Remote Shutter Release, Mirror Up, and Timer

[TheBigE]

Hello,

I am have been thinking about this for some time. What is the difference in a long exposure if I use a Remote Shutter Release (Either WIFI or Using Nikon App for iPhone) or if I use the shutter release with a timed exposure (2sec, 3 shots), or any other method?

Generally, it seems that the last one Time Exposure seems to be the best. The first shot is a bit blurry as the button is depressed by hand, but the next two are pretty stable.

Does the actual motion of the mirror moving upwards cause movement and blurriness? Is there something I can do with my Nikon D5300 to minimise this over long exposures?

I am planning on taking some night shots on a cruise and I am expecting long exposure times and want to really give my best chance of succeeding.

The assumption on all of the above is that I am using a Tripod, in case it was not obvious.

Thanks
Erik

[Manfred M]

Yes, the movement / stopping of the mirror (a.k.a. mirror slap) does cause some small amount of shaking of the camera, even when using a tripod. The camera has been designed so that the vibrations damp out over a relatively short period. The movement of the shutter curtains does too, but to a lesser amount. This movement is particularly noticeable when the exposure time is in the range where a significant part of the exposure occurs during this period where the vibrations are being damped out; i.e. exposures that approach 1 second and up to several second.

I have not seen the precise numbers for this but generally assume anything from 1/4 sec to 10 sec are probably the most critical (you might want to do some testing to see under which shooting conditions you notice an impact). This is why "mirror up" mode is available on the higher end camera bodies. A common technique is to use mirror up mode for these types of shots, waiting for a couple of seconds after the mirror move before triggering the shutter release.

In theory, the viewfinder should be blocked when shooting in this mode (or in any other configuration where light can enter the camera and hit the metering cells that are positioned up near the pentaprism / pentamirror. In practice, I find that the amount of ambient light is a major factor here, and for night shots, the amount of light getting in can be negligible.

A second technique that is even more robust means using the camera in LiveView mode. Here both the mirror and the mechanical shutter are not factors, as the mirror is in the up position and the shutter in the open position so the light can hit the sensor. The downside is reduced battery life, due to the continuous use of the rear display on the camera.

Vibrations (including the vibration of the tripod / camera combination) can also be induced by pushing the shutter release on the camera; these tend to be more visible in the final results than the ones related to the mirror slap. This is the key reason to use a remote release; the actual implementation, whether it is a cable to the camera or an IR /radio trigger are irrelevent. They all do the same thing. If you don't have a cable release or an external timer, a trick to use is to set the camera to be fired using the self timer, which eliminates touching the camera as well. I set mine to a 10 second delay. This is fine as a technique when there is no alternative, but gets to be a bit tedious.

The third mechanism that introduces vibrations is through the camera / tripod setup itself. Nudging the camera or tripod will obviously cause camera shake. But external influences such as wind or the ground shaking, for instance from people moving around, can also be the source of some vibration. Here the solution is to reduce / eliminate the source of the vibrations and also to make the tripod / camera setup less succeptable to these vibrations.

The three main ways of reducing these vibrations are to:

(a) Use a sturdy tripod - large diameter legs with a minmal number of sections helps. Carbon fibre and wood are superior tripod leg materials, as compared to aluminum when it comes in reducing this aspect of vibration.

(b) Using a tripod without a centre column is also important, as the column, especially when extended becomes another potential source of unwanted vibrations. One of my tripods can be configured with a plate to mount the ballhead, rather than a centre column, and I use this when I do long nighttime exposures.

(c) A heavy, weighted tripod will shake less. I use a weight on the centre hook and / or sandbags when I want to ensure no movement. Here aluminum has a slight advantage over carbon fibre

[Nancy Moran G]

Erik, thanks for asking this question.
Manfred, thank you for wonderful advice!
On my D7000, I have used the mirror up a couple of times just for experimenting. But if I want to use my remote to shoot photo, can I do both? I mean, my camera has a setting for M/U AND the remote setting, on the dial.
I guess I should just go try this myself, ��
Nancy

[TheBigE]

Erik, thanks for asking this question.
Manfred, thank you for wonderful advice!
On my D7000, I have used the mirror up a couple of times just for experimenting. But if I want to use my remote to shoot photo, can I do both? I mean, my camera has a setting for M/U AND the remote setting, on the dial.
I guess I should just go try this myself, ��
Nancy

Yes, I am still a bit confused and need to see if my D5300 has a mirror up function. Also, with the Nikon App on my phone, and I take a pictures is this the same as LiveView and MU?

Still need to do a little more digging. So far, I have found the easiest of all to be set a timer (2 seconds) and run a 3 shot burst. This seems to have the best chance at success, for me so far.

[Mike Buckley]

On my D7000, I have used the mirror up a couple of times just for experimenting. But if I want to use my remote to shoot photo, can I do both?

