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From: Allen on 25 Mar 2010 07:20
Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
> Dave Cohen <user(a)example.net> wrote:
>> On 3/18/2010 10:38 PM, Mr. Strat wrote:
>>> In article<pKidnY0Vcfv6DTzWnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d(a)giganews.com>, rdoc
>>> <beep(a)this.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ...one of those hokey-looking bulb shutter release hose deals? You know the
>>>> ones that use a pump of air to depress the shutter button. Are they legit to
>>>> any degree, ie... can you get a half depression then the full?
>>> I used one in the studio for 16 1/2 years...on an RB and on a
>>> Hasselblad.
>> They were very popular in the very old days with plate and field cameras
>> etc. Indeed, isn't the shutter nomenclature 'bulb' derived from this
>> form of release. As I recall, you would squeeze the bulb, hold while
>> counting then release to obtain long exposures.
>
> The "bulb" term is reference to shooting with a flash
> bulb for light rather than using a powder charge for
> light... all dating to the 1930's. Previously, with
> the powder charge, they just removed the lens cap and
> the proceeded to light off the powder charge, a process
> that could take a few seconds time.
>
> The new fangled flash bulbs that were invented about
> 1930 were easier to use with a shutter release that kept
> the shutter open manually for only the second or two
> that was required to fire off the flash bulb.
>
> Later of course the idea of a synchronized shutter/flash
> trigger was invented, and just a long enough exposure
> time could be selected. And that became shorter as the
> actual duration of the flash decreased.
>
> The air bulb shutter release had nothing to do with that
> particular terminology. It just happened to be the most
> reasonable way to have a relatively long (more than a
> foot or two) shutter release cable. A steel cable in a
> flexible tube worked fine for short releases, but was
> not practical a 20-30 feet that worked easily with the
> air bulb.
>
Wrong. If you check, you will find "Bulb: on shutters made before the 30s.
Allen
From: Chris Malcolm on 25 Mar 2010 20:57
Dave Cohen <user(a)example.net> wrote:
> On 3/18/2010 10:38 PM, Mr. Strat wrote:
>> In article<pKidnY0Vcfv6DTzWnZ2dnUVZ_uadnZ2d(a)giganews.com>, rdoc
>> <beep(a)this.net> wrote:
>>
>>> ...one of those hokey-looking bulb shutter release hose deals? You know the
>>> ones that use a pump of air to depress the shutter button. Are they legit to
>>> any degree, ie... can you get a half depression then the full?
>>
>> I used one in the studio for 16 1/2 years...on an RB and on a
>> Hasselblad.

> They were very popular in the very old days with plate and field cameras
> etc. Indeed, isn't the shutter nomenclature 'bulb' derived from this
> form of release. As I recall, you would squeeze the bulb, hold while
> counting then release to obtain long exposures.

But not too long, because it was difficult to arrange that none
of the bulb, pipe, and joins, leaked air pressure :-)

--
Chris Malcolm
From: rwalker on 26 Mar 2010 20:50
On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:20:32 -0700, Allen <allent(a)austin.rr.com>
wrote:

>Floyd L. Davidson wrote:

snip

>>
>> The air bulb shutter release had nothing to do with that
>> particular terminology. It just happened to be the most
>> reasonable way to have a relatively long (more than a
>> foot or two) shutter release cable. A steel cable in a
>> flexible tube worked fine for short releases, but was
>> not practical a 20-30 feet that worked easily with the
>> air bulb.
>>
>Wrong. If you check, you will find "Bulb: on shutters made before the 30s.
>Allen


According to Wikipedia:

The term "bulb" is a reference to old-style pneumatically actuated
shutters; squeezing an air bulb would open the shutter and releasing
the bulb would close it. According to the Focal Encyclopedia of
Photography[3]:

"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."
It is not clear when the term actually originated. It appears that
when instantaneous shutters were introduced, they included a B setting
so that the familiar bulb behavior could be duplicated with a cable
release. This may have been the origin of the term "bulb" in reference
to shutter settings. See the photo captions.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulb_(photography)>

It includes an 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.
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