Mirror Slap and Shutter

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Howdy all...

Two things:

1) What is the lowest shutter speed that can be used without locking up the mirror on the P67 (handheld)?

2) Even when I lock up the mirror, the camera shakes slightly but visibly when the shutter trips. Does the shake happen AFTER the exposure or is there a minimum shutter speed even with the mirror locked up?

Thanks!

dgh

-- David G Hall (dhall@premiereradio.com), June 03, 2002

Answers

1) Depends on the lens. Generally speaking I personally don't go slower than 1/125 2) The shake you get, even with the mirror locked up, comes from the first curtain that ends its run. This tipically causes one side of the picture to be blurred. Again, don't go slower than 1/125 handheld and in any case try and use the fastest shutter speed.

Cheers

Roberto

-- Roberto Manderioli (ik4jqw@amsat.org), June 04, 2002.


The first reponse to your question is probably dead on, and is what many people using the camera would tell you. With that said, I find that if I have a wide lens on (55mm & 75mm are my favorites), and I use the waist lever finder cradling the camera in my hands, I routinely shoot 1/60 even 1/30 (on occassion, 1/15th) with truly impressive results - even when enlarged GREATLY. If I couldn't do this, I would not have bought the camera as a tripod in only useful/available to me when doing landscapes. I would not do this for enlargement, with a lens beyond 150mm, and probably wouldn't even do it with the normal lens. I have no special talent, and supect the quality is due partly to the wide lens, and partly to the fact that I used a Rolleicord for 2 decades, and am comfortbale holding a camera that way. I do this with/without mirror lockup, and whether I use MLU depends mostly on the subject and how much of the frame it fills. The easiest way to find out your personal limitations is to buy some cheap Tmax and shoot a billboard or wall or ? that almost fills the frame. Depending on time of day, you might need some ND filters for the test. Basically, you need to test "yourself"; the camera is great and doesnt need to be tested (anyone telling you P6x7 MLU cant oversome vibration probably hasn't ever used the camera). Most shake without MLU is after the picture has been taken.

-- Carl Tower (cjtowerman@yahoo.com), June 04, 2002.

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