[Leica] Re: Lightning in Santa Fe

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 1:28 PM -0400 5/6/07, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
>On May 6, 2007, at 10:18 AM, Jeffery wrote:
>
>>>http://www.400tx.com/files/PAW2007/2007-13.html
>>>
>>>I tried in vain to get a shot of the lightning, but that shutter
>>>lag just
>>>wouldn't allow it.
>
>You would have to be prescient to get a picture of lightning in the 
>daylight with a hand held camera. Given human reaction time and 
>minimal shutter lag, if you pressed the shutter release the moment 
>you saw the flash, the lightning would have been long gone. You 
>would either have to press the shutter release BEFORE the lightning 
>flash or be blessed with a astounding helping of good luck. Most 
>shots featuring actual lightning flashes are taken with short time 
>exposures and a stopped down lens. This gives you a few seconds to 
>capture the flash. Still need luck though.
>
>Larry Z

Lightning can sometimes be a couple of seconds long. If you're ready 
with a responsive camera, you can catch it. The light comes to you at 
light speed, but the rest is a lot slower. There is the usual small 
exploratory strike from the ground to the cloud, and then the big 
discharge from the cloud to the ground. This discharge takes some 
time, and can be caught with quick reflexes. The same goes for cloud 
to cloud discharges.

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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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