Lympa_2006_04

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Lympa Log - Leica R lenses on Olympus E-330 DSLR

Apr 05, 2006

Mirror Lockup with the Olympus E-330 (Anti-Shock)

Being able to lock the mirror up on any single lens reflex camera is a vital function for getting sharp photographs. Especially with a telephoto, the vibration of a mirror moving out of the optical path can ruin the sharpness of the best of lenses.

If you consider the spectrum of shutter speeds, mirror lockup is really important at a mid-range of speeds, typically anything from 1/250th second to one second. At speeds of 1/250th or faster, the brief time the shutter is open is not enough to register any movement of the camera. At slow speeds of one second or longer, when the mirror slaps the inside of the camera, the amount of time that the camera vibrates is a small fraction of the overall exposure time, so the movement does not register on the photo.

The "danger zone" of vibration induced by an SLR mirror falls within a shutter-speed range that can be adequate to stop action of the subject, but not fast enough to stop the camera vibration. Taking photos of fishing makes a great example. Except for very brief moments of excitement, about 99.9 percent of a fisherman's action can be easily captured in a 1/30th second exposure. That is exactly the kind of shutter speed that will also register the vibration of a moving mirror, especially with a long telephoto that magnifies any camera shake. For the photo below, along with a tripod, you definitely need to lock up the mirror:

Olympus E-330, Leica APO Vario-Elmarit 70-180/2.8 with Leica APO 2x Extender, 1/30, f8, Aperture Priority, on tripod.

180mm x 2 = 360mm, giving the 35mm equivalent of a 720mm lens, racked back slightly from maximum zoom for best framing of the bridge. Fortunately fishermen frequently stay in one place for awhile.

Now here is the problem with the Olympus "Anti-Shock" implementation, in addition to the silly name. Under the Camera2 menu, the default setting is "Off", meaning that the mirror moves out of the way the instant before the shutter fires. The other settings are any amount of time from 1 second to 30 seconds, which means that when you release the shutter, the mirror swings out of the way, then the shutter takes the picture at the number of seconds later that you specified. Two seconds is probably plenty of time for the camera to settle down after the mirror flips, so I usually set it for three seconds.

A few pages back, I mentioned being prophetic out to about one quarter of a second, the key to capturing the photographic decisive moment. However, for two seconds out, I am no prophet. After watching the fisherman for awhile, I could see him occasionally swing a fishing pole that would momentarily glint in the sun. The pole made a wonderful flash that would have made the picture special. With other SLR cameras, I can lock up the mirror, then release the shutter at any instant I want: Mirror up. Wait for moment. Click. That is the sequence that the E-330 should provide.

Instead, I got a nicely lit photo showing what fishermen do quite a bit of the time - lean on the boat.

Note to Olympus: Provide a way to lock up the mirror which is independent from the release of the shutter. For example, the Delete button could be programmed to lock the mirror up. Then the shutter could be fired at any time with the Remote Control. Voila - a decisive moment with no vibration! (Pressing the Delete button again while in mirror lockup would also return the mirror without firing the shutter - a necessity if your subject moves when the mirror is up and you need to reframe.)

If mirror-lockup were implemented more "normally" on the E-330, I could have caught the fishing moment better. And imagine how frustrated I would have been with the way Olympus does mirror-lockup if the fisherman had actually caught a fish -- very small probability, I know . . .

I've always wondered at how technology makes such huge leaps over amazing distances and forgets the toothbrush. Computer keyboards are another example of a high level of ergonomics at the brochure level. Thirty years ago, IBM keypunch machines had a feature that is now lost - the "F" and "J homekeys were dished in deeper than the other keys. When PC keyboards came out, my fingers were lost, and I did not know why. Looking carefully at the old keyboards, I discovered that without conscious effort, my fingers naturally fell into the home keys. Why would such a useful feature completely disappear from all modern keyboards?

Perhaps even worse is the numeric keypad on today's keyboards. Old ones had the "0" key extended to the left where your thumb naturally fell. Try it. Notice how your thumb has to be crooked inward awkwardly when your middle finger is on the "5" home key. No matter how many strange-looking, curvey keyboards have been advertised with great ergonomic fanfare, not one single one had incorporated these two old features that really did contribute to a better human-machine interface.

In the same way that keyboard designers have seemingly never actually sat beside a busy keyboarder, I wonder if digital camera engineers actually take the time to follow a photographer around for a few days. They might learn a lot. Then again, they might have supervisors like one of mine years ago when I programmed an online hospital claims application - he was disturbed that I was spending so much time watching and talking with the clerks instead of coding. That supervisor is long gone. The online program is still running almost twenty years later.

Back to cameras (finally!) and mirror lockup. And one more gripe. I wonder why new DLSR cameras do not provide a screw-in thread on the shutter button for a cable release - a great little tool for vibration-free shooting. Unfortunately there is no way to upgrade the E-330 for a cable release with a firmware change.

However, firmware upgrades could make huge improvements to the human-machine interface on the Olympus E-330. Such a revolutionary camera deserves some serious engineer time for watching and talking with photographers, without supervisors wondering why they aren't in little cubicles furiously debugging code. Man, would I give them an earful. My very last photograph ever would probably depict the furious attack of an Olympus software engineer fed up with me saying for the umpteenth time, "Why did you do it that way!?"

Phew, got that off my chest! I promise to post lots more photos than text next time!