Hello,
Hmm, what a difference Mirror Lock Up (MLU) makes!
When previously using my Pentax *ist DS on the WO 80mm ED II Apo, even with the delayed timer set to 2 ½ secs, the vibrations from the mirror slap demanded I shoot at exposures of 1/1000 to 1/1500 sec to minimise the blur from the mirror flipping up.
Our Canon 40D has the MLU capability and in addition, the mirror is lifted and released under mechanical control, not springs and gravity! The following image was taken at 1/250 sec and appears to be quite sharp.
The 1st photo is the full area resampled down to 1024x768.
The 2nd photo is a 1024x768 crop of the Crested Pigeon’s head, showing that the fine detail in the feathers has not been lost due to in-camera vibrations. The subject bird was approximately 5 metres from the camera.
The only loss experienced so far, is that the Pentax gave an audible bleep at best focus when fitted to the WO 80mm scope, whereas the Canon doesn’t, unless it’s attached to a Canon lens. And yes, I’ll be replacing the back fence shortly!
Cheers
Dennis