When I tried to access the Lock Up Mirror For Cleaning entry from the D800E Setup Menu, I found it was grayed-out (the Image Dust Off ref photo entry was also grayed-out.) I called Nikon and this is what they told me:
In order to access these two entries in the Setup Menu, you first have to go to the Shooting Menu > Shooting Menu Bank and choose "D". Then you must go to the Custom Settings Menu > Custom settings bank and choose "D". Once you are in the "D" banks - for both of these menus - then go to the Setup Menu and the Lock UP Mirror For Cleaning and the Image Dust Off ref photo entries will be available.
The explanation from Nikon was that the "D" menus contain Nikon specifications and the camera must be in these banks in order for it to access these features.
When I fooled around with the banks a little more I found that you only have to change the Custom settings bank to "D", no matter what shooting menu bank you're in.
The above information is not in the D800 manual, nor does it appear in any of the several books I've read on the D800/E. It is also counter intuitive.
The Nikon rep I spoke with said that they have received several calls similar to mine and will address this problem soon.

I just ran into this same thing, and found in Darrell Young's book that the battery must have at least a 50% charge or you cannot access this function. I recharged the battery, and now it's fine.

Dave

>I just ran into this same thing, and found in Darrell Young's
>book that the battery must have at least a 50% charge or you
>cannot access this function. I recharged the battery, and now
>it's fine.
>
>Dave


The battery does need to be charged above 50% (higher is better) in order to access the Mirror Lock Up for cleaning menu item. This is not the issue I'm referring to.

This is a firmware bug in the D800/E and seems to occur after altering camera settings in the 8 available banks. Even with a fully charged battery both the Mirror Lock Up for cleaning and the Dust Off ref photo menu items become grayed-out. The solution given to me from Nikon was to temporarily change to the Custom Settings bank 'D' to access these menu items, and it works.

Again, not all users of the D800/E will experience the problem immediately, but will encounter it eventually.

Setting both banks to "D" is absolutely wrong. Mirror up for sensor cleaning does not depend on the banks selected.

As the previous responder said, the only requirement is that the battery be near full charge. This is the same for all Nikon DSLRs introduced in the last several years.

Gary in SE Michigan, USA. Co-organizer of the Southern Michigan Chapter
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>Setting both banks to "D" is absolutely wrong.
>Mirror up for sensor cleaning does not depend on the banks
>selected.
>
>As the previous responder said, the only requirement is that
>the battery be near full charge. This is the same for all
>Nikon DSLRs introduced in the last several years.


No, changing the Custom Settings bank to 'D' is the solution. This has already been acknowledged by Nikon as a fix for the bug of not being able to access the Mirror Lock Up and the Dust Off Ref photo items. I also got confirmation from the author David Busch on this matter.

I've owned a D200 and a D700 and neither one of these cameras exhibited the problem.

When I first got my D800E I was able to access these menu items from all of the banks. After 6-months and loads of setting alterations to all of the banks - both Shooting and Custom Settings - the access problem occurred. And then there were also those firmware updates during this time period which may or may not have had an impact. If some users are not experiencing this bug it may be because they have not changed whatever settings that are causing it.

>No, changing the Custom Settings bank to 'D' is the solution.
>This has already been acknowledged by Nikon as a fix for the
>bug of not being able to access the Mirror Lock Up and the
>Dust Off Ref photo items.

Do you have a reference for where Nikon have acknowledged this "bug" (other than your telephone converstaion)? I've not been able to find any trace of it online.

I can't understand the tech telling you the D banks "contain Nikon specifications", because the user is able to change any and all settings in these banks, just like in banks A, B or C.

Brian
Welsh Nikonian
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>Do you have a reference for where Nikon have acknowledged this
>"bug" (other than your telephone converstaion)?
>I've not been able to find any trace of it online.
>
>I can't understand the tech telling you the D banks
>"contain Nikon specifications", because the user is
>able to change any and all settings in these banks, just like
>in banks A, B or C.

A short chronology: I called Nikon USA when I first saw the problem yesterday. The tech I spoke with told me to switch to D in both the Shooting and the Custom Settings banks. This fix worked and the grayed-out items (Lock Mirror Up For Cleaning and Dust Off ref Photo) immediately became available again. I fooled around with the banks a bit and found that I only needed to switch to D for the Custom settings bank. I told this to the tech and she tried it on her own D800 and it worked. The tech at Nikon then said Nikon is aware of the issue and told me that the reason why Custom Settings bank D works is because this bank contains some hidden camera specifications that the other banks do not. I agree with you regarding this explanation and think it sounds like a bunch of horse manure.

I then e-mailed the author David Busch (new D800/E book) and he emailed me back saying that he had experienced the same thing and found the 'D bank' solution allowed access to the menu items in question. He also said that he wrote to Nikon Professional Services and heard back from their top service manager who had heard of the problem and was interested in the solution that Busch described. That was 6-months ago!

I have found on-line references to this bug with a variety of suggested fixes but not including the one given to me by Nikon as described above.

Here's just one of them:
forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3212362

Please call Nikon yourself. I'd be mighty interested to find out what they'll say to you. I trust that you will report your conversation with them accurately.

This bug does not appear to occur on an out-of-the-box D800/E - at least not in my case. This is probably why not everyone is reporting it. It's only after many settings have been altered by the user that it becomes apparent. I have no clue as to which of these setting changes cause the problem.

