Hi Steve,

The camera will do a 30 second exposure without being on bulb, so you don't need to use bulb if you are only doing a 30 second exposure.

As far as the 3rd party remote and your click to start and click to stop, my nikon wired release has a lock to hold it open or you just hold it until your exposure is complete. My wireless remotes both take a long press to lock the shutter open and then just a quick press to close the shutter.

I have also found that even with NR off sometimes long exposures take longer to save to the card. The two easiest ways I have found to know whats going on is to either watch the activity light on the camera ( when it goes out your image is saved) or to make sure my image review is turned on that way as soon as the image is saved the review pops up.

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