Six hidden camera power features

The average modern camera has such a wealth of features that it’s easy to miss a few. Angela Nicholson reveals six notable ones that can really help

Live Bulb, Live Time and Live Composite

Olympus, now OM Digital Solutions, was the first maker to introduce these clever features, and even now, only Panasonic has introduced something similar. Their purpose is to take the guesswork (or maths) out of shooting long exposures.

With most cameras you need to switch to Bulb mode when you want to shoot exposures longer than 30 or 60 seconds. And when Bulb mode is activated, the shutter is held open for as long as the shutter release (either on the camera or a remote release) is held down – though it’s often limited to 30 minutes. It’s great for night photography and shooting with a Big Stopper ND filter over the lens to enable water or cloud movement to be blurred.

Normally, if you’re using an ND filter to extend the exposure time, you have to calculate how long the exposure needs to be on the basis of the shutter speed without the filter. If you’re shooting at night, you can experiment with high ISO settings and a wide aperture to calculate how long the exposure should be at the aperture and ISO that you want to use. Live Bulb mode does away with all of that because you see the image build up on the screen or in the viewfinder of the camera and you simply close the shutter once you’re happy with how the image looks.

Live Time mode is similar to Live Bulb Mode except the shutter opens with a press of the shutter release and is closed with a second press once you’re happy with the way the image looks on-screen.