A7RII - "Bulb" stopped working

[rrockley]

I was doing some night photography last night. Half way through the night the "bulb" function stopped working. I select "bulb" and the shutter opens for about 2 or 3 seconds and then closes. The maximum shutter I could get was then 30 seconds. Everything else seems to work.

I tried turning off the remote control, in case it was picking up something that was turning it off again. No luck. I tried turning the camera off and then on again. Tried a new battery.

Any ideas? Anyone else had this problem?

 

[Philnw2]

I was doing some night photography last night. Half way through the night the "bulb" function stopped working. I select "bulb" and the shutter opens for about 2 or 3 seconds and then closes. The maximum shutter I could get was then 30 seconds. Everything else seems to work.

I tried turning off the remote control, in case it was picking up something that was turning it off again. No luck. I tried turning the camera off and then on again. Tried a new battery.

Any ideas? Anyone else had this problem?

Nope, not had that problem. Do you have the flash hotshoe area covered? If not, you might try drying that area out with some gentle hot air dryer work.

Another option might be to record you custom settings, then do a camera default reset.

Perhaps try a different SD card.

Let us know if something works - best of luck.

---
Phil B

 

[mfenske]

Check the shooting mode. I switched in to continuous low by accident and couldn't get in to bulb. Seems to work in single shot only.

 

[rrockley]

I thought about that too - but it is set to single shot.

 

[rrockley]

Nope, not had that problem. Do you have the flash hotshoe area covered? If not, you might try drying that area out with some gentle hot air dryer work.

Another option might be to record you custom settings, then do a camera default reset.

Perhaps try a different SD card.

Let us know if something works - best of luck.

---
Phil B

Flash shoe is covered. Tried a different card.

I may have to follow your suggestion of resetting camera, if no one can think of anything else.

 

[sybersitizen]

Nope, not had that problem. Do you have the flash hotshoe area covered? If not, you might try drying that area out with some gentle hot air dryer work.

Another option might be to record you custom settings, then do a camera default reset.

Perhaps try a different SD card.

Let us know if something works - best of luck.

Flash shoe is covered. Tried a different card.

I may have to follow your suggestion of resetting camera, if no one can think of anything else.

From the Help Guide:

You cannot set the shutter speed to [BULB] in the following situations:

When the [Smile Shutter] function is activated.

When the [Auto HDR] function is activated.

When [Picture Effect] is set to [HDR Painting] or [Rich-tone Mono.].

When the [Multi Frame NR] function is activated.

When the [Drive Mode] function is set to the following modes:

[Cont. Shooting]

[Cont. Bracket]

[Self-timer(Cont)]

[Silent Shooting]

 

[rrockley]

From the Help Guide:

You cannot set the shutter speed to [BULB] in the following situations:

When the [Smile Shutter] function is activated.

When the [Auto HDR] function is activated.

When [Picture Effect] is set to [HDR Painting] or [Rich-tone Mono.].

When the [Multi Frame NR] function is activated.

When the [Drive Mode] function is set to the following modes:

[Cont. Shooting]

[Cont. Bracket]

[Self-timer(Cont)]

[Silent Shooting]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I don't have any of these set. (Not sure what all of them are, to be honest.) Anyway, the guide goes on to say:

"If you use the above functions when the shutter speed is set to [BULB], the shutter speed is temporarily set to 30 seconds."

It's actually set to about 2 seconds.

The bulb option is there and selectable, it just doesn't work as it his supposed to.

 

[rrockley]

Actually, I think it might be working.

For some reason last night, the remote stopped working reliably, so I went to just pressing the shutter. (I figured the small vibration for 1/10 seconds or so wouldn't show on a 2 minute exposure.) From googling around some forums, it seems that bulb won't work when you press the shutter button - you have to use a remote. Not sure why, but I did just confirm that bulb works with a remote (my remote started working today) but not when you press the shutter.

So a different problem, coupled with Sony's disabling bulb with a shutter press.

Thanks for the input everyone. Learned something new, anyway. And I'm buying a few additional remotes today as spares.

 

[SQLGuy]

Actually, I think it might be working.

