Rev: Version 1.2 June 16th, 2022 Page 4 of 26
Introduction
The Lightning Bug Plus™ – Engineered for your imagination.
The Lightning Bug Plus™ is based upon the science of lightning. There are two
components of lightning; the bright white flash everyone wants to capture and
the unseen infrared light that always precedes it. The Lightning Bug Plus™ uses a
high-speed phototransistor sensor optimized to sense the infrared burst that
occurs just before a lightning strike. This infrared light comes from the
vaporization of air and particles in the air. The Lightning Bug Plus™ acts as a
lookout for your camera, watching for a change in infrared light. When a
significant change of infrared light over a very short period of time is detected, it
trips the camera shutter to capture the visible lightning bolt.
The Lightning Bug Plus™ can also be used to take photos of fireworks, cannon
shots, virtually anything that produces a fast-acting rise of infrared light formed
by a high-temperature event.
The Lightning Bug Plus™ exclusive sensitivity adjustment circuitry allows the
photographer to customize the unit’s operation to any shooting situation. This
gives the photographer full control over when to take the picture. If you only
wanted to capture the brightest and closest lightning bolts you would decrease
the sensitivity. If you wanted to capture lightning over the city or mountains from
a long distance, just increase the sensitivity. Only the Lightning Bug Plus™ gives
you this level of control.
The Lightning Bug PlusTM has, as standard, premium features not found in simpler
lightning detectors. The user can limit the number of possible exposures per
second to between 1 and 10. This feature allows you to capture repeated
lightning strikes successfully, up to the maximum frame rate of your camera.
When trying to capture weather events, your photography gear can get wet;
we’ve designed the Lightning Bug Plus™ to withstand exposure to rain. The design
incorporates weather resistant soft touch buttons.
