I discovered a simple, hidden feature on my nikon d80 the other day that has made a subtle yet astounding improvement in my photography. I mostly shoot with the nikon 50mm, 1.4 lens and while it’s supposed to be incredibly sharp, I kept having issues obtaining a crisp photo, especially at a high apertures/longer exposures. Then I read about a feature that offsets the exposure from when the mirror moves so you end up with a a steadier shot. On the downside, this dramatically increases the time to take a photo but the benefit is that it removes the extra movement when the camera is capturing light, resulting in sharper image. You can find the setting under the “custom setting menu”. Hope this helps someone else.

As a side note, I could be describing the technicalities of this completely wrong so if anyone knows better, please chime in. Also, I’m sure a similar feature exists on the canon side of things so, again, share in the comments if you know something.