Re: [photo-3d] lightning trigger

["Dennis M. Hanser" <dmhanser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I thought this subject is treated like fireworks:
> Leave shutter open, hoping to capture the lighting
> in action.  In a good storm the chances that
> you will capture lighting with the shutters open for
> a minute or so are quite high.  The sky should be
> fairly dark because of the storm, so the open shutter
> and wait method should work in principle.

This will work fine at nite or as you say when the storm has
darkened the area to be photographed, but in the situation I
was in, the landscape was still fairly bright with the storm
off in the distance across a valley. I tried several times,
with as long an exposure as possible without overexposing
the rest of the scene, but was not able to get a single
strike. Probably made about 2 dozen attempts. I guess next
time I will do several things to allow an even longer
exposure, polarizers, neutral density filters, a slower film
speed, etc.. But I am still interested in the concept of a
light trigger that can sense the first strike and open the
shutter before the second part of the strike occurs. There
is considerable info on this at www.lightningtrigger.com for
anyone interested. However, as I stated in my original post,
their unit is over $300 and I am interested in putting
together something similiar for less dollars if possible. I
think it is possible to modify a flash slave, but am just
beginning to research this and would appreciate any input on
the use of this type of sensor for detecting lightning and
opening a shutter fast enough to be useful. Any thoughts?? 
> 
> The question of camera separation is even more
> important here since the lighting is much further
> away than fireworks.
> 
> George

I would set up as a normal scenic with foreground etc. and
the lightning will become a part of the overall photo. It is
not my goal to photograph the lightning bolt itself in 3-d,
as it is very difficult to predict distance etc..


Dennis M Hanser