Lightning trigger....Is it worth my time???

[Kris Harmon]

I've seen an add that pops up on here from time to time about a lightning trigger. I can see the advantages of having one, but would I really be any better off with one of those than I am with the shutter release cable I already have??

KHarmon

 

[Jason Foster]

It is worth it if you get the right equipment. It's like anything, it takes money to make money (if that is your intent).

I personally don't trust the one being advertised.

Stick with proven products. Yes...they maybe twice the money, but always seek what is proven.

Of course Kris...there are other techniques to ensure you get the lightning shot. Thanks in part to digital technology and high capacity memory cards, you can almost certainly GET THE SHOT without a trigger.

 

[Kris Harmon]

It is worth it if you get the right equipment. It's like anything, it takes money to make money (if that is your intent).

I personally don't trust the one being advertised.

Stick with proven products. Yes...they maybe twice the money, but always seek what is proven.

Of course Kris...there are other techniques to ensure you get the lightning shot. Thanks in part to digital technology and high capacity memory cards, you can almost certainly GET THE SHOT without a trigger.

That's more along the lines of what I was thinking. I shoot on a DSLR and I'm not in it for the money, I simply have always enjoyed photography, had a keen interest in weather, and decided to merge the two as a hobby.

I appreciate the input.

KHarmon

 

[James Langford]

Depends upon your needs, I guess. Are you wanting to shoot daytime or night? For night, my personal feeling is you are better off investing in a timer remote that lets you take repeated exposures. Night exposures are long, and there i no reason to not just repeatedly shoot over and over again without delay between the shots. Daytime is harder, and a trigger can really help there.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

I've seen an add that pops up on here from time to time about a lightning trigger. I can see the advantages of having one, but would I really be any better off with one of those than I am with the shutter release cable I already have??

KHarmon

i just picked one up from the turkish guy, I will let you know how it works. for $97 it's worth a shot.

 

[Erkan YIGITER]

I personally don't trust the one being advertised.

Stick with proven products.

Really strange... I don't understand how you can have such an impression about our product and company.

Have you purchased a device from my company? No... Have you ever tested our device? No... But you don't hesitate to make comment on a company, device and person which you have no idea.

I believe the eBay feedbacks are proof of the reliability of both our company and our device. 170+ positive feedbacks, 0 negative feedbacks.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=patch_master&ftab=AllFeedback

I believe Andrew's review will show the truth.

Regards..

 

[Jason Foster]

I believe the eBay feedbacks are proof of the reliability of both our company and our device. 170+ positive feedbacks, 0 negative feedbacks.

I believe Andrew's review will show the truth.

Yes, it will be interesting to see what Andrew's review will be, but the problem is he likely won't have a thunderstorm to test it in many months.

eBay feedback is pretty much only reflective of how good of a shipper/supplier you are, not how good the product itself is. But I admit I don't see any complaints with the first couple of pages of your feedback (but notice many comments note they have NOT used the unit yet).

Additional question: Is your product FCC type accepted (Part 15), as that is a requirement for a device such as yours? Otherwise I believe it is technically illegal to sell in the US. Someone else might know more about that than myself.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Moderator Note
​

Since several replies had to be edited or deleted, some guidance on how the thread should progress appears to be warranted. Stormtrack welcomes constructive criticism, and members are free to indulge in said constructive criticism about a product or service as warranted, but we also like to prevent threads from becoming a train wreck of commentary that is neither germane nor relevant with respect to the original intention of the thread.

The original topic of the thread was "Lightning trigger....Is it worth my time???" If you have something to add about whether or not a lightning trigger would be worth the OP's time, then please share it. If you're just looking to pontificate nefarious or caustic comments about other members and/or their products, then that is best left within the confines of a private message. If you take issue with a post, please report it.

Thanks,

Jesse

 

[Tim Samaras]

Based on my experience, lightning triggers work great only if there are multiple strikes. It takes time for the shutter to open on a camera (once triggered), and the lightning strike will diminish greatly in roughly 20-40 milliseconds (unless you are lucky enough to get a positive strike--which could last more than 100 milliseconds).

Bottom line is that when the trigger 'tells the camera to snap a picture'--and the shutter opens--the strike has already dissipated. The only hope would be that the strike is multiple 'hits', and you are lucky enough to have the shutter open during a second hit. We've used 'em in the field, and we're lucky to get one hit out of 20-50 or so strikes. This applies to any commercial lightning trigger box--even the one I have designed/built for my stuff.

As others suggested, if you want 100% chance of capturing a lightning strike with a camera, then simply open the shutter using the bulb setting at night--and give up the daytime stuff..

