Getting lucky on the first try was just so cool. Having only had my reliable Sony DSC-F717 I needed to prove to myself that what some had said could NOT be done, could. The Sony only has a few functions regarding leaving the shutter open for a while. After all, it is a fully automatic camera with a little bit of allowance here and there. Everywhere I had read that people only shoot with film cameras. You know, 35mm type stuff. But I kept questioning that and wondered why? I mean digital technology is pretty cool and powerful too.

So I broke down, yes, and actually read the Sony manual. After a bit of experimentation I finally found the settings I needed to try to get some shots. But my window was only 30 seconds, then wait another 30 seconds for the camera to process. That's a whole minute! Many lightning strikes can happen in that time - a loss. :(

I figured, what the hell, try any ways. Lo and behold - the results. Yes I got lucky! Not just once, but several times as you can well see. I was now hooked. But I needed more control. Enter the Canon Rebel XTi. This now became a quest. I had been filming lightning for days on video, but the frames on a video cam are just not enough resolution. I needed more!

The soundtrack is a loop of one of the actual lightning videos (Lightning Dance Version 2) on Youtube. Enjoy.

All images here were shot with a Sony DSC-F717 at high resolution. Amazing detail for a camera with limited functions.