of mirror vibration. You will want to click on each photo to enlarge it to 100% to see the image clearly.
The solution to mirror slap is to either lift the mirror manually (mirror lock-up) or delay the exposure until the effects of mirror slap have passed.
The mirror lock-up feature is uncommon on digital slr cameras; most cameras feature either an exposure delay or two-step shutter release.
Some examples of how to avoid mirror slap:
Canon dslr cameras:
- set your camera to P, Av, Tv or M mode
- go to your custom settings menu
- find the mirror lock up setting and enable it (this is not the sensor cleaning setting!)
- use your remote to shoot the photo
- when you depress the shutter, the mirror will pop up
- depressing the shutter a second time releases the shutter and takes the photo
- when you have finished taking photos, reset the custom setting to disable mirror lock-up
Live View also lifts the mirror out of the way to avoid mirror vibration.
Nikon dslr cameras:
- set your camera to P, A, S or M modes
- go to your custom settings menu
- find the exposure delay setting (d10 on many older cameras, d4 on some newer cameras)
- use your remote to shoot the photo
- after the shutter is depressed, there will be a delay of about 1 second before the photo is taken
- when you have finished taking photos, reset the custom setting to disable exposure delay
- set your camera to P, A, S or M modes
- set your motor drive to M UP (it is on the upper left side of your camera body)
- your viewfinder will go dark
- shoot your photo with your remote
- reset the M UP back to single or continuous when finished
Example photos showing the effects of camera shake caused by mirror slap.
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| click on photo to view at 100% magnification |
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| 1/125 sec. at f/4 click on photo to view at 100% magnification |
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| 1/30 sec. at f/8 click on photo to view at 100% magnification |
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| Add 1/8 sec. at f/16 click on photo to view at 100% magnification |