Mirror Up (MUP) vs Exposue Delay (ED) Mode on a Nikon D700/D300

I’ve been spending a good amount of time lately on longer exposures and shooting from a tripod and working at eliminating any camera shake. The aspect that I’ve been working on most heavily is mirror slap which is where the Mirror ‘slaps’ out of the way quickly so the sensor can be exposed to the scene when the shutter opens. If these happen in quick succession you’re looking at a bit of camera shake due to the movement. So there are two ways to solve the problem.

1. Exposure Delay
   This is an option in the custom options in the camera menu. It tells the camera to wait 2 seconds after moving the mirror before making the exposure. This effectively eliminates shake from the mirror as theres been ample time for any movement to stop.
2. Mirror Up Shooting Mode
   This shooting mode on the camera allows you to control the timing between the mirror move and the exposure. Pressing the shutter release button once raises the mirror, while pressing it a second time makes the exposure. you need not wait the 2 seconds that ED mode does to make the exposure in this mode.

You should use one of these two methods but not both. Here’s my advice for choosing which to use:

If you are using the shutter release button on the camera, use Exposure Delay mode.
If you’re using a remote release such as the MC-30 then use Mirror up.

The reason you’ll want to use ED mode when using the button is that on the second shutter release press on the camera you’re going to introduce some movement in the camera (unless you’re much more gentle than I) which could lead to shake. If you’re using a remote release then it’s not an issue.

So there it is. Choose the method that’s right for the situation and you should be able to capture images with less shake.

The image at the beginning of this post was taken with the following:
D700 w/70-200mm 2.8 IF-ED VR and TC-20E II
@400mm/f11
1/400 with MC-30 remote release in MUP.