Topic: Daytime and low light lightning tips

[Mike]

I know this may have been mentioned in another thread somewhere, but out of pure frustration and disappointment after today's storm efforts this needs to be asked.

Settings for low light or daytime lightning shots.  What settings are used by the more experienced chasers that they go by and consistently get results?

ISO. F-stop, - which setting - AF, TV - ????

I have a SLR Canon 400D - any help would be urgently put into practice!

Mike

[Karina Roberts (slavegirl)]

I too have the same question only the type of camera is different, i have a kodak easyshare c743 can capture nighttime lightning but not daytime, any help would be appreciated

Thanks guys

Karina

[Michael Bath]

200 ISO Aperture priority, F14 to F22 depending on the situation to maximise exposure time.

If the lightning is dull or distant you will have no hope of getting nice shots with higher F-stops. It really only works well when the lightning is fairly close to you.

[Mike]

Cool, thanks for the info Michael.  Most of the lightning this arvo was pretty close!  Counted 50 in total on my own during the whole time i was there...  Will give that a whirl tonight (Sunday)

[Karina Roberts (slavegirl)]

Thanks heaps for the information,

Lightning is usually pretty close where i live so should be able to give the settings a whirl and see how i go, today may be the day as storms are forecast.

[Shaun Galman]

Hi guys,
Mike: We have the same trouble also capturing daylight lightning (as do most storm photographers I'd guess). I'm looking into a decent brand of HD video camera, so I can leave it running while "missing" the daytime CG, of course it will only happen when the funds dictate lol!

Have you tried your continuous shooting settings, having an SLR this should be no problem for you, just a matter of practice in the meantime and hoping not to miss that one great "money shot"! All camera's are a little different but you will get to know it like the back of your hand soon enough! Just go out and practice a little, digital film is free! We found that the best way to learn.

I dont know how I managed to catch the few daylight lightning shots that I have? Not only because I have a 1.5second delay after shutter release, but I find if I just set my ISO to 50 (which is fairly low for a digital) and push my f/ full up to 8, I can usually get a very small exp. but it all helps! I have no cont. shooting functions on my camera unfortuynately. It's a 2003 Nikon 8700 coolpix.

It does get a little tedious and frustrating at times but I will have to improve things and go SLR some time in the future
I cant wait to start seeing your photos!
Take care.
Shauno

[Mike]

Have got all the settings required.  I actually was shooting with the sports mode on which spits out 4 frames per second as i said, when i saw many CGs pulsing I was thinking, jeez i must have got that - but no i think the pulses were in between the actual camera frames!!!  Could not believe my bad luck,

anyway I'm going out this arvo regardless of lightning to take some sample shots of the storms coming through at the same location and try the AE settings as Michael suggested. I just have to remember that the darker it gets or the lighter it is i have to compensate for it with the appeture and not be lazy!! 

It will come. 

Mike

[enak_12]

Hey just thought I would add that I think Micheal has a Nikon D70? Which has ISO200 as a minimum if my memories correct. To get the longest exposure you can in the day you may be able to use a lower ISO then that mine is at 100 on my 350D and 50 on my old S2IS. You cloud also use a ND filter which darkens the shutter for a longer exposure, I've never used this though. 

I also use the sports mode but with the smallest JPEG setting as I find it can be torture to upload a thousand or so files and the smaller ones just make this quicker. Otherwise I shoot RAW or large JPEG.

Kane.