Lightning and digital cameras

Has anyone experimented with lightning photography and digital cameras…at a safe distance of course. :wink: I realize it’s more of an issue with luck but was wondering if there are any preferred settings? --Bill

I have had limited success using time lapse. I haven’t messed with it much as there is a lot of luck involved. You never know where the strike is going to happen so just pointing the camera becomes an issue.

Good info at http://www.lightningphotography.com/tips.html

Thanks for the info and great web site :slight_smile: I’ll try it out next opportunity I get. This time of year in the midwest we occasionally get some thunderstorms with great lightning displays. We also get some storms that produce extremely heavy rainfall due to the lack of any good winds aloft. The heaviest rain producers seem to have the best lightning displays as well. 10 years ago on July 18-19th we had storms over NE Illinois that dumped 16.9 inches in about 18 hours! 8O Aside from the magnitude of the rain and flooding that ensued, I’ll never forget the continuous lightning during that storm.

Hi guys…

How would this camera be for an amateur like me for taking lightning photographs?

Just trying to find a cheap camera, since I’m a beginner.

–Tim

THis would probably be pretty good for lightning pics, BUT it’s not that cheap or “ready to use”. It’s a Digital SLR, but it’s a BODY ONLY, ie no lens included, so you’d have to buy a lens for it. You also need to buy a CF (compact flash) memory card for it too.

Just to note there are no lenses, its only the camera body. I am using a cheap 5MP kodak digital camera and tripod.

Mike,

Thanks for the reply…

It does come with a CF memory card, but I guess it doesn’t come with a lens.

How much would it cost for a lens for that type of camera?

Thanks.

–Tim

$475 was the cheapest I could find the body and this one is USED and doesn’t appear to come with any memory card. AND… that is without lenses. A good lens can cost the same or maybe 5X the price of the body depending on what you want.

Make sure you know what you’re getting on eBay.

–Dave

EDIT: Sorry didn’t read all the way down. It does come with a 16M memory card which will give you very few pictures at full resolution. One more and…it 5 years old. Both the camera and battery. I’d look elsewhere if I were buying that camera.

Dan,

Are you using that for lightning pictures?

Isn’t the shutter speed too slow?

Thanks, Dave.

I didn’t realize that lenses were THAT expensive!

–Tim

OK…How about this one?

The digital zoom isn’t too high (4 MP), but would it be good enough for a beginner?

Thanks.

–Tim

Tim you need to be sure it has the “B”, time exposure mode, if you want lightning pics.

niko’s ebay rule #1, never buy anything used on there for an amount of money that you aren’t prepared to lose :wink:

Tim I think we advised you before about this. Go to a few camera stores and try out a few cameras, check on the full specs, how much memory cards are and what sizes the camera takes. Once you have found one or two cameras you like with the kind of spec you need then shop around for the best price.

A cheap digital camera will not be a good buy, you will end up dissatisfied, better to find one you like and save up for it, especially if you want good photos in difficult conditions. The MegaPixel size is not the most important,4 MP will be fine unless you want huge enlargements, be more careful on the spec for shutter, metering, whether you can lock exposure, lock focus, adjust white balance etc. These are important if you want to be able to take photos in difficult lighting conditions like lightning!

Secondhand is OK even on Ebay IF you do your research on the seller etc and know exactly what you are getting, but only buy secondhand online from someone who has a proven track record and preferably is a private seller as most dealers will not let things go cheap, but as Niko says be very careful.

Stuart

My best results at actually catching lightning have been by using very long shutter speed, like 5 seconds or more. To catch a strike by hitting the shutter when the strike happens is not going to work unless the strike is sustained. Its better to have the shutter open before the strike happens. :wink:

I don’t think I would buy any used digital camera unless it was at a throw away price. Digital camera repairs are VERY expensive, a couple of years ago it cost about $250 (flat fee) to get my Nikon repaired when it was out of warranty. It was a hard decision whether to repair it or trash it, but I couldn’t get an equivalent camera for $250 (and the lower end DSLR’s weren’t up to snuff yet) so I went ahead. (It actually worked out well because they updated it at the same time and it came back much better than new :smiley: ).