Talk:Bulb (photography)

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[edit] T or B?

While the 'T' setting seems common on cameras that provide shutter priority I'm not so sure about the 'B' setting - can anyone confirm/deny this?--Hooperbloob 01:50, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, but I have one DSLR; it has Bulb and no T setting (Sigma SD10). Most old cameras that I have had over the years had both B and T. Dicklyon 02:21, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
My Canon 400d (Digital Rebel XTI) has a 'bulb' setting. Not seeing a 'T' setting anywhere. Gh5046 06:12, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

I reverted my possibly mistaken historical interpretation, after finding two books supporting the other (pneumatic bulb) interpretation. Apparently the flash bulb was invented in 1929, and the B setting was common on cameras long before that. Dicklyon 18:14, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Examples?

It would be useful to have links to photos demonstrating the technique. Lee M 01:03, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Will this reference be useful?

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/shutters-history-and-use.html RPSM 15:36, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

With the rubber bulb, you could make exposures of about 1/5 sec. and with a dark slide in front of the lens too if you give it a swish. In portrait photography, it made a more satisfying sound. The pneumatic shutters made a hiss with the escape of air. Bulb was for any speed you could manage. T was when the exposures were longer - minutes or hours. Rubber bulbs are still sold: Kaiser does one with yards and yards of tubing. There is a hemispherical one you put on the floor and step on. They let you walk around and interact with your subject or have someone else do so.RPSM 15:44, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos taken with rubber bulb here:-

"By early 1898, Mattie's interest in photography expanded; she purchased a 4"x5" plate camera that offered ground glass focusing, and a multispeed shutter thereby allowing her to keep a more detailed photographic journal of her new life. Curiously, Mattie appears in many of her own photographs. She made this possible by using a long piece of rubber tubing which was attached to her camera's pneumatic shutter at one end with a rubber bulb at the other. Squeezing or stepping on the bulb released the shutter and made an exposure." http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/spe/gunterman/biography.html (Vancouver Public Library)RPSM 15:52, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I have used a camera with a rubber bulb without a pneumatic shutter. It was in The Camera Club in London in about 1968. They had a dangerous looking flash that crackled and sparked, and you were supposed to use open flash (no article yet) keeping the room lighting low; pressing the rubber bulb then the flash switch and then releasing the bulb. I have also seen a collection of mahogany cameras for sale, one of them fitted with a shutter of rubber I think like two eyelids in some material with concertina box pleats.

Previous to a rubber bulb or shutter, there were cameras without shutters using the lens cap. You take of the lens cap, wait a moment for the camera to stabilize while shielding the lens. Remove the lens cap. Count seconds and then replace.

Withdrawing the dark slide completely it can also be used as a shutter, and then it is possible to achieve 1/4 of a second or so. Normal expose for portraits with tungsten lighting is around 1/8 second in any case. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RPSM (talk • contribs) 14:01, 14 November 2007 (UTC)