What Is Bulb Mode

A typical image to capture using this feature is one of star trails when the night sky is clear.

What is bulb mode.

This is a throwback from the first film cameras but it s still useful today. You can use bulb mode by choosing manual mode or shutter priority then start scrolling your selector wheel all the way to the end of the shutter speeds. Bulb mode is a setting that refers to the shutter speed of your camera. The bulb mode is basically a creative feature.

It allows shots to be taken that are minutes long rather than seconds. One second one minute 17 minutes or anything else. It basically makes your camera function like a camera from 100 years ago when you had to squeeze a bulb to open the shutter and then release the bulb to close it. Bulb mode is simply a shutter speed option that you can select in manual mode on your camera.

What is shutter speed. Bulb mode is an exposure setting that is used when seeking to use a shutter speed of more than 30 seconds. The exposure ends when you lift your finger to release the button. In the early days of photography it took a long time to take a photo.

If you ve turned the shutter speed dial on your camera past 30 seconds you might have noticed the strangely named bulb mode. Simply aim the camera to the north or south celestial pole depending on which hemisphere you live. When you are in bulb mode an exposure begins when you press the shutter button of your camera and continues as you hold the button down. The key with bulb mode is that your camera s shutter stays open for as long as you hold down the shutter release button.

This is 30 seconds in most cameras. It allows your shutter speed to be any length you choose. The bulb setting abbreviated b on camera shutters is a momentary action mode that holds shutters open for as long as a photographer depresses the shutter release button. In short think of bulb mode as time travel mode.

It s possible to use bulb mode for shorter exposures but it would be much easier to just select the predefined desired shutter speed.