Bulb setting and digital cameras

I'm looking to replace my Olympus c4000 and would like another "bridge" camera rather than a D-SLR(takes less space in the already bursting fishing bag!).
I was looking at the Olympus SP-560 as it has a "B" setting for time exposures up to 8 minutes. A salesman in a local shop told me it was a waste of time getting any digicam with a "B" setting due to noise from the sensor on the image on long exposures and to stick to film!
I'd be grateful for advice from anyone who's tried long exposures as I can't see the manufacturers putting the facility there if the results were going to be crap.

Cheers.

Sometimes they do though Paul. It's a fashion statement to some.

Go on ThinkCamera and ask advice.

What the salesman should of told you is that there is a way to avoid this, I used BULB quite a lot, the more expensive cameras are fitted with an anti-noise programme anyway