Question regarding shutter speed lengths

[The Black Rabbit]

Any of you camera heads on WAB know of a DSLR or bridge camera with a nice long shutter speed? Or even a manual shutter speed - if there is such a thing, ie one where you can open and shut the shutter manually?

Do Digital camera manufacturers limit the shutter speed length to between 8 and 30 seconds (at an average maximum) to avoid numpties damaging the sensor?

Apologies if this is a daft question, but any help appreciated thanks!

Doug

[GerryNick2]

Most DSLR's have a Bulb setting and the shutter will remain open as long as you keep your finger on the shutter button, good for taking night time shots of fireworks etc.

Gerry

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by GerryNick2

Most DSLR's have a Bulb setting and the shutter will remain open as long as you keep your finger on the shutter button, good for taking night time shots of fireworks etc.

Gerry

Cheers Gerry!
Doug

[mh68]

I`m not 100% sure, but i think in the case of bridge cameras long exposure speeds are limited by the small sensors.Noise being an issue with really long exposures.My fz50 goes to 60 secs in manual mode, and thats about as long as it gets with bridge cams.
What devious plan have you come up with to require longer speeds then Doug?

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by mh68

I`m not 100% sure, but i think in the case of bridge cameras long exposure speeds are limited by the small sensors.Noise being an issue with really long exposures.My fz50 goes to 60 secs in manual mode, and thats about as long as it gets with bridge cams.
What devious plan have you come up with to require longer speeds then Doug?

Mark H

Nothing really pal.
I was just thinking that many moons ago, I took a photo of the Andromeda Galaxy with my old film SLR (an Olympus OM10).
I can't really remember, but I think I set an exposure length to about 30 seconds or even a minute or more - maybe even manual on and manual off, come to think of it...
Of course, with a an old film camera, all you'd damage is the film... (I assume).


No way of taking really long exposures od the stars revolving around the pole star either I assume?

Never mind.
Just been thinking aloud really...

[mh68]

Ah I see what you mean. One of the limitations of bridge cams, I dont recall any having a bulb feature(?).
Funnily enough I have an old OM10 and a couple of lenses at my folks`. Was having a look at them the other day....if only modern gear was built to last like it was then

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by mh68

Ah I see what you mean. One of the limitations of bridge cams, I dont recall any having a bulb feature(?).
Funnily enough I have an old OM10 and a couple of lenses at my folks`. Was having a look at them the other day....if only modern gear was built to last like it was then

Mark H

Hmmm...
I sold my OM10 when I was a bit of a hellraiser (in ma yoof) for a night on the town!
Very bad...

[RichBrew]

Ah, the seemingly ubiquitous Olympus OM 10 (with manual adapter). I started to take photography more seriously when I got my hands on one, but within a year I upgraded to the OM 2n, which had an auto shutter speed of up to 120 seconds. I added an OM 1 to the list a while after. I still have various Zuiko lenses knocking around, but unfortunately, the film bodies are no longer up to being used: both have light leaks, and the OM 2n shutter needs a service.

RichBrew

[pressld2]

My Nikon D70 has a bulb setting but the maximum time you can leave the shutter open for is 30mins. Not bad but not really long enough for recording star trails. I only ever tried that once, while I was in Canada and could get away from street lights. From memory, I think this one was about 2 hours...



(Not a very good pic - it's scanned from a 5 x 7 print).

Dave P.

[RichBrew]

The real problem with such long exposures is the fact that the sensor array will get very warm, and throw up all sorts of artifacts, such as hot pixels. And of course, battery drain becomes an issue, although reciprocity law failure does not!

RichBrew