Bulb Exposure with the Sony A5100 and A7s

Bulb exposure is a shutter speed setting on your Sony Alpha camera that allows for long exposure times under the direct control of the photographer. With this setting, the shutter simply stays open as long as the shutter release button remains engaged. How your final image will exactly look after your long exposure is mostly guessing work (or experience) though.

Olympus have had a feature called ‘Live View’ in their cameras for years, where you could see the exposure build up on the screen, something I’ve missed in Sony cameras. Now there is a way to do this too on the Sony A7s and A5100, thanks to a PlayMemories app called ‘Light Trail’. It will cost you $4,99 and is unfortunately only available for these two cameras.

How to make a bulb exposure with the Sony PlayMemories ‘Light trail’ app:

1. First you will need to get a Sony Playmemories account via your desktop.
2. In your A5100 or A7s menu, you will need to make a connection with your WiFi network and to sign-in on your PlayMemories account.
3. Navigate to the ‘Light Trail’ app, purchase it and install it on your camera. 
4. Launch the app, choose one of the presets or make your own.
5. Press the shutter button to start your Bulb exposure, you’ll see the image ‘build up’ on the screen.
6. Once you’re happy with your image, press it again. The camera will save your final image to your SD card (yes RAW is also available).