Problem with Bulb setting

[Opifex]

I've made a discovery this mornng that may help someone else avoid some frustrated head scratching.

We've been kept awake by torrential rain and thunder all night so I finally decided to get up and try to catch a photo of the lightning. I thought I'd try the technique I'd read about for photographing fireworks of using the Bulb setting to open the shutter before the flash and close it afterwards. This was something new so it was all a bit experimental.

Almost immediately I found a problem that the camera would shoot correctly some of the time but sometimes failed to work. When the remote was pressed the settings screen disappeared and the mirror opened but the exposure time counter didn't appear. When the button was released the mirror closed but no image was saved. Same thing also happened when I tried it using the on-camera release. Occasionally it did work but didn't start until a few seconds after I'd pressed the button.

Eventually the penny dropped that the focus was set to AF and the shot wasn't being taken because it couldn't focus in near darkness before the lightning. Changed to manual focus and it worked every time.

Unfortunately there weren't any clear lightning strokes so I can't post the results.

The storm's still carrying on!!

[Jock]

Re: Problem with Bulb setting

Been there, done exactly that!

[Paulstw]

Re: Problem with Bulb setting

I think this is true for those who have the shutter button programmed for shutter release, I use that for metering only and I use back button focus. Some cable releases have two modes too. Single press and also press and slide. I use the press and slide during bulb so I don't need to hold it.

On my first go I ended up getting a whole load of people in the shot all buzzing about like ghosts. It was odd to look at. I remember thinking at the time, that I had ruined the shot lol aww *pats old self head*