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In my reading of D70 specs I have never seen anything about being able to lift the mirror before taking a shot. I used to do that a lot if using a tripod. On another thread here I just saw a short sentence that said that you could lift the mirror with a menu setting. If true, this removes the only thing I wished the D70 had.
Geo.

Do you mean MLU? Mirror Lock Up?

Or are you talking about Bulb mode (which the D70 also does)?

Geo, no mirror lock up. The item on the menu is for sensor cleaning.

Someone else can probably answer you better, as said by others the MLU feature is for cleaning, I do believe you can set the shutter for a 30 second exposure via the camera menu, which is quite a long time unless you are doing some extreme night photography (astronomy). I believe it also has a bulb setting whereby if you use the ML-3 remote you can trigger the shutter to stay open for an almost indefinite amount of time.

This is from dpchallenge

"you need to choose remote shutter release option first, then set the shutter to bulb (Manual only). click the remote once to open the shutter, once again to close the shutter. If you don't click to close the shutter, it will stay open for thirty minutes (which is pretty good for star trails, for example)"

http://www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?ac ... _ID=148189

Yraen, MLU is used with long lenses, telescopes and other things I have no idea about to stop the slap of the mirror moving up vibrating the camera body, lens, etc. Eg compose shot through viewfinder, lock mirror up (nothing visible through viewfinder) wait while camera settles,shutter opens.


edited to reflect Chris' much better explanation

To add to what Glen has said the moment you push the shutter button in a camera with MLU the mirror flips up and settles before the shutter opens and then closes. A good analogy would be the preflash on the SB800

On the note about mirror slap when you remotly fire the shutter on night shots, could you do what they did in the old days and place a black card in front of the lens but not quite touching then release the mirror through the romote then take away your black card.
Or I'm I way of course here?

Paul wrote:On the note about mirror slap when you remotly fire the shutter on night shots, could you do what they did in the old days and place a black card in front of the lens but not quite touching then release the mirror through the romote then take away your black card.
Or I'm I way of course here?

Paul - you are correct in what you say but under the normal circumstances of long night exposures the millisecond of slap will make no difference to the final result

Paul,

Yes, that would certainly work.

Geo,

As others have said, the MLU menu function is only to aid you in cleaning the camera's sensor. Their is no pre-exposure MLU functionality on the D70.

[quote="gstark"]Paul,

Yes, that would certainly work.

Geo,

As others have said, the MLU menu function is only to aid you in cleaning the camera's sensor. Their is no pre-exposure MLU functionality on the D70.[/quote]

Is this MLU a software function that anyone has been able to "modify" to allow a picture to be taken after the MLU? It would be useful when taking pics through a telescope.

Horst

If mirror and shutter are mechanically linked, which I suspect they are, I suggest that MLU shots would not be possible, unless the electronic shutter could be utilised.

Cheers

Matt

[quote="MattC"]If mirror and shutter are mechanically linked, which I suspect they are, I suggest that MLU shots would not be possible, unless the electronic shutter could be utilised.

Cheers

Matt[/quote]

I'm under the impression that the D70 uses an electronic shutter above a certain shutter speed, so perhaps it would be possible with some of the higher shutter speeds to "modify" the MLU to allow pictures. Just a thought.

Regards

Horst

Horst, True and maybe. There may or may not be other mechanical or electronic limitations which will prevent MLU shots through a firmware hack. Simple fact of the matter is that the d70 is an entry level dSLR. At this level it is necessary to give up something to gain something else. All up the d70 is a fairly well rounded package. I can understand why there such an effort to hack the 300D (there are a lot of hidden/disabled functions to be had), but so far there is no evidence that Nikon is holding out on us with the D70. Maybe we will see a few improvements as the d70 nears the end of its life cycle.
This is a subject that has been discussed extensively in other forums, and the reality is that we are no closer to a solution. Unless Nikon decides to offer a firmware update that includes MLU, I think we will be stuck forever more with what we have. Personally, I do not have a problem with this. When I get to the point of needing MLU, ISO 100, more megapixels, vertical grip with command dials (I wont buy one unless it does have command dials), .... I will probably go out and buy the D100 replacement or a D2X.
The D70 may not be suitable for astronomy, and other types of work where MLU is critical. For those who are into astronomy I would suggest looking elsewhere instead of buying a d70 and wishing, hoping and waiting.

Cheers

Matt