How can i shoot lightnings? I mean what is the best procedure to do so for the D7000?
Is there some setting so that i can leave the shutter open as long as i like and close it on a click?
lighning shots
(11 posts) (10 voices)-
First of all: make sure your position is safe, so you don't get struck by lightning.
Get a good tripod.
Use some low ISO (e.g. 100 or 200). Put the camera in manual mode, so you can control both aperture and exposure time. Make sure the camera is not set on Auto-ISO. For the aperture I would start with 5.6 or 8. The exposure time depends on the ambient light. It does make a huge difference if you take lightnings in a city or out in the wild.
Do some test shots until you find a good balance between exposure of the foreground and getting enough time to increase the chances to actually get some lighning in the image. I usually try to get to 10 - 30 seconds exposure. But make sure that during one exposure you don't get too many lightnings (they might over-expose the image). If you really want an image with many lighning bolts in it you might still stack images during post processing (gives you more control).
There is one setting that you can use to keep the shutter open as long as you like: B (stands for bulb) in manual mode. But it only keeps the shutter open as long as you press the shutter button. If you want to use this I would really recommend to get a remote control, so you don't need to touch the camera.
It is some try and error but this is the nice thing about digital: you can see the result right away and correct if required.
Hope this helps.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Page 71 & 73 in the D7000 manual. You must be in M or manual mode. It is after the 30sec shutter speed.
Posted 7 months ago # -
All Nikon DSLR's with M (manual) or S (shutter priority) have Bulb. Just keep turning your shutter speed down until you see it.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Thanks Correlli, I could have looked it up whenever I wanted to shoot lightning however you saved me (and the OP) time. He and I are too lazy to use Google. ;- )
Posted 7 months ago # -
Just FYI at Nikon one can download the product manuals for quick reference...
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13948
And an App can be had to load the manual to your
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/manual-viewer/id468999172?mt=8
Posted 7 months ago # -
I usually use S mode and just keep taking pics at like 5 second exposures or whatever it is letting me do. Bulb is probably a better one, but I can imagine some overexposure using that...would depend on your setting like said above.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Correlli gave some good advice. Some people also turn Active D-Lighting OFF so it doesn't affect the image you're trying to get.
Just be wise. Lightning can strike you from up to 20+ miles away. People die that way all the time here in Florida. The saddest cases are the kids out playing soccer, baseball, etc. and never thought they were in danger.
Posted 7 months ago # -
Zoran asks.....
"How can i shoot lightnings? I mean what is the best procedure to do so for the D7000?"
There are a whole bunch of things to consider when you want to photograph lightning..........
The first is......where to put the camera, (and yourself), to minimize the possibility of being struck by lightning. I have given quite a bit of thought to that subject, as I too am interested in taking lightning pictures. One pretty good place, (and pretty safe, ordinarily)......is to have your tripod with camera, set up near a window (that can be opened), in a large downtown building, (such as a hotel, possibly); the problems here being........the ambient light created by the rest of the city, etc, plus, you are only going to be able to photograph the sky in one direction. ( It's usually pretty tricky trying to anticipate where the lightning is going to occur )
Another even better place to photograph from, and usually pretty safe, is to shoot from a car window; surprisingly enough, cars don't seem to get struck by lightning very often, and even when they are struck by a lightning bolt, the occupants are usually not harmed; ( it's a very good idea NOT to be in direct contact with any of the car's metal parts during a storm !)
The problem with cars though, you obviously can't use a conventional tripod. There are any number of of products made to facilitate attaching a camera to an open car window, and they "vary" widely in price, usefulness, and "practibility". Kirk Enterprises makes one of the very best window mounts, (but like all of Kirk's products, it isn't "cheap"); ( useful & practical, very much so, but NOT cheap) Another VERY GOOD window mount has the very strange name, "Grufwin" (or something close to that) It's made by a professional photographer named "Leonard Rue"; (unfortunately, when I attempted tho contact Mr. Rue, I was informed that the website was "down" for "overhaul", (or some such), while Mr. Rue is "on safari".........(presumably in darkest Africa) Had I been able, I thought of leaving Mr. Rue a message, mentioning that I certainly hoped his photographs from his "safari" would turn out to be MUCH better than than his photographs of his "gadget" that a very nice fellow had up for auction on Ebay; (otherwise, I feared that his :"safari" might become a huge "boondoggle", as regards the demand for his pictures.) Not withstanding the terrible photo on eBay, I ended up "winning" the auction, and when I received my "grufwin", I can now attest that it is a "superlative" piece of equipment, It "works" even better than I had hoped, and I would highly recommend it to anyone needing a very stable window mount for a heavy D SLR with a heavy lens mounted. ( Even though it does look suspiciously like Kirk's great window mount ) ( But who knows.......maybe Kirk's mount was "inspired" by Mr. Rue's ! )
Probably the very BEST venue (from a safety standpoint at least) for observing and photographing lightning, is from a large, "open" cave. ( the main problem here being "accessibility".............)
But hey..........you see a LOT of fantastic shots of lightning here and there, mostly on the internet; they all have one thing in common...........they were ALL taken by sharp, "innovative" people, who are able to overcome the "obstacles";
Having just mentioned all of that.........when you are REALLY ready to commit to making great lightning shots.........there is one more VERY key piece of equipment you will need to make very many (or any) great shots, very often..........it's a small electronic "gadget" that attaches to your D-SLR and operates the shutter release when it"detects" a lightning bolt; there are a bunch of makes available; I personally have a "favorite", but I don't like to mention brand names, particularly on a forum dedicated to one "brand" of camera.
Posted 6 months ago # -
From my experience of shooting with the D7000 and now the D800 is be patient and be prepared to burn a lot of frames. When I shoot with the D7000 I shoot with a 15mm fisheye since it grabs the most sky out of the front door of the house. I usually stop the lens down around F8 to F11 with an ISO speed of 200 and a shutter speed of 3 seconds or so. On the D800 it is the same but with a 20mm focal range everything else the same. On the D800 I have noticed that it takes pictures fast enough after the shutter trigger is pressed that you can catch lightning even after it has started happening vs with the D7000 hope that you catch the event after the shutter trigger has been pressed.
I am still working on getting my Camera Axe a faster photo transistor to capture the lighting with. Once I either track one down locally or get it online I'll end up mounting that behind the viewfinder so it will only be triggered when an increase in brightness occurs.
Here is a link to some of my images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/macsavageg4/sets/72157629961919653/
Posted 6 months ago #
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