Intervalometer + mirror lockup.

[Coastliner]

Hi All,

I have a Canon EOS 450D that I would like to use with an intervalometer . Are there any out there that will cope with mirror lockup, so that it will send two "pulses" per exposure - the first to move the mirror out of the way and the second to take the exposure? Or, do I need to concern myself with lockup when taking long exposures (say 30 secs or less)? Or, is there a way of locking the up mirror permanently whils taking loads of exposures?

Are there any recommemdations as to make/model of intervalometer? I see that Amazon sell a few, reasonably priced.

Tia,

Neil.

[Leveye]

If you use liveview mode the mirror is automatically locked up. I just turn the screen off to conserve power.

[Steve Ward]

Or set the camera on self-timer mode with a 2 second delay , the mirror flips out of the way on activation and the shutter opens 2 seconds later allowing the vibration to have settled.

[happy-kat]

Lucky it does that, on my 1100d it locks the mirror up but when you take the photo it drops it then raises it again listening to what happens in live view.

I'll try that 2 second delay :-)

Edited January 26, 2014 by happy-kat

[Coastliner]

Happy-kat, mine does the same as yours - even in live view the mirror flaps about when a shot is taken.

Steve - I'll give the 2sec timer a go, thanks!

Leveye - thanks for your reply, looks as though your camera behaves differently to mine.

Do any of you use an intervalometer?

[Steve Ward]

I use APT or Canon's Utilities with the camera hooked up to the laptop via along USB lead , keeps you well away from the rig preventing any accidental knocking or vibrations.

[PhotoGav]

The self timer trick works a treat... Enable the mirror lock-up and set the self-timer. Don't forget to add the number of seconds of the timer to your exposure time on the intervalometer though! So, if you want 60 second subs and have a 5 second timer, set the exposure time to.... You got it 65 seconds! Press start on the intervalometer, Click, mirror goes up, self timer runs, click, shutter opens, intervalometer time finishes, click, shutter closes.... On to the next exposure!

Good luck.

[russp]

vibration from the mirror on  30 second (plus?) exposure ?? really?  - I can understand it for macro work on short exposures but for astro? Isn't this just a solution looking for a problem?

[Digz]

Mirror slap can be an issue in astro work and the higher the magnification the more of an issue it can be.

[StuartJPP]

I have to admit that I don't use mirror lock-up unless I am using APT which is quite infrequent. At my focal length and exposure time I don't see any adverse effects. I can only imagine it affecting bright stars.

However if you can use it and it isn't a problem to do so, it won't do any harm to enable it.

[Leveye]

2 second delay at the very least to avoid  mirror slap issues trust me there.

[Digz]

I have to admit that I don't use mirror lock-up unless I am using APT which is quite infrequent. At my focal length and exposure time I don't see any adverse effects. I can only imagine it affecting bright stars.

However if you can use it and it isn't a problem to do so, it won't do any harm to enable it.

Can you remind me of your longest focal length? Just curious as Im itching to see how long I can get on my AT...... :-)

A couple of years ago I was using my DSLR with my 250p ds at a focal length of 1200mm and mirror slap was an issue......it could, however, equally have been me getting something wrong

[Coastliner]

vibration from the mirror on  30 second (plus?) exposure ?? really?  - I can understand it for macro work on short exposures but for astro? Isn't this just a solution looking for a problem?

Point taken, I had wondered about that for long exposures, but being new to this I admit I am a bit ocd when it comes to camera shake - I don't know what I can get away with yet! However, when taking short exposures of the moon for eg I feel that mirror slap could still be a problem.

I have now bought an intervalometer from Amazon for about £13, looking forward to giving it a go.

Thanks for all the replies, the self timer tip works a treat!

[Digz]

Don't worry about it Coastliner, I was just the same. Mirror slap can be an issue and if your particular about the way you image (like I am) it can be an obsession trying to nail everything down.

Out of interest what will you be shooting through?

The best advice will be to try the Intervolometer without worrying about mirror slap and assess the results - you may be pleasantly surprised.

[StuartJPP]

Can you remind me of your longest focal length? Just curious as Im itching to see how long I can get on my AT...... :-)

A couple of years ago I was using my DSLR with my 250p ds at a focal length of 1200mm and mirror slap was an issue......it could, however, equally have been me getting something wrong

"Only" 500mm Lee...weighing 5.3kg (lens + camera) and without using a sturdy tripod, head and wedge I'd stick to a maximum of 400mm...

I have a feeling that the effects of a source of vibration on focal length (in this instance mirror slap) isn't a simple linear one and that the longer the focal length the worse it gets exponentially...though I am probably wrong. So at 1200mm the effect will probably be much worse.

[Digz]

Cheers mate.

Interesting thought about the relationship between focal length and effect of vibration.

[russp]

All I can say is that both the texts that I've read that discuss mirror vibration (Every Photon counts doesn't seem to address it) discount it as an issue as the tiny fraction of time that vibration is induced is too small to effect the long exposures used for deep sky work. Short Lunar or planetary shots will be entirely different, I guess eliminating it can't do any harm and it is so easy it seems silly not to even if it does prove unnecessary.

[PhotoGav]

Getting a decent picture of the night sky is hard enough... This is a very simple thing to avoid and only takes a couple of seconds to do, so it's got to be worth it. Though if anyone has any evidential photos of lock vs no lock, it would be interesting to see if it's actually necessary with long (>30s) exposures...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Coastliner]

Out of interest what will you be shooting through?

Lee - I'll be using a 450D through a Nexstar 4se, either at the prime focus or through various eyepieces mounted on the top of the scope.

[Alien 13]

I usually leave a gap anyway between subs so enabling the delay to lift the mirror is a great idea.

Alan

[OpusElite]

On 26/01/2014 at 20:18, PhotoGav said:

The self timer trick works a treat... Enable the mirror lock-up and set the self-timer. Don't forget to add the number of seconds of the timer to your exposure time on the intervalometer though! So, if you want 60 second subs and have a 5 second timer, set the exposure time to.... You got it 65 seconds! Press start on the intervalometer, Click, mirror goes up, self timer runs, click, shutter opens, intervalometer time finishes, click, shutter closes.... On to the next exposure!

Good luck.

6 years later I stumble across this golden nugget of information, which resolves the issues I experienced whilst starting to use mirror lock-up.

Thank you 👍