Tim

 

[Joshua Nall]

I've had one for a couple of years. I think they will all do what they say they will do, some may be faster I don't know. I forget where I got mine and it doesn't have a name on it, but it was not the very expensive model that is out there. The main problem I have with it is its too sensitive. It will pick up every flash you see and a gazillion more you can't see. Also, I have a rebel XT and I have yet to get a strike with it. Maybe some of the higher dollar cameras out there would be able to get the tail end of a pulsing cg, since they are faster. And of course the only time I use it is during the day... at night I just use bulb setting with a wireless remote. I still have hope that maybe it will work out to get a good daytime shot.... maybe a small storm with not much lightning and I get several cgs that occur at about the same time, which sometimes happens. I've put some black electrical tape over the front off it to cover about 90% of the front window and it's still very sensitive. Next time I use it I'm just going to tape the whole thing over and see if that makes a difference, haha. I don't want it triggering unless I can actually see the bolt, so I need to do some trial and error on it with the tape.

 

[Greg Campbell]

If you absolutely need to take daytime lightning shots, a trigger is about the only practical, inexpensive way to do so. The alternative is to machine-gun away and hope you get lucky. The Rambo approach works, but it will miss many shots while at the same time generating hundreds - if not thousands - of 'bust' pictures. Efficiency is somewhat dependent on your camera's sustainable FPS - the faster the better. Stopping down to increase shutter duration will also improve the odds, but reduces the lightning's inherent brightness, degrading the impact of the image.

The upshot of Tim's post is that a triggered shutter release will usually catch only a main channel discharge. By the time the shutter lurches open, the delicate branching leaders will have largely dissipated and you'll often be left with what I call 'pencil' lightning - a single bolt crossing the sky. But hey, it's better than no lightning at all!

 

[Erkan YIGITER]

I've had one for a couple of years. I think they will all do what they say they will do, some may be faster I don't know. I forget where I got mine and it doesn't have a name on it, but it was not the very expensive model that is out there. The main problem I have with it is its too sensitive. It will pick up every flash you see and a gazillion more you can't see. Also, I have a rebel XT and I have yet to get a strike with it. Maybe some of the higher dollar cameras out there would be able to get the tail end of a pulsing cg, since they are faster. And of course the only time I use it is during the day... at night I just use bulb setting with a wireless remote. I still have hope that maybe it will work out to get a good daytime shot.... maybe a small storm with not much lightning and I get several cgs that occur at about the same time, which sometimes happens. I've put some black electrical tape over the front off it to cover about 90% of the front window and it's still very sensitive. Next time I use it I'm just going to tape the whole thing over and see if that makes a difference, haha. I don't want it triggering unless I can actually see the bolt, so I need to do some trial and error on it with the tape.

Hi Joshua,

You are absolutely right. Most of the commercial units are very sensitive (aka happy trigger) and this is actually a problem as they are triggering almost all the time. And there is not much to do for preventing this case.

However, after getting similar feedbacks from our customers, we enhanced our firmware in order to handle this case. As far as I know, PatchMaster is the only commercial unit which has 2 operating modes (day-night/more sensitive-less sensitive) and doesn't have such a problem.

How it works?

• When you turn the device on, it detects whether it is daytime or night.
• If it is daytime, so it sets itself to daytime mode (most sensitive) automatically.
• If it is night, so it sets itself to night mode (less sensitive) automatically.

If it is daytime and the device triggers continuously, then you can turn the device off, cover the front of the device with your hand and turn the device on. When it is turning of, it will measure the light level, it will think that it is night and so will go to night mode which will handle the happy trigger case.

Regards..

 

[Stephen Locke]

I shoot tons of "daytime" lighting pictures and I don't own a lighting trigger. I'm not arguing against them I'm just saying I don't own one. If I did I would probably find a use for it. However, I don't find a trigger necessary. Yes I shoot copious images. So what? Just delete them. When you finally get a hit it will be a better shot if the shutter was already open. The best suggestion is to find a good storm. One with high CG production. Then you can't get a shot w/o lighting. If the storm has poor lighting production I just pass on it and wait for a better storm. Over the course of a year you will get a few. The best time to shoot lighting is at dusk, mixing weak ambient daylight with the lighting.

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

At best, I will get to try it out in February, that's when we start getting our first thunderstorms around here, if not it'll be March. I will do a thorough test of it and post an in-depth review, noting it's shortcomings and emphasizing it's strengths.

 

[Kris Harmon]

Thanks again for the feedback guys. I'm thinking of going the lightning trigger route since it is reasonably inexpensive. The other investment I"m making before storm season starts here on the south plains is going to be a QUALITY wide angle lens. When it comes closer to that time I will be open to suggestions on what to look for in a lens for the Canon EOS that I am using.

KHarmon