For some reason last night, the remote stopped working reliably, so I went to just pressing the shutter. (I figured the small vibration for 1/10 seconds or so wouldn't show on a 2 minute exposure.) From googling around some forums, it seems that bulb won't work when you press the shutter button - you have to use a remote. Not sure why, but I did just confirm that bulb works with a remote (my remote started working today) but not when you press the shutter.

So a different problem, coupled with Sony's disabling bulb with a shutter press.

Thanks for the input everyone. Learned something new, anyway. And I'm buying a few additional remotes today as spares.

You actually have to hold the shutter button for the entire bulb exposure... rather like a film camera. Not like a video record button.

 

[rrockley]

Actually, I think it might be working.

For some reason last night, the remote stopped working reliably, so I went to just pressing the shutter. (I figured the small vibration for 1/10 seconds or so wouldn't show on a 2 minute exposure.) From googling around some forums, it seems that bulb won't work when you press the shutter button - you have to use a remote. Not sure why, but I did just confirm that bulb works with a remote (my remote started working today) but not when you press the shutter.

So a different problem, coupled with Sony's disabling bulb with a shutter press.

Thanks for the input everyone. Learned something new, anyway. And I'm buying a few additional remotes today as spares.

You actually have to hold the shutter button for the entire bulb exposure... rather like a film camera. Not like a video record button.

 

[Lightshow]

I'm quite happy with my IR remote other than not being able to trip the shutter when Focus Assist Zoom is active, my NEX-7 doesn't have this issue, it would be even better if they had an IR receiver on the back too.

 

[Island Golfer]

That's why you need the remote-a remote that allows you to keep the bulb function on until you push the button a second time to close the shutter-or, a remote that allows the shutter to stay open for a time period that you specify. Many of the cheap remotes won't allow you to do anything other than click the shutter.

 

[lightmage]

Greetings,

While I know your original post was several years ago, I had the exact same issue happen to me last night. Halfway through a light painting session, bulb mode simply stopped working. Did you ever get a solution to your issue? Was it a settings issue? Did you have to do a factory reset? I'd appreciate any insight you could provide as I REALLY need bulb mode. Thanks!!

 

[Kiril Karaatanasov]

Greetings,

While I know your original post was several years ago, I had the exact same issue happen to me last night. Halfway through a light painting session, bulb mode simply stopped working. Did you ever get a solution to your issue? Was it a settings issue? Did you have to do a factory reset? I'd appreciate any insight you could provide as I REALLY need bulb mode. Thanks!!

Is it still dysfunctional?

Could it be some sort of overheating that blocks bulb?

 

[rrockley]

Greetings,

While I know your original post was several years ago, I had the exact same issue happen to me last night. Halfway through a light painting session, bulb mode simply stopped working. Did you ever get a solution to your issue? Was it a settings issue? Did you have to do a factory reset? I'd appreciate any insight you could provide as I REALLY need bulb mode. Thanks!!

Is it still dysfunctional?

Could it be some sort of overheating that blocks bulb?

The problem was that my remote stopped working and I was pushing the shutter release to fire the shot. With bulb, the shutter remains open only as long as you hold the shutter button down. So when I pushed the shutter and released, bulb opened and shut the shutter.

I now have several remote releases that work with bulb. When you had your problem, were you using a remote, or pushing the shutter button?

 

[BenDe]

I know it's been a while since you wrote that question.

I was having the same issue. I found the problem/cause. It was on SILENT MODE.

Hope it serves people well!

Sony a7r iv!

 

[aSevenArr]

Actually, I think it might be working.

For some reason last night, the remote stopped working reliably, so I went to just pressing the shutter. (I figured the small vibration for 1/10 seconds or so wouldn't show on a 2 minute exposure.) From googling around some forums, it seems that bulb won't work when you press the shutter button - you have to use a remote. Not sure why, but I did just confirm that bulb works with a remote (my remote started working today) but not when you press the shutter.

So a different problem, coupled with Sony's disabling bulb with a shutter press.

Thanks for the input everyone. Learned something new, anyway. And I'm buying a few additional remotes today as spares.

You actually have to hold the shutter button for the entire bulb exposure... rather like a film camera. Not like a video record button.

Aha - now it makes sense.

Yes ... FYI: I use a cable release for these shots with a button that locks.

That way you're not touching the camera at all