But, the bug is real and the fix works.

Someone here had the same issue - http://www.flickr.com/groups/1567431@N22/discuss/72157630611985514/ - he sorted it out by resetting Bank A (not by switching to Bank D). Perhaps he'd changed something in Bank A that stopped the mirror from being locked up - and resetting the bank changed whatever it was back to normal.

For instance, on the D4, the mirror lockup is greyed out if the network connection is switched on in the menus - http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17810/~/%22lock-mirror-up-for-cleaning%22-grayed-out.

Yes - I think the problem here is that Lock Mirror Up is not available when a particular value has been chosen for one Custom Setting, so the fix is to select a Custom Setting bank where that value has not been selected.

My point is that selecting Bank D would only be a fix if that Custom Setting (whatever it may be) is still set to its original value.

I have read elsewhere that Custom Setting g4 may be a possible culprit, but as I don't have a D800 I can't check it myself.

Brian
Welsh Nikonian
Check out the Nikonians Team pages

>Yes - I think the problem here is that Lock Mirror Up is not
>available when a particular value has been chosen for one
>Custom Setting, so the fix is to select a Custom Setting bank
>where that value has not been selected.
>
>My point is that selecting Bank D would only be a fix if that
>Custom Setting (whatever it may be) is still set to its
>original value.
>
>I have read elsewhere that Custom Setting g4 may be a possible
>culprit, but as I don't have a D800 I can't check it myself.

Thank you Brian,

For a guy that doesn't even own the D800, my hat's off to you! You did indeed identify the true culprit.

I screwed around with that g4 setting and discovered that when I assign the shutter button to 'Record movies' the greying out problem occurs but when I assign it to Take photos, the problem disappears. The g4 has to be assigned to 'Take photos' in each Custom Menu bank to prevent the graying-out from occurring in that bank only. Apparently I accidentally had g4 set to Take photos in Custom Menu bank D and because the Nikon tech had me switch to that bank, the problem seemed to resolve itself.

I found a reference on page 374 in the manual to the greying out for image dust off ref photos when g4 is assigned to record movies. There are references to other menu items that also won't function if the release button is assigned to the 'Take movie' role, but they apparently forgot to include the mirror lock up for cleaning feature in this section.

I'm contacting Nikon again on Monday. Boy did they hand me a load of #### with that D bank explanation. What a bunch of clowns.
I'm also e-mailing David Busch to let him know what the real fix is since he also thought it had something to do with his wireless transmitter and that Custom Menu bank D hadn't been altered on his camera.

I have a D800 and regularly blow off the sensor. I have had to insert a fully-charged battery a few times, but never have I had to change to bank D. I have always been able to lock the mirror up from Bank A as long as the battery had sufficient juice. I have no idea why your camera would behave differently. I'm using the current firmware: 1.00/1.01. Could that be it?

Creating images the new-fashioned way!

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>I have a D800 and regularly blow off the sensor. I have had
>to insert a fully-charged battery a few times, but never have
>I had to change to bank D. I have always been able to lock the
>mirror up from Bank A as long as the battery had sufficient
>juice. I have no idea why your camera would behave
>differently. I'm using the current firmware: 1.00/1.01. Could
>that be it?


Unfortunately that's not it. The battery was fully charged (in fact I tried a second fully charged battery with the same results) and my firmware is up to date (I had the Nikon tech check my firmware version just to be sure).

Please understand that this bug does not seem to appear until after modification of settings in all or some of the banks - which I've done. My D800E didn't have the problem when new and I only noticed it yesterday when I tried to check the sensor for dust.

On my 800E, 'Lock mirror up' and 'Image dust off' are both available with a fully charged battery and Bank A selected.

With a nearly flat battery (20% on the scale), 'Lock mirror up' is not available but 'Image dust off' is.

>On my 800E, 'Lock mirror up' and 'Image dust off' are both
>available with a fully charged battery and Bank A selected.
>
>With a nearly flat battery (20% on the scale), 'Lock mirror
>up' is not available but 'Image dust off' is.


This bug doesn't seem to appear until all or some of the bank settings have been altered from default by the user. How much have you changed the settings in the 4 Shooting Menu banks and the 4 Custom Menu banks?

I haven't changed C and D at all. See reply #11 for more info.

Check your setting for G4 (the movie action for shutter).

If you have that set to "take movies" then the "lock mirror up" will be greyed out.

Changing banks will reset that setting, so it magically becomes not-greyed.

My guess -- GUESS -- is that this is not a bug, but a coincidence. Someone didn't know about the G4 setting, when they changed banks it worked - presto.

See if perhaps that was your issue?

Linwood

Comments welcomed on pictures: Http://captivephotons.com

>
>Check your setting for G4 (the movie action for shutter).
>
>If you have that set to "take movies" then the
>"lock mirror up" will be greyed out.
>
>Changing banks will reset that setting, so it magically
>becomes not-greyed.
>
>My guess -- GUESS -- is that this is not a bug, but a
>coincidence. Someone didn't know about the G4 setting, when
>they changed banks it worked - presto.
>
>See if perhaps that was your issue?
>
>Linwood
>
See my response in post #15. You are indeed absolutely correct.
Thanks


Robert

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