wds0410 Loc: Nunya

Did you ever hear of these: Burning the midnight oil, Get off your high horse, Dressed to the nines, At the drop of a hat, Bite the bullet, to name a few.

Some terms/sayings have a way of passing the test of time.

Leitz Loc: Solms

Could be that most of us are more interested in photography than semantics.

hcmcdole

Love those old sayings.

My dad surprised me a number of years ago describing a woman who looked like she led a rough life and after she left the house, he said "She looks like she has been rode hard and put up wet". Never heard that until that day, but then I didn't grow up around horses either.

And another old quote of his that didn't make sense to me as a kid: "Not enough room to cuss out a cat" so I asked what that meant years later and he said it made sense if you complete the quote "...and end up with a mouthful of fur".

tankdonovan Loc: Tennessee

Do you remember when ISO was ASA?

TomRobin

OK guys. I may be showing my age, but I think you have this all wrong. I trust that you have an older camera with a "B" setting. This is for use with FLASH BULBS. Because there is a short delay when you press the shutter before the flash bulb got off, the "Bulb"setting will either delay the shutter release a few milliseconds that it takes for the filament in the bulb to burn, or it will set a shutter speed long enough to allow for a complete burn of the filament. I have not seen a "B" setting on a new camera for years!

BULB cable releases were used (a) because they provided a smooth release to the camera and (b) because you could make a much longer release using air pressure than what a mechanical cable release could handle. I don't think I ever saw a mechanical release longer than about 18 inches.

BebuLamar

I do but what do you mean? I also know that the proper way to specify the ISO 100 is ISO 100/21.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

About names that hang... did you ever wonder were the term "computer bug" or even "debugging" came from?

In the 40's the first american computer - named the ENIAC - was built. It was a monstrosity made up of miles of cables, thousands of vacuum tubes, relays, and so on.

It happened that the internals of the machine were warm and dark... so lots of insects settled in and built their nests there, causing all kind of short circuits, relay jamming, and other problems.

So, the computer failed because of the *bugs* and the operators had to assemble a *debugging* team to spray insecticide and remove the nests.

There you have, names can last way longer than their inventors.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

Many moons ago I did squeeze that Bulb thingie you mentioned but that ship has sailed.

And if I were into Fondling My Camera , I might be wanting some bubs to squeeze as well........touchy subject gone WRONG.

The Bulb IS FAKE but not it's memory.

Thanks

David Taylor

I have a bulb release. Use it with my Fuji.

lsaguy Loc: Udall, KS, USA

Imagine what would happen if one camera manufacturer went the Microsoft route and renamed Bulb to something they could bring advertising pressure to? "Funikanonax is proud to announce that they are adding Extra Long Exposure to the controls of their new model EDF-3 camera. No other camera in the world of photography has ELE controls. Try it with our on-line ELE simulator NOW!!!!!".
Imagine the flurry of posts on the Hog. It could bring the internet to a stop in minutes.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

E

I believe you’re referring to ‘M’ or ‘FP’ sync. Both were shutter delay features that timed the shutter opening for the peak brightness of flash bulbs.

‘X’ sync is fastest, for use with electronic flash. M was used with common medium speed burn flash bulbs. FP was used only with the special, longer-burning flashbulbs for use only with focal plane shutters.

Bulb was commonly used to hold a shutter open for multiple flash exposures, and yes, sometimes with a cable release or pneumatic bulb pressure release.

T was/is more commonly used with a stopwatch for very long exposures.

iosa Loc: Fairbanks, AK

It's the internet, MrBob: everybody reads, but nobody comprehends. :)

But for more examples? How about dialing a phone number. Or hanging up the phone. Rewinding a video. Pretty much all of the editing tools in Photoshop are named after physical tools and techniques that don't really apply in digital photography: the same applies in video editing.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

The "B" or Bulb shutter setting may have something to do with air (pneumatically) activated Packard shutters, oftentimes found in old view and "portrait" studio camera or air operated shutter releases of the olden days- those were the "remote" releases of the past. The main usage, for the "B" setting, that I recall, was/is for any kind of shutter for "open flash" technique for non-synchronized shutters or "multiple pops". Theses techniqes entail opening the shutter and firing the flash ("B"ULB originally for flash BULB) interdependently and manually and then closing the shutter shutter quickly thereafter, OR painting with light, OR accumulating more exposure by repeatedly firing a strobe. It's also useful for stroboscopic effects. Unlike the "T" (Time) setting, closing the shutter does not require a second activation which is not as convenient for shorter open shutter times and the B setting is less likely to cause blur do to camera movement.

Te "B" setting is also handy for "shutter dragging with flash, whereby you allow the shutter to remain open after the flash to include more ambien ligh in the exposure.

By the way- most of theses techniqes require a good solid tripod!

Ain't anythg "fake" about it- it's a useful shutter setting for certin kinds of work.

If you are old, like me, and remember using a Packard shutter, there were certain SLOW squeezing techniques to open the shutter for composing and focusing on the ground glass, closing it to insert the film holder and the a QUICK abrupt squeeze for making the exposure. The bulb had a special valve atop the assembly- not like a turkey baster or a medical fountain syringe.

There are lots of terms that stem from older and perhaps obsolete or seldom used methods and equipment but they stuck and became part of the photographic vernacular . The "B" shutter setting is not a part of any automated camera function so anyone who is familiar with the manual use of their camera will understand what it does and how to use it.

What's with all the "FAKE" business lately. "ISO is fake, "B" is fake, post processing is FAKE, formal portraiture is FAKE"? My goodness- we use everyday terms in modern photography that go back to the Renaissance and Baroque painters and artists of yore- canvas, brushes, Chiaroscuro, palette, and we say "tools"in Photoshop-are there hammers, wrenches and drills there? Of course as technologies change there are technical terms that replace the older versions such as grain vs. noise etc, however, so long as we can all understad each other, it's all good by me. Sometimes there is too much etymology and not enough photography aroud here.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

But that's how it was originally done... back when glass plate emulsions had a sensitivity of approx. ISO 3 or 6 and the photographers of the day had to hold open the shutter for 15 seconds or longer to make an exposure, an actual squeeze bulb was used to operate a pneumatic device that acted to open the shutter.

There were even squeeze bulb devices to remotely operate shutter releases in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sure, "Bulb" is now an archaic term.... But why change it to something else? What would the alternative be, anyway?

Maybe "Super Long Exposure Effect Program"? (SLEEP? )

Or, perhaps "Shutter Held In Transit" (Figure out the abbreviation for yourself ).

"B" is kinda cool and it's handy to confuse newbies! I'm in favor of keeping it.

"B" fits in nicely with a bunch of other acronyms and abbreviations - "T", "I", "EV", "FP", "PC", "X", "M", "LV", "ISO", "ASA", "DIN", yada, yada, yada.

Hey, if we made photography EASY... EVERYONE would do it!

Carusoswi

Actually, it is a word, although eschewed by careful users of language. When I read the post where this word was used, my reaction was the same as yours, so I looked it up. You (and anyone else interested) might also want to look it up.

If analyzed, irregardless would seem to mean (ir= not) and (regardless = of no concern) not of no concern, or in other words, of great concern.

But, relentless usage in contrary context has caused this word to take on an improbable meaning similar to the more appropriate word which is simply "regardless." This represents, in my lingo, a major "oh, well."

Yours is a good catch, my gut reaction, but, we are both overruled by Websters and many other guardians of proper language use.

It remains a word that the most careful users of the English language would avoid.

Respectfully,

Caruso