[waywardmouse]

Hello everyone,

I bought a K-x recently based on many good reviews. My previous camera is Pentax *ist DS that I have used sparingly for many years, but since we've added a new family member I plan to take more pictures!

I have a question about K-x but I cannot see in user manual. Please pardon me if it is silly. On my *ist DS there was no way to manually put mirror into up position. The only way to accomplish this was use self timer to take a picture. Did Pentax introduce a way to lock up mirror without timer in new K-x?

thanks in advance!

[rawr]

No. MLU works much the same.

Set 2 or 12 second self timer and MLU will happen. (p-133 of the K-x manual describes how to do MLU).

Or compose using LiveView, then take the picture. (K-x manual, p-146)

[rawr]

Oh, and of course you can set MLU in order to do stuff like camera sensor cleaning ( K-x manual p-288).

[tokyoso]

I don't think *ist dslrs have live view, so that may be considered an improvement in K-x. If you're talking about manually flip the mirror up or down via a lever before taking a picture like in nikon old camera's, that is probably not going to happen with Pentax.

From my manual, I see that you can either use the self timer or live view if you intend to take a picture at the end of cycle; or you can raise the mirror via sensor cleaning process, but that wont let you take a picture at the end of cycle. There is no way to raise the mirror with camera turned off.

happy mirror flipping..

[Zebooka]

Only K-7 has "normal" MLU. All the other Pentax K DSLRs - 2 sec timer.

[Ira]

From the film days/discipline:

Locking the mirror up and manually depressing the shutter didn't make sense. You would only lock the mirror up for close-up/ macro shots, and manually depressing the shutter and introducing camera movement defeats that purpose. So, a cable release was always used, and even THAT was debatable, and it was preferable to use the self timer.

So for Pentax DSLRs and their non-mechanical cable shutter release options, it makes total sense that you can't mechanically raise the mirror at will. The self-timer and its electronic lock- up feature is simply the better way to do it.

[mongrel]

From the film days/discipline:

Locking the mirror up and manually depressing the shutter didn't make sense. You would only lock the mirror up for close-up/ macro shots, and manually depressing the shutter and introducing camera movement defeats that purpose. So, a cable release was always used, and even THAT was debatable, and it was preferable to use the self timer.

So for Pentax DSLRs and their non-mechanical cable shutter release options, it makes total sense that you can't mechanically raise the mirror at will. The self-timer and its electronic lock- up feature is simply the better way to do it.

I totally disagree. I own a Sigma SD1 which lets me manually lock-up the mirror so I can eliminate mirror slap by waiting a few seconds(maximum lock-up time is 30 seconds)and then use the electronic remote control to trigger the shutter at exactly the moment I want, not when a self timer has run it's course. This is perfect for landscape photography, especially when light changes by the second and using a self timer is problematic or photographing architecture when people entering the picture can ruin it. I was hoping that the K1 would have a manual mirror lock-up( I haven't read the instruction manual so I going only on the posts) as the pixel shift technology makes it perfect for landscape and architectural photography ( reading all colour information as per sigma sd1) but this seems a terrible omission as you cannot eliminate the vibration of the mirror flapping up.With the myriad of features on the k1, I would have thought this was not a difficult one to include. Here's hoping for the series 2 edition.

[kp0c]

I totally disagree. I own a Sigma SD1 which lets me manually lock-up the mirror so I can eliminate mirror slap by waiting a few seconds(maximum lock-up time is 30 seconds)and then use the electronic remote control to trigger the shutter at exactly the moment I want, not when a self timer has run it's course. This is perfect for landscape photography, especially when light changes by the second and using a self timer is problematic or photographing architecture when people entering the picture can ruin it. I was hoping that the K1 would have a manual mirror lock-up( I haven't read the instruction manual so I going only on the posts) as the pixel shift technology makes it perfect for landscape and architectural photography ( reading all colour information as per sigma sd1) but this seems a terrible omission as you cannot eliminate the vibration of the mirror flapping up.With the myriad of features on the k1, I would have thought this was not a difficult one to include. Here's hoping for the series 2 edition.

(wow, that was an old thread...)
On newer Pentax bodies, it seems you can do precisely what you want. On both my K-5ii and my K-3, I can select MUP, and fire the shutter at the exact time I want, after the mirror has locked in the up position. You only have to select MUP in the drive mode. So, for instance, you could compose using liveview, then get out of liveview, select MUP in the drive mode, press the shutter once to lock up the mirror, then press again to fire the shot. (Either using the shutter button or a remote, of course). You could also just select MUP in the drive mode, compose your shot using the viewfinder, then press the shutter when you are ready to lock up (no more light in the viewfinder) and press again to take your picture.
So, are you gonna purchase the K-1 tonight?

[stevebrot]

(wow, that was an old thread...)

Yes, the zombies are out and about!!!

I was hoping that the K1 would have a manual mirror lock-up

Welcome to the Pentax Forums!

I agree that it would be sort of nice to have mirror up until you want it down. Such a feature would come at a price, though. It takes power to hold the thing up and out of the way.


Steve

[mongrel]

(wow, that was an old thread...)
On newer Pentax bodies, it seems you can do precisely what you want. On both my K-5ii and my K-3, I can select MUP, and fire the shutter at the exact time I want, after the mirror has locked in the up position. You only have to select MUP in the drive mode. So, for instance, you could compose using liveview, then get out of liveview, select MUP in the drive mode, press the shutter once to lock up the mirror, then press again to fire the shot. (Either using the shutter button or a remote, of course). You could also just select MUP in the drive mode, compose your shot using the viewfinder, then press the shutter when you are ready to lock up (no more light in the viewfinder) and press again to take your picture.
So, are you gonna purchase the K-1 tonight?

So I still am not sure if the K1 has manual mirror lock-up, you have spoken about other modern Pentax camera bodies but can anyone definitively tell me if the K1 has this feature?

[kp0c]

So I still am not sure if the K1 has manual mirror lock-up, you have spoken about other modern Pentax camera bodies but can anyone definitively tell me if the K1 has this feature?

You could also download the PDF user manual and look it up.

(Page 56 for a list of the drive mode and page 60 for the details on M.UP (english version))