BULB mode with the Canon EOS 400d 22Nov06
Went out last night for a small amount of photography at night again, and it was a small amount since it was so damn cold. The photos I took I don’t think were anything special to be honest, I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind, nor was where we were located, which was at Langstone Harbour then to the Havant A27 Roundabout.
Anyway, something interesting that I found on my new camera, the Canon EOS 400d, is that when taking a BULB exposure it shows you on the rear screen how long you have been taking. Just for those who don’t know, BULB mode on cameras allows you to exposure the photo for as long or as little as you wish by just holding the shutter button, or much easier, holding and locking the remote shutter release.
On BULB mode with my Canon 350d, I used to just press and lock the remote shutter then just guess at how long its been going for, but with the 400d of course, it tells you how long you’ve been going for. So much easier, way cooler. Nice.
Ok, so I know asking for donations is really lame, but I'm trying to save up for an 
Andrew Says:
11 Dec 2006
I’m not sure why your 350D never used to show the elapsed time with a bulb exposure - mine definitely does. It shows it on the LCD panel, in brackets after the AV setting. It’s also shown how it works in the manual (p.93 of the one I downloaded).
Nice picture by the way: you may not have been in the mood, but that’s a really nice capture.
Daze Says:
11 Dec 2006
Thanks! Come to think of it, I do slightly remember the 350d displaying it on the LCD, but at night of course its difficult to see. The 400d displays it on its main screen which is of course dead-easy to see from a good distance. So handy
pete Says:
9 Jan 2007
nicely exposed picture, would be interested in how long shotter was open for. As an aside i have just got a 350d and in bulb mode it does count how long shutter is open. Its on the small info display not the main one.
Daze Says:
9 Jan 2007
Hi Pete, the exposure was for 25 seconds at f22. You can see more information about the shot from the EXIF information on the Flickr page (just click on the photo and look down the right hand side, or click here).
Now I think back, I seem to remember the 350d displaying the seconds count up, but of course the display is not illuminated by default. If you were to light it up, then you’d have to press the button on the back of the camera which would shake the camera during the exposure. Either that, or you’d have to press the button before the exposure starts, although it’ll sap battery and it doesn’t stay on forever, does it?
Ben Says:
19 Apr 2007
Hi, You might be able to help. I just got a 400d and want to control the bulb setting without holding the damn button down on the camera. You say about a lockdown on the remote? If this on all remotes? Can I just click the open shutter button - walk away and press it again when I get back? Thanks! Nice photos BTW!
Daze Says:
21 Apr 2007
Hi Ben, apologies for not replying sooner. Yep, grab yourself a remote shutter release from a photography store somewhere (model number RS 60E3), plug it in, frame up and set it to BULB mode, lock the remote shutter down and walk away.
Of course, don’t walk too far otherwise someone will steal your camera! But then whenever you’re ready, release the shutter again and the photo will be taken!
Les Says:
7 Jul 2007
Great photo,I have just bought a canon eos 400d and i am wondering what is the best setings for the picture modes,
sharpness
saturation and so on.
IT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP
cheers
Graeme Reay Says:
21 Nov 2007
Hey, lovely pic
whats the max time you can have bulb on on the 400d?
recieving one at christmas and think its the only data im not sure about, would love to know,
thanks Graeme
Daze Says:
22 Nov 2007
Thanks to both of your for your kind comments.
First of all, Les, I would highly recommend RAW file formats for the best in picture quality, sharpness, etc, because there is zero compression, and therefore zero loss in picture quality. Secondly, there are some sharpness, colour, sat settings in the camera’s menu. Off hand I can’t remember exactly where, but I think its on the 2nd menu.
And Graeme, you can go for as long as you want on BULB mode (for as long as the batteries last). For up to 30 seconds, you don’t have to use BULB mode, but for anything more then I would suggest buying a remote shutter (RS 60E3) where you can set the camera up then just press down the remote shutter button and lock it so that you don’t have to stand holding the shutter button for the length of the exposure. The longest I’ve done before is 37 minutes (which is not very much at all), but with the double battery grip (BG E3) which has twice the battery capacity as it is without, I think you could go for about 4 hours straight, or without the grip, about 2 hours before the batteries give up.
Brett Eastin Says:
22 Jan 2008
Hey! Dig the picture. This may be a stupid question but at what point could you keep the shutter open for 37 minutes and not over-expose the pic? We’re you taking pictures of stars or something? 2nd question: how did you get the lights from the cars to show WITHOUT the actually cars? I’m looking at buying a 400d, thats how I found your pic.
Daze Says:
22 Jan 2008
Hi Brett, thanks for your comments, and here’s your answers!…
1, I think you’ve got some mislead information from somewhere (maybe me? not sure!), but the photo above was only a 25 second exposure, not 37 minutes! 37 minutes with that sort of light would, probably yes, almost certainly be completely over-exposed and white.
2, At night, when taking a photo of this kind (with anything above about 4 seconds) only bright lights are shown up. This is exaggerated the longer and longer the exposure goes for. Since the body of the car itself is not actually a “light” nor is it “lit-up” then it won’t show up, or at least it won’t show up as much as its lights on the front of the car. Occasionally on long exposures at night with cars you can often see white cars or buses with the lights inside lit-up. This goes for almost anything at night when taking photos, for example if you were taking a photo of yourself moving around while holding a torch, you’d only see the torch and not yourself if you were moving around since the torch is so much brighter than you! (I mean that littrally - no offence!!)
You’ll probably understand better after you’ve had a good play around with your new 400d. Enjoy!
Brett Says:
22 Jan 2008
Thanks! Not on this photo but in one of your comments above you said, “The longest I’ve done before is 37 minutes (which is not very much at all), but with the double battery grip (BG E3) which has twice the battery capacity as it is without, I think you could go for about 4 hours straight, or without the grip, about 2 hours before the batteries give up.”
You must have meant 37 minutes total of 25 second exposures?
Daze Says:
23 Jan 2008
Ah, I see what you’re talking about now, my bad!
No, 37 minutes as a solid one exposure. Not patched together! What I’m saying is that I really was standing there for 37 minutes taking one photo. Of course, the ISO was set to 100 (the lowest on the 400d) and the aperture was f4. The 37 min exposure that I did, if I remember correctly, was in quite a dense forest with minimal light pollution therefore it did actually come out as star trails rather than just white.
I think its quite possible to do a 3 or 4 hour exposure with the 400d, but battery life gets killed on long exposures, plus the cold also doesn’t help.
I hope this helps you out! A friend of mine has beaten me on this by the way, with a 45 minute single exposure on his 400d.
Brett Says:
24 Jan 2008
Is that picture posted anywhere? I’d love to see it
Daze Says:
24 Jan 2008
Strange actually Brett, I can’t seem to find my 37 minute exposure. Here’s the longest one I could find, however, at 14 minutes. Again, this is one solid exposure. No patching and minimal photoshop…
flickr.com/photos/dazecoop/110...
I have no idea what’s happened to that other long exposure of mine, perhaps it never happened! Weird!
Michael PB Says:
15 Feb 2008
Hi There…
WOW.. U´ve helped me a lot.. I´ve tryed your setup on my 400 d and it went really great. I got the “at night” shoot and I LUV IT !! Thanx a lot… and great picture by the way…..