Yes, you can do that. Refer to pages 80 and 83 of your User's Manual for an explanation of the two settings and the camera's operation once both settings are made.

[Mike Buckley]

need to see if my D5300 has a mirror up function.

Your camera does not have the Mirror Up function. (The mirror can be raised separately from other functions by the user only to clean the sensor, not to capture a photo.) I believe that's true for the Nikon D5x00 series of camera models available as of this date.

However, as Manfred noted, when using Live View, the mirror is automatically up with no need for the user to make a setting pertaining to the mirror to make that happen.

[tclune]

Yes, I am still a bit confused and need to see if my D5300 has a mirror up function. Also, with the Nikon App on my phone, and I take a pictures is this the same as LiveView and MU?

Still need to do a little more digging. So far, I have found the easiest of all to be set a timer (2 seconds) and run a 3 shot burst. This seems to have the best chance at success, for me so far.

The D5x00 cameras do not have an MLU as such. But all of them have a "Delayed Shutter" mode, which waits one second after raising the mirror to snap the shutter. This only matters if you are using a tripod (the rigidity of the tripod allows vibrations to persist in a way that does not happen hand-held.) On a typical tripod that doesn't have its center column raised, a second is enough to dissipate the mirror slap.

AFAIK, using the timer has no effect on mirror slap -- the timer delays clicking the shutter so, e.g., you can get in the photo. But in general, the mirror does not go up when the timer starts, so it has no effect on mirror slap. Some cameras may differ from this, but the ones I know do not use the timer as a variation on MLU. As mentioned above, Live View DOES raise the mirror and can be used as a substitute for MLU.

FWIW

[chauncey]

I am planning on taking some night shots on a cruise and I am expecting long exposure times and want to really give my best chance of succeeding

Wait a minute here...long exposures...on a wave stricken, cruise boat..
I would be less than honest were I to say that I've done that but...it would seem to be an
exercise in futility.

[Manfred M]

AFAIK, using the timer has no effect on mirror slap -- the timer delays clicking the shutter so, e.g., you can get in the photo.

Absolutely correct, but I was writing about reducing vibration in general, not just mirror lockup (MLU).

There are shooting situations where I have not bothered with MLU, even though my exposure times were in that critical window they could impact the shot. Like any other photographic technique, one has to understand the advantages and disadvantages and then make a call based on the specific circumstance one is shooting under.

[FrankMi]

I am planning on taking some night shots on a cruise and I am expecting long exposure times and want to really give my best chance of succeeding.

Hi Erik,

I've taken many nighttime shipboard images. A lot depends upon the size of the ship, the sea condition, the length of the exposure, if the subject is on or off the ship, the degree of sharpness needed to be acceptable, and your ability to both configure the camera for the conditions at hand and effectively post process the results. Long exposure time isn't the only option available and may not be the best answer for every situation.

This image was taken before dawn in high gusty wind, rain, and fairly rough seas, but the subject was part of the ship.



In this case the sea was calm but the subject was moving.



In some cases, the subject has sufficient lighting.





Sometimes, a really sharp image isn't critical.



Don't be afraid to use all of the tools at your disposal such as higher ISO, multiple duplicate shots (some will be sharper than others), exposure bracketing, etc. They won't all be keepers and it depends upon the subject, conditions, and your command of the camera's settings. Hope this helps!

[dje]

Eric for the type of shooting you are talking about, I use Live View mode and a Nikon wireless remote control ML-L3 which is quite small and in-expensive. This gets around all the issues you mention.

Using the iphone app is an alternative as this should operate the camera in Live View mode but for me, the small remote control is less fiddling about !

Dave

[mrinmoyvk]

Hello,

I am have been thinking about this for some time. What is the difference in a long exposure if I use a Remote Shutter Release (Either WIFI or Using Nikon App for iPhone) or if I use the shutter release with a timed exposure (2sec, 3 shots), or any other method?

Generally, it seems that the last one Time Exposure seems to be the best. The first shot is a bit blurry as the button is depressed by hand, but the next two are pretty stable.

Does the actual motion of the mirror moving upwards cause movement and blurriness? Is there something I can do with my Nikon D5300 to minimise this over long exposures?

I am planning on taking some night shots on a cruise and I am expecting long exposure times and want to really give my best chance of succeeding.

The assumption on all of the above is that I am using a Tripod, in case it was not obvious.

Thanks
Erik

I am talking about D5200 but this function might be there in D5300 also.
"Exposure delay mode": Shutter opens after 1 sec after the mirror is locked up, this reduces vibrations due to mirror movement. Check d5 in custom setting menu

Also you need not take multiple shots as you will be setting on timer. If you are using d5 then mirror will lock up 5 sec after button is pressed and shutter will open 1 sec after mirror is locked up.

If you want to save those 5 seconds you may go for "Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control", it is very cheap with just $4 on amazon.

Hopefully camera would be rock stable considering the tripod is good.