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From: jad@dayton.UUCP (John A. Deters)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,rec.photo
Subject: Re: Flashbulbs (was something stupid and illegal...)
Message-ID: <6370@dayton.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jan 89 15:13:17 GMT
References: <9844@sequent.UUCP> <2818@osiris.UUCP>
Reply-To: jad@dayton.UUCP (John A. Deters)
Organization: Dayton-Hudson Dept. Store Co.
Lines: 21

In article <2818@osiris.UUCP> consult@osiris.UUCP (Unix Consultation Mailbox (Phil)) writes:
>
>And then there's the more common but no less mysterious "B" setting,
>which I've always heard "translated" as "bulb", which holds the shutter
>open as long as you hold the shutter release button.  Is this intended
>for syncing to flash bulbs?  (I always used it for exposures longer than
>the camera wanted to time itself, like those pictures of the full moon
>shot with long f >= 8 lenses for ~30 seconds with Tri-X that we then
>pushed to about 1600ASA...)
>
>Phil Kos

The B does stand for Bulb, but not 'flashbulb'.  The bulb they are
talking about comes from the old cameras that were triggered by a
pneumatic squeeze bulb.  There was a piston that screwed into the
trigger assembly, an air hose, and a squeeze bulb on the end of the
hose with a hole in it.  The photographer would cover the hole with
his thumb, squeeze the bulb for as long as he wanted to expose the
picture, then release his thumb to close the shutter.

-john