Shooting lightning with a DSLR

[John Olexa]

Got a rare chance to shoot lightning tonight without having to dodge rain. After an exposure of 30 seconds to a minute with nothing good I would release the shutter. Problem was unlike film that just advanced to the next frame, digital showed a busy flashing sign & did what ever it is Digital does until I could shoot again. Not once, not twice but three times! a nice anvil crawler shot across the sky during that wait. I don't cuss , but I had a few choice words after that third time, mostly because that third time I was ready to shoot, looked in the viewfinder& saw that third one cross the lens just a millisecond before I tripped the shutter. After a few more shots the storm had moved on to far so called it a night.

Going to bed very frustrated. I hate missing shots. LOL

EDIT: Whats with the "busy" flashing anyway? I swear I'm going back to shooting film.

 

[Bill Giles]

EDIT: Whats with the "busy" flashing anyway? I swear I'm going back to shooting film.

If it's the same thing that happened to me when I bought my new camera, it's a setting called Long Exposure Noise Reduction. Look for it in your camera settings and turn it off.

Here's an article that talked a little about it. It sounds interesting for astrophotography, but for lightning it drove me crazy. This article references a Nikon, but my Sony mirrorless has it too.

 

[John Olexa]

That was it!! A thousand Thank yous Bill !