Conley Model C folding camera (circa 1909)

The Bulb setting (abbreviated B) on camera shutters is a momentary-action

mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

that holds shutters open for as long as a photographer depresses the shutter-release button. The Bulb setting is distinct from shutter's Time (T) setting, which is an alternate-action mode where the shutter opens when the shutter-release button is pressed and released once, and closes when the button is actuated again.

History

Decades before the first flashbulbs, some box cameras and many

view camera A view camera is a large-format camera in which the lens forms an inverted image on a ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed and then the glass screen is replaced with the film, and thus the film is exposed to exactly ...

s and

folding camera A folding camera is a camera type. Folding cameras fold into a compact and rugged package for storage. The lens and shutter are attached to a lens-board which is connected to the body of the camera by a light-tight folding bellows. When the c ...

s came with a detachable pneumatic shutter release with a rubber bulb on the end; "Bulb" refers to the rubber shutter release bulb. Though mechanically timed exposures could also be triggered by squeezing the shutter release bulb, "Bulb" exposures then had the same momentary action as camera shutters have today, as per this description from Sears Roebuck's 1909 ''Cameras Photographic Supplies'': Around 1894 in Germany, the momentary-action setting on camera shutters made by C. A. Steinheil & Söhne in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

were denoted with "B" but the literature referred to it as ''Beliebig'' (meaning ''beliebige Zeit'', en, "Any time"). The Eastman Kodak Company sold entry level consumer cameras that did not have the option of a pneumatic shutter release. Though Kodak retained the convention of using "B” on shutters to denote the setting that provides momentary actuation, they referred to it as "Brief Time" in brochures for cameras like their ''Folding Autographic Brownies'', as well as in instruction manuals for products like their ''1 & 1A Pocket "Kodaks" Juniors''. "Brief time" was also used in reference works like ''Newnes Photographers' Pocket Reference Book'' (1955).

Use

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The bulb setting is used on some cameras, including some

point-and-shoot camera A point-and-shoot camera, also known as a compact camera and sometimes abbreviated to P&S, is a still camera designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic systems for setting the expos ...

s, to obtain shutter speeds slower than the minimum offered by the camera otherwise. Because of the risk of camera movement, the camera is most often mounted on a

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

for the duration of the exposure. While it is generally possible to use the shutter release button on the camera itself, a cable release or electronic remote is often used to further eliminate the risk of shaking the camera during long exposures. The cable releases generally include a locking feature to eliminate the need to keep the button or plunger depressed during extremely long exposures. The bulb setting is useful for the following types of photographic subjects: *

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

at night * the

night sky The night sky is the nighttime appearance of astronomical object, celestial objects like stars, planets, and the Moon, which are visible in a clear sky between sunset and sunrise, when the Sun is below the horizon. Natural light sources in a ...

and

celestial object An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are often u ...

s (see

astrophotography Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was no ...

) *

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an avera ...

* streets at night (creating streaks from moving cars) *

light painting Light painting, painting with light, light drawing, or light art performance photography are terms that describe photographic techniques of moving a light source while taking a long-exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or space, o ...

On modern cameras

On some modern cameras, bulb is a mode available as an option on the LCD menu only, if possible at all. On others, including many Digital SLR cameras, bulb is typically available from the manual exposure mode and—rarely—also from shutter priority mode. When set to bulb, generally on the "M" or manual setting of the camera, the shutter will stay open as long as the shutter release button (or shutter release cable or remote) remains depressed. Some mid-level or bridge cameras such as the Olympus SP-560UZ have a 'limited' bulb setting, allowing time exposures up to 8 minutes and at an ISO setting of 200 ISO and lower. In 2012, Olympus introduced a new form of bulb mode with their "Live Bulb" (without toggle) and "Live Time" (with toggle) settings in their Olympus OM-D E-M5 digital camera, where the viewfinder and display gets updated ''during'' the exposure in order to allow the photographer to inspect the exposure while it "develops". The display refresh rate for this mode can be configured between 0.5 s and 60 s. Some specialized cameras use other image triggers.

Gallery

File:Bothamley1894.png, Circa 1894 page showing a camera with an "indiarubber ball" and a "time exposure" mode that works like what came to be called "bulb". Suggests that the "bulb" terminology had not yet been introduced. File:Unicum shutter advertisement 1898.jpg, 1898 Bausch & Lomb ad showing a shutter with B setting; the explanation displayed "bulb exposure" in quotation marks and explained it in detail, since the term was still novel. File:OldCamera CableRelease.jpg, A more modern (circa 1950) camera cable release. File:Bulb shutter release.JPG, Squeeze the bulb to release the shutter File:Bulb shutter release on camera.jpg, A bulb shutter release on a Pentax K1000 SE File:Cable release on camera.jpg, A cable shutter release on a Pentax K1000 SE File:Amtrak Southwest Chief time exposure.jpg, Photo shot with a Bulb exposure. The movement of the clouds, crossing arms and passing train register as streaks rather than sharp images, unlike the stationary objects in the frame.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title=The Focal encyclopedia of photography , author-first1=Leslie , author-last1=Stroebel , author-first2=Richard D. , author-last2=Zakia , publisher= Focal Press , date=1995 , isbn=978-0-240-51417-8 , page=790 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CU7-2ZLGFpYC&pg=PA790 {{cite book , title=Mastering Black-and-White Photography , author-first=Bernhard J. , author-last=Suess , publisher=Allworth Communications , date=2003 , edition=2 , isbn=978-1-58115-306-4 , page=15 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HpZro4426UEC&pg=PT11 {{cite book , title=Focal Encyclopedia of Photography , editor-first=Frederick , editor-last=Purves , location=London , publisher= Focal Press Ltd. , date=1956 , quote=''BULB EXPOSURE (B).'' Another term for a brief exposure—in which the shutter remains open only so long as the shutter release is held down. The word originated with the early pneumatic shutter release. {{cite web , author-first=Matthias R. , author-last=Paul , date=2004-09-21 , title=BULB mit Blendenautomatik (S-Modus)? Welche Modelle erlauben das? , trans-title=Odd discovery: "BULB" supported in shutter priority mode on Minolta 9000 / 7000 / 8000i / 7000i , work=Minolta-Forum , language=de , url=http://www.mi-fo.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=4069 , access-date=2016-01-01 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824151236/http://www.mi-fo.de/forum/index.php?showtopic=4069 , archive-date=2016-08-24 {{cite web , title=Olympus SP-560 UZ Review , author=womble , publisher=DigitalCamera Review , date=2007-12-27 , url=http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3242&review=olympus+sp560uz , access-date=2019-05-11 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826012644/http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/camerareview/olympus-sp-560-uz-review/ , archive-date=2017-08-24 Photography equipment