Magic Lantern firmware....

[Buckster]

Alright when storms roll in I'll get some shots. I have quick reflexes, I'm no one to underestimate. I should add that I tested it in the previous version of ML on a slower SD card in a room with darkness then lighting. That may have been the problem. The reason why I said I'd feel like I'm cheating is much similar to the spray-and-pray method which doesn't take much skill at all. Lightning is the last thing on my list to take photos of but I will test both ML and my reflexes when it comes to the subject matter as I now have a faster card and the newest updated ML version

I wish you all the best, and look forward to seeing your results.

Just as an FYI, to my knowledge, there are two ways to successfully shoot lightning. The first is to use a long shutter and to shoot frame after frame after frame, hoping that you happen to be pointed in the right direction and that you get a nice bolt in one of your frames. Then you just delete all the dark frames and are left with the keepers. I've shot quite a few over the years using this method, like this one:

Now, you can call that method "spray and pray" if you like, but it's the most common, time-tested, accepted, and used method for shooting lightning to date. It is and has been used by photographers, young and old, noob and pro, for much longer than you've been alive. It is by no means considered some amateur method, as the term "spray and pray" connotes, and is, frankly, undeserving of such disparaging remarks, especially by someone who has zero experience shooting lightning.

The other method is to use hardware/software that detects a change in light or motion to trigger the shutter. Rather than shooting frame after frame of empty, dark shots, it shoots only when a change has been detected, reducing wear and tear on the shutter and other gear, obliviating the neccessity to go through hundreds of shots to delete the useless frames, removing the possibility of filling up the storage card just before the killer lightning shot got missed and, taking into account that it takes more time to write long exposures onto the card during which time the camera cannot fire another shot and may therefore miss THE shot you'd like to have gotten, doesn't waste time and space for that.

There are several trigger devices on the market that do this, and I have and use a couple of them. Magic Lantern isn't one of them, at least not yet, but I'm interested in its potential (mostly for purposes other than for capturing lightning though, to be honest). This is one of the shots I captured using a trigger made for the purpose:

Long before I learned about those two methods, back in the "old days" of film, when I was a young man, quick reflexes and all, I thought I could react fast enough to capture lightning in the way you're describing. I wasted many a roll of film, developing dollars and time trying to react fast enough with my eye and finger, poised, ready, steady, and pouncing at the mere hint of a lightning strike during a storm, with not a single success to show for it.

Maybe you'll have more luck than I did; More luck that most everyone who's ever tried it has had. But I wouldn't count on it, and here's why:

Human reaction time is typically on the order of .2 seconds and longer, depending on several factors. You can test your reaction time here: Human Benchmark - Reaction Time Test

Now here's what you're racing against: A lightning bolt lasts approximately .03 seconds, and is typically followed by 3 to 4 "restrikes", usually along the same path as the first, separated by about .03 to .04 seconds each. The total time then, from start to finish, for a lightning event is typically between about .12 seconds to about .19 seconds.

The chances of you pulling that off with human reflexes that typically come in at .2+ seconds are slim. Not impossible, but luck definitely plays a role. Your luck gets better if you're lucky enough to try it during a lightning event that has more than 4 "restrikes", but again, the typical lightning event only has 3 to 4.

You've also got to calculate in the time it takes between you pressing the shutter button and the camera actually firing, which is also a few milliseconds, depending on the camera you're using, and that certainly isn't going to help you.

You may begin to see the reality of the problem at this point, but don't let that discourage you. Go ahead and try your hand at shooting lightning relying only on your breathtaking reflexes, which are, apparently, literally "faster than lightning".

Lightning triggers, including Magic Lantern, detect the first event, trigger the camera, and actually manage to have the shutter open during one or more of the "restrikes".

Lightning triggers, like the many other types of triggers used for specialty photography, are no more "cheating" than using artificial lighting via strobes, diffusers, flags, gobos, backgrounds or just taking a step to the left to get a different perspective that eliminates the look of a tree branch growing out of our subject's head.

As photographers, we use many tools, from our feet to our choice of lens and filter and light modifiers, to specialty electronic devices, to darkroom or computer post processing techniques - all to get the shot we desire to share with our clients or the world. There is no shame in any of it, nor is any of it "cheating"; It is simply using the tools available to deliver an end product, and in the end, it is only the end product that matters.

Nobody cares what the assembly line looks like, what tools were used, how many workers were involved, what color the wrenches are, what size broom heads sweep the floor, whether the lug nuts were tightened by human hand with a chrome-plated lug wrench or by robot with a titanium pneumatic lug nut tightener - all they care about is the shiny new vehicle that comes off the end of that assembly line and whether or not is looks and runs to their satisfaction.

Ultimately, photography is not about the gear used - it's about the photograph at the end.