Lightning Photography with Canon Rebel XTI?

[Joey Ketcham]

Has anyone used the Canon Digital Rebel XTI to do lightning photography? I got the Canon Rebel XTI today and hope to use it in the future to do lightning photography, at least attempt to. Was just curious how it's performanace was for lightning photography.

 

[Pierre-Marc Doucet]

I plan to buy the Rebel XTi by the end of the year, I want the one with the EF-S 17-85mm, in my opinion he is superior to the 18-55mm. The only thing that scare's me a little is the chromatic aberation.

 

[Scott Taylor]

It will do just fine for lightning photography, especially if you keep your ISO as low as possible.

 

[Jayson Prentice]

I use the XTi for my lightning photography, as far as the camera goes it will do everything you need it to do. Go with ISO 100 settings, use manual mode so you can set the exposure time desired and the aperture settings can be set to your desire as well. As far as optics go, it won't be the camera that decides that as much as what lens you have.

 

[Willoughby Owen]

It will be ideal.. and it didn't take very long to get it right.

Took these in NE Wyoming and Limon in May.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

What did you use for the shutter speed? Did you use the 'bulb' for the shutter so you could keep it opened for as long as you want?

 

[Jayson Prentice]

Will's above were 6 seconds and 3.2 seconds respectively, along with shutter speed however is aperture. The nighttime with complete dark are the easiest, as then you are only worrying about how bright the lightning is; Will's first picture above was an aperture of f/7.1 which is ideal for a decent distance and good bright CG like there was. Taking images during the day or when their is ambient light would require some adjusting in hopes that you don't blow out the sky or other areas of the picture. Will used f/18 in the second shot, which explains how he was able to still do a decently long exposure and not blow out the sky. However, as you also see the lightning strike is nearly as bright, which is expected beings it was in the daytime light.

It might take you a bit to get your adjustments right, but with time that camera will serve you greatly in capturing those lightning strikes.