Lightning Filmed at 103,000 Frames Per Second (Video)

Electric storms can be annoying, untimely, and extremely dangerous but they become a fascinating spectacle when observed with the right equipment. Perhaps no one on the Web is better prepared to film lightning at 103,000 frames per second than the team at Slo Mo Guys. Gav and Dan traveled to Singapore to take advantage of the monsoon and capture the most spectacular discharges of the season with their Phantom cannon.

Whenever there's an electric storm here, two things come to mind: either the Internet goes down, or I'm going to be left without power. However, my trauma doesn't eliminate the possibility of finding a true visual festival in an electric storm, especially when it's over the ocean. The discharges hitting the water, the boats turned into little toys... sounds pretty good, right? Then you need to see the latest material shared by the Slo Mo Guys. Gav and Dan visited Singapore during the monsoon season, and this is what they brought back.

First, the Equipment

Nights in Singapore Can Be Great

Wrong Place!

None of this would be possible without the intervention of the Phantom v2512 camera, a wonderful cannon with a six-figure price tag (the 2511 model debuted in 2014 at $150,000), and 288 GB of internal RAM. This translates to a buffer of almost eight seconds at 28,500 FPS, but the most interesting thing is that the user can partition the RAM and apply an automatic trigger based on activity within a defined region of the frame.

The Storm Begins

Like a Cannon from Space

This trigger is so sensitive that the Phantom doesn't miss a single lightning bolt. After a small scare (the storm started on the other side of the hotel), the Slo Mo Guys pointed their Phantom at the Singapore sky. The images and video say the rest.

Gallery of Lightning

Most of the short was captured at 28,500 FPS, but near the end, one of the lightning bolts was recorded at an impressive 103,000 FPS, splitting and advancing in multiple directions (the sensation is like an infection) until it manages to reduce its distance to the ground. After such a dance of light, electric storms take on a much more complex and fascinating profile, and I think you'll agree with that.