Nikon Firmware Fantasy #1—Separate Mirror-Up Exposure Delay Mode

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This week I want to start a series that I call Firmware Fantasies. They are basically an assortment of firmware updates that I wish Nikon would make for my D800, or at least include in new cameras going forward. Most of these should be pretty easy to implement, so here we go with the first one!

Dear Nikon,

I have an easy firmware request.  I would like a separate Exposure Delay Mode for mirror-up shutter activation.  I frequently use Exposure Delay Mode (custom setting d4 on my D800) in conjunction with the Mirror-Up (MUP) release mode.  This saves me the trouble of connecting (and then disconnecting) the cable release when I am going for ultimate stability of the camera.  But this takes an extra foray into the menus to activate (and then deactivate).  It would be nice if just switching to Mirror-Up could automatically activate an Exposure Delay Mode and switching away from Mirror-Up could automatically deactivate it.

For that matter, being able to select which release modes were subject to the Exposure Delay Mode would be nice; Continuous Low (CL) and Continuous High (CH) have little need for it.

Believe it or not, I once was frantically menu-diving to deactivate the Exposure Delay Mode because a slow-moving cow unexpectedly entered the scene from stage left and I was desperately trying to capture a nice composition before it exited stage right! It would have been so much easier if I could have just switched the release mode off of MUP and fired away. Being able to quickly switch from those-are-really-nice-trees-I’ll-use-my-tripod-mode to wow-is-that-really-a-wolf-chasing-that-beaver-mode would be really nice. 

Respectfully,

The Artful Engineer

Autumn Cow, Colorado, October 2013. Nikon D800, AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, 1/90 sec, f/8, ISO 100, 82mm. Copyright 2013 by James A. Covello.
Autumn Cow, Colorado, October 2013. Nikon D800, AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, 1/90 sec, f/8, ISO 100, 82mm. Copyright 2013 by James A. Covello.

This image was a lot more stressful to capture than it needed to be.