Here's an example where discernment helps us not embarrass ourselves:
https://twitter.com/InvestigateEar1/status/1763596303840227381
Gotta agree, this video is pretty freaky on first view. What's really happening: Lightning storms mess with camera sensors big time. Those green beams? Just camera glitches when lightning's electromagnetic whack hits. The cheap Chinese CMOS sensors that's likely in these home security/Ring-style cameras get overloaded with the static electricity from the air in the thunderstorms and freak out. A lightning flash bombards the camera's sensor with a sudden surge of electromagnetic energy, causing it to misread the scene and create visual artifacts, which become especially pronounced when the lightning flashes. and spit out those green streaks instead of a clear shot. Nature's raw power just throwing tech a curveball.
But could it be this?
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-022-01139-z
No. The NATURE article details a ground-breaking experiment where intense laser pulses created ionized air channels on a Swiss mountain, successfully guiding lightning over distances, hinting at futuristic lightning protection methods. So, while the article shows how we might one day direct lightning with science, the green beams in your image are just common camera quirks (again, CMOS sensors are pretty shit in terms of performance), not this