What Is Mirror Lockup and Why Would You Use It?

In yet another fantastic SLR Lounge episode, we look at what Mirror Lock-up is and how to use it to achieve maximum sharpness for your landscape photos. Take a look…

Today we are taking a closer look at “Mirror Lockup” or on mirrorless cameras, the “Electronic First Curtain Shutter”. Now if you are a landscape photographer, you are going to really benefit from this video. So what is it and why should you care? Well, using mirror lockup is basically a way to make sure there’s absolutely no movement or vibration when your camera takes the picture, resulting in super sharp images. As you well know, a DSLR has a mirror inside, this mirror basically moves out of the way before the shutter opens up and you take a picture. So by eliminating that movement, you are basically avoiding the tiny bit of movement that the mirror might cause (specifically with longer exposures).

So whether you have a traditional DSLR camera or a high-tech new mirrorless camera, you’ll want to understand how mirror lock-up and electronic first curtain shutter work! Watch as the team at the SLR Lounge explains in a little more detail how it works, and why it’s some important to the more serious landscape photographers out there.

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