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by Bill Chambers on Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:55 pm
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Hi all,

I'm looking for a lightning trigger for my D810.  I don't plan on doing a lot of this type of photography so I don't spend a bunch of money, but would like a decent trigger for the money.  I don't mind spending $100-$150 or perhaps more if you can justify it, but I can't see spending $200-$400.

Any recommendations are appreciated.
Please visit my web site, simply nature - Photographic Art by Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Milton, Florida
 

by EGrav on Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:43 pm
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I tried that - getting “cheap” lightning triggers. I went through 3 of them. Each time I spent a little more $. After tearing my hair out after missing spectacular strikes, I broke down and bought what I should have gotten in the first place. All worked fairly well for night stuff, but then again you don’t really need a trigger for night lightning. Daytime storms are a completely different animal. I bought the Lightning Trigger (the real one), and it cost $400. But I ended up spending more than that for the first 3. Now it is rare to miss any strike. YMMV Good luck.

PS I have no relationship with the Lightning Trigger people. Just a (finally) satisfied customer. Excellent customer support, as well.
 

by Jeff Colburn on Tue Apr 23, 2019 5:03 pm
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Hi,

I use the Lightning Bug ($179). Here's an article I wrote about it http://www.jeffcolburn.com/articles/the ... g-trigger/

And here's an article I wrote about lightning photography http://www.jeffcolburn.com/articles/how ... -about-it/

Have Fun,
Jeff
Fine Art Prints and Stock Photography of Arizona www.JeffColburn.com See my ebooks in the NatureScapes Store.
 

by EGrav on Tue Apr 23, 2019 5:14 pm
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The Lightning Bug was one of the ones I found to have poor daytime results. YMMV


Last edited by EGrav on Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
 

by Bill Chambers on Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:23 pm
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Jeff Colburn wrote:Hi,

I use the Lightning Bug ($179). Here's an article I wrote about it http://www.jeffcolburn.com/articles/the ... g-trigger/

And here's an article I wrote about lightning photography http://www.jeffcolburn.com/articles/how ... -about-it/

Have Fun,
Jeff
Thanks Jeff for the info and articles!
Please visit my web site, simply nature - Photographic Art by Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Milton, Florida
 

by Jeff Colburn on Wed Apr 24, 2019 12:11 pm
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EGrav wrote:The Lightning Bug was one of the ones I found to have poor daytime results. YMMV
Hi,

I use it in daylight about 25% of the time, and it's always worked great for me. 

Go here http://www.jeffcolburn.com/photographs/ and scroll down to my lightning photos. The last two were shot with the Lightning Bug during the day.

Have Fun,
Jeff
Fine Art Prints and Stock Photography of Arizona www.JeffColburn.com See my ebooks in the NatureScapes Store.
 

by EGrav on Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:39 pm
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Yeah, I had miserable results in the daylight with the Lightning Bug. They even replaced it with another, thinking that it may be defective. Still, very poor results. So I sold it on EBay ( at a loss) and got the Lightning Trigger IV. Since then, probably 90+% capture rate on daylight strikes, The GC + strikes are the hardest to capture but I still capture many of those. I have been on 3 storm chasing workshops - they recommended the LT IV. A couple people on the workshops had other brands and they missed a bunch of strikes. I did lend one of them my backup LT IV. He ordered one that night. That is just my experience. Like I said YMMV.

My recommendation is that if you are serious about lightning photography, don't try to save money on lesser equipment.


PS This was 2-3 years ago. Maybe the L Bug has improved but it doesn't appear that it has. I did like some of the features on the L Bug, wished it would have worked!
:)
 

by neverspook on Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:54 pm
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I don't do a lot of lightning photography so am not an expert. But when I was photographing in Colorado a number of years ago, the lightning storms were so spectacular that I bought the Lightning Trigger. http://store.lightningtrigger.com/ It is simple to use and worked well in daylight (and at night but you don't need a trigger for night time).

I have an older version of this trigger and apparently it has been tweaked in newer models so might even work better than mine.

Roberta Olenick
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by Ron Niebrugge on Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:07 pm
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Hard to beat the little Pluto for just over 100 bucks.  Plus, it does a lot of other things. 
 

by Bill Chambers on Mon Apr 29, 2019 11:15 pm
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Ron Niebrugge wrote:Hard to beat the little Pluto for just over 100 bucks.  Plus, it does a lot of other things. 
Thanks Ron.  I'll definitely check it out.

Bill
Please visit my web site, simply nature - Photographic Art by Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Milton, Florida
 

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