Why does Lightning create Bright Bands on a Camera?

[greswd]

I tried taking a photo of lightning with my smart phone.

As the lightning flashed across the sky, bright horizontal bands of light flashed across the screen.

What's the cause of this?

 

[jerromyjon]

What's the cause of this?

I'm not an expert but the CCD camera uses lines of pixels and when a pixel is overstimulated it overflows into the rest of the pixels in the line. Hope that helps!

 

[davenn]

I'm not an expert but the CCD camera uses lines of pixels and when a pixel is overstimulated it overflows into the rest of the pixels in the line. Hope that helps!

no not quite ... considering most cameras these days are CMOS sensors

I want to hear more from the OP before answering

 

[rootone]

Were you just using the phone as a camera or did it have other apps running?
If so they might have been generating a bit of random noise on the screen because of lightning interfering with the local cell phone network.

 

[davenn]

I tried taking a photo of lightning with my smart phone.

As the lightning flashed across the sky, bright horizontal bands of light flashed across the screen.

What's the cause of this?

firstly ... where you doing video ( movie mode) or photo mode ?
show us an example if what you captured

If video, it is caused by the shutter method used in today's modern cameras and it's a total pain in the butt for us serious storm photographers

whilst awaiting your image, does it look anything like this one ? ...

this is just one frame out of a video. when viewing the video at normal speed all you see is a
wide band of flickering bright light, much as the OP describedDave

 

[davenn]

Were you just using the phone as a camera or did it have other apps running?
If so they might have been generating a bit of random noise on the screen because of lightning interfering with the local cell phone network.

probably not ...
see my post as an example, I am pretty sure this is what the OP will be referring to

LETS WAIT for the OP to respond to my questions and confirm
instead of wild guesses Dave

 

[DaveC426913]

whilst awaiting your image, does it look anything like this one ? ...

View attachment 104606

It took me several looks to realize what you're referring us to.

The top fifth of the image is blocked out.

 

[davenn]

It took me several looks to realize what you're referring us to.

The top fifth of the image is blocked out.

and the lower 1/3 is excessively darkened. because of the shutter

This is the effect caused by the rolling shutter system used with CMOS sensor cameras ... tis extremely frustrating
Cameras with CCD chips ( there are very few left unfortunately) use a global shutter. The difference is that the CCD
imaging system using the "global shutter" system where the signal from the whole chip is switched on and off. rather than just a scrolling band of exposed sensor.

As a result, I'm still using an 8 year old CCD chipped camera with horrible low resolution. Unfortunately, there is
nothing more modern that I can replace it withDave

 

[greswd]

firstly ... where you doing video ( movie mode) or photo mode ?
show us an example if what you captured

If video, it is caused by the shutter method used in today's modern cameras and it's a total pain in the butt for us serious storm photographers

whilst awaiting your image, does it look anything like this one ? ...

View attachment 104606

this is just one frame out of a video. when viewing the video at normal speed all you see is a
wide band of flickering bright light, much as the OP describedDave

It was in video mode. My camera is a Sony Exmor RS IMX240.

The funny thing is that I see these bright bands even if my camera is pointed away from the lightning when it strikes.

 

[DaveC426913]

The funny thing is that I see these bright bands even if my camera is pointed away from the lightning when it strikes.

Makes sense. Lightning is bright enough to briefly light up your whole environment bright as day. And it happens very fast. So, as far as the camera is concerned, whether it is pointed at or away from the flash, it is immaterial to its inability to capture the image.

 

[davenn]

It was in video mode. My camera is a Sony Exmor RS IMX240.

The funny thing is that I see these bright bands even if my camera is pointed away from the lightning when it strikes.

yup, confirms my suspicion ... just say thankyou to CMOS sensors and rolling the shutter system

there isn't anything you can do about it
Dave

 

[greswd]

Makes sense. Lightning is bright enough to briefly light up your whole environment bright as day. And it happens very fast. So, as far as the camera is concerned, whether it is pointed at or away from the flash, it is immaterial to its inability to capture the image.

Ahh, now I see.

Some idiot told me that the bright bands were due to EMPs from the lightning interfering with the electronics. Sounds cool, but bullshit.

 

[DaveC426913]

Some idiot told me that the bright bands were due to EMPs from the lightning interfering with the electronics. Sounds cool, but bullshit.

Lightning sure can play weird with electronic devices - radios in particular. Although that's the radio emissions, not the electronics.

If your camera is senstive in the radio band, you could make millions off reverse-engineering it.