If you feel limited by the original Bulb Ramping mode, you may decide to try Advanced Bulb Ramping. It greatly extends exposure range limitations and allows for seamless bulb ramping from broad daylight straight to night time, often with little to no manual intervention during a sequence.
Initial Setup
Use the following workflow to set up your Promote Control for Advanced Bulb Ramping:
1.Make sure your Promote Control is set up as described in the Promote Control Setup section.
2.Enable Advanced Bulb Ramping in Promote Control Setup menu.
3.Set "Lowest Auto ISO for adv. bulb ramping" Setup setting to the lowest ISO setting available with your camera. On most cameras this would be ISO 100, while some other cameras may go as low as ISO 50 (often referred to as "Lo"). Some cameras may have ISO 200 as their minimum. Consult your camera user manual for details.
4.Set "Highest Auto ISO for adv. bulb ramping" Setup setting to the highest ISO setting your camera can offer without introducing too much image noise. With most modern cameras, ISO 3200 would be a good choice, while some on advanced, low noise cameras such as Canon EOS 5D Mark III an ISO of 6400 or even higher may still be usable. Note that the wider the ISO range you set between "Lowest" and "Highest", the more flexibility Promote Control can offer in Advanced Bulb Ramping mode.
5.As always with Bulb-related modes, make sure you calibrate "Shutter close delay".
Usage
Use the following workflow to use Advanced Bulb Ramping mode in the field:
1.Complete original Bulb Ramping Usage checklist. Note that when specifying start and end exposures you are no more limited - you can use the full range of exposures.
2.Press "Start" button on Promote Control to set Advanced Bulb Ramping mode options.
3.Promote Control will display an "Advanced Bulb Ramping" screen. If at any time you need to go back to the original Bulb Ramping settings, press the "Mode" button.
Our goal with Advanced Bulb Ramping is to verify that Promote Control was able to fit our sequence into the attainable exposure range. If the attempt was unsuccessful we can go back to Bulb Ramping mode to change certain settings, or use ND filters in Advanced Bulb Ramping screen to rectify the issue. Promote Control will try to suggest a suitable solution, making your choice easier.
The "Advanced Bulb Ramping" screen looks similar to the one below. Note that depending on your bulb ramping settings, the actual values will differ:
ND: none
Shutter: 1.5" ->2"
ISO: 100->800
+ Parameters are OK +
+ START to continue +
Promote Control analyzes the current sequence, and tries to fit the requested start and end exposure to what it can safely time by automatically ramping the camera ISO. The above screen displays the following information:
1.Promote Control will start with using shutter speed of 1.5", and end with 8". Note that these may be different from the start and end exposure times you have set. This change will be matched by a corresponding change in ISO values.
2.Promote Control will start the sequence using ISO 100, and end it with ISO 800. The ISO values are calculated automatically to provide the same exposure level as requested originally, while keeping actual shutter speeds within allowable limits.
3.Current parameters are good to go. Press "Start" to begin taking pictures.
If current settings need to be changed, a variation of the following screen may be displayed:
ND: none
Shutter: 1/20->LONG
ISO: 100->HIGH
- Set Max Auto ISO -
- higher in Setup -
It means the Promote Control was trying to fit the end exposure within the interval limit, but the currently allowed Max Auto ISO in Promote Control Setup is not enough to make it happen. Set "Highest Auto ISO" in Setup menu higher, or try increasing your bulb ramping interval in Bulb Ramping screen (press "Mode" to get there).
ND: none
Shutter: SHORT->2"
ISO: LOW->800
- Add ND filters to -
- start ramp with -
It means the current sequence cannot be completed without using ND filters. Read below on how to use ND filters.
ND filters
In many cases Promote Control will be unable to accommodate a bright daylight scene without using ND filters. For these cases Promote Control provides a way to handle ND filters while doing bulb ramping photography.
To let Promote Control you plan on using ND filters, change the default setting of "ND" above to anything except "none". The following values are available:
•"start" means you plan on starting with ND filters, and remove them when Promote Control asks you to do so.
•"end" means you plan on starting without ND filters, and add them when Promote Control asks you to do so, ending the sequence with ND filters put on.
•"keep" means you'd like to add them in the beginning, and keep them on during the complete image sequence. This option is often preferred if you plan on leaving your camera rig unattended during the bulb ramping image sequence.
If Promote Control calculation shows that ND filters are needed, it will suggest to either "start" or "end" with ND filters. You may either follow the advice, or try the "keep" option instead. If you decide to "keep" ND filters, Promote Control will try to use ISO ramping to correct for ND filter presence, doing all necessary calculations automatically. If it succeeds, it will prompt to you proceed.
ND Filter Usage
When prompted to use an ND filter, use the following workflow:
1.Choose a setting for "ND" filter policy as advised by Promote Control ("start" or "end"). You may also try using a setting of "keep".
2.Now you can specify up to two separate ND filters to be used. Enter one or more non-zero filter values according to filters you have on hand. If a filter value is set to 0 (zero), that value will be not be used and is equal to no filter at all. All non-zero filter values will be used simultaneously. Read below to know more when Promote Control will apply those values.
When ND filter policy is set to "start", a similar line appears:
ND: start 1.0EV+2.0EV
The above line indicates that you would like to "start" with a set of two ND filters - first filter of 1EV, another one of 2EV. Promote Control then does the following:
1.Recalculates the start exposure accordingly. If all exposures can be done safely, it will allow you to proceed.
2.When you press "Start", it will prompt you to put the filters on, and press 'Start" again to continue.
3.It will expect you to be around to remove specified filters one by one when prompted by a message on the Promote Control screen.
When ND filter policy is set to "end", a similar line appears:
ND: end 1.0EV+2.0EV
The above line indicates that you would like to "end" with a set of two ND filters - first filter of 1EV, another one of 2EV. Promote Control then does the following:
1.Recalculates the end exposure accordingly. If all exposures can be done safely, it will allow you to proceed.
2.When you press "Start", it will prompt you to take the filters off, and press 'Start" again to continue.
3.It will expect you to be around to add specified filters one by one when prompted by a message on the Promote Control screen.
When ND filter policy is set to "keep", the following line appears:
ND: keep 1.0EV+2.0EV
The above line indicates that you would like to "keep" a set of two ND filters through the complete sequence - first filter of 1EV, another one of 2EV. Promote Control then does the following:
1.Recalculates both start and end exposures accordingly. If all exposures can be done safely, it will allow you to proceed.
2.When you press "Start", it will prompt you to put the filters on, and press 'Start" again to continue.
3.It will NOT expect you to be around for filter handling. The "keep" setting is therefore handy when you do not want to closely watch Promote Control screen for filter handling messages.
IMPORTANT: ND filter handling routine assumes the start and end exposures were metered without ND filters. If you did meter with ND filters, you must use "none" setting for ND filters in Advanced Bulb Ramping mode - otherwise ND filters will be applied twice, and the resulting exposures will be incorrect.
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