From: Mr. Strat on
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.
From: Tzortzakakis Dimitrios on

? "rwalker" <rwalker(a)despammed.com> ?????? ??? ??????
news:1mc5q51aajvpm18sl3b3l6rvn6qe372voe(a)4ax.com...
> On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:08:04 -0400, Bowser <Canon(a)Nikon.Panny> wrote:
>
>>I think so, but I've never heard the official name for those threads.
>>They're the usual cone-chaped threads in the middle of the shutter
>>release. I haven't seen them in quite a while. Of course, my old
>>yashica Mat 124G has them. But who shoots film?
>
> I do. I still use my cable release with my Pentax 67s, my Yashica D,
> and my Nikon FG20 when I dust it off about once a year.
I bought off the "comrades" (ex-Soviet citizens woth greek ancestry), a
cable release, a mains-powered flash, an exposure meter (selenium), a small
tripod, a tripod on a vice, for my Nikon FM-2, a Zenit, complete with
wide-angle and telephoto, and a twin lens reflex, all soviet made. Now all
gone, being given away. I still have got a cheese cutter, and a slide
projector, and some records, and some tools.


--
Tzortzakakis Dimitrios
major in electrical engineering
mechanized infantry reservist
hordad AT otenet DOT gr


From: Dave Cohen on
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.
From: Allen on
Dave Cohen 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.
Correct on all counts. I remember back in 1935, age 6, the top local
portrait photographer in my town used one while taking my picture. The
only plate/cut film cameras with viewfinders were press cameras (i.e.,
Speed Graphic and Busch).
Allen
From: Floyd L. Davidson on
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.

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd(a)apaflo.com