"B" shutter setting?

I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

"Jennifer Murphy" wrote in message
...
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulb_%28photography%29

http://yanikphotoschool.com/tutorial...hen-to-use-it/

--
MG

In article , Jennifer
Murphy wrote:

I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

yes. many cameras have a 'b' or bulb setting.

Does it mean "flash"?

no.

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

bulb is for exposures longer than the slowest built-in shutter speed,
generally ranging from a few seconds to a few hours.

you press the shutter release button to open the shutter, hold it down
to keep it open and when you let go, it closes. it gets its name from
air bulbs, similar to the one your doctor uses when taking blood
pressure. these days, you can lock it open so you don't have to stand
there holding it.

there used to also be a setting called 't' for time, which was press
once to open and press again to close. since cameras now have a way to
lock bulb open, t isn't needed anymore.

Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, ; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.


I just saw mine a few days ago during a cleaning frenzy. Here it is in
action, April, 1984, during a private test session for the IMSA race at
Riverside International Raceway:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~fsheff/p...s/frkrir8s.jpg and here is one of
the products of a slightly different arrangement:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6...8c5e5209_o.jpg

--
Frank ess

In article , says...

Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.

When I got my first DSLR I had trouble getting my head around the lack
of a fitting for a bulb.

"J. Clarke" writes:

In article , says...

Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.

When I got my first DSLR I had trouble getting my head around the lack
of a fitting for a bulb.

I think my first one may have had a convention cable release socket; but
I don't have any that take those any more.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, ; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"J. Clarke" writes:

In article , says...

Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.

When I got my first DSLR I had trouble getting my head around the lack
of a fitting for a bulb.

I think my first one may have had a convention cable release socket; but
I don't have any that take those any more.


I may have missed it, but I don't recall seeing in this thread any mention
of the "B" setting's most salient characteristic: it keeps the shutter open
as long as the bulb is squeezed (shutter release depressed). On non-B
settings an air release or cable just remote-izes the necessary pressure to
cause the click.

--
Frank ess

"Frank S" writes:

"David Dyer-Bennet" wrote in message
...
"J. Clarke" writes:

In article , says...

Darrell Larose writes:

Jennifer Murphy wrote:
I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:

What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?

The answer is "Bulb".

Is this still used?

Does it mean "flash"?

What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?

It's a term left over from the late 1800 to mid 1900 when a remote
release was an air release, in which you squeezed a rubber air bulb to
fire the shutter. The term is as old as the PC falsh terminal, that
was how a flash connected on a Prontor or Compur shutter
(Pronto-Compur shortened to PC)

I've still got a working air release. I bought it new in the 1980s, I
believe.

When I got my first DSLR I had trouble getting my head around the lack
of a fitting for a bulb.

I think my first one may have had a convention cable release socket; but
I don't have any that take those any more.


I may have missed it, but I don't recall seeing in this thread any
mention of the "B" setting's most salient characteristic: it keeps the
shutter open as long as the bulb is squeezed (shutter release
depressed). On non-B
settings an air release or cable just remote-izes the necessary
pressure to cause the click.

For long time exposures the "T" setting is more useful anyway. The bulb
is useful largely because it can be rather far from the camera (long
tube) and still work reliably.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, ; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:50:25 -0500, nospam wrote:
: In article , Jennifer
: Murphy wrote:
:
: I happened to see this question on an old Trivial Pursuit card:
:
: What does the camera shutter speed B stand for?
:
: The answer is "Bulb".
:
: Is this still used?
:
: yes. many cameras have a 'b' or bulb setting.
:
: Does it mean "flash"?
:
: no.
:
: What, exactly, does it do (or did it do)?
:
: bulb is for exposures longer than the slowest built-in shutter speed,
: generally ranging from a few seconds to a few hours.
:
: you press the shutter release button to open the shutter, hold it down
: to keep it open and when you let go, it closes. it gets its name from
: air bulbs, similar to the one your doctor uses when taking blood
: pressure.

Does anyone else question that etymology? Since I first picked up a camera,
I've understood the "bulb" referred to by the "B" setting to be a flashbulb.
Early flashbulbs had a variety of speeds at which they reached full
brightness, and some flash units were independent of the camera and had to be
set off by hand. (My dad had one of those.) I was told that the "B" setting
was to accommodate the variety of different equipment in use.

I consider the air-release bulb explanation to be suspect anyway, because I
doubt that an air release could be counted on to hold pressure well enough to
guarantee that the shutter would stay open. I've seen air releases used a fair
number of times, but never to control a long exposure. For that you would have
used a cable release with a ratchet or screw lock. An air release was for when
you were too far from the camera to use a cable release.

I realize that I'm at odds with Wikipedia. But it wouldn't be the first time
they've been wrong.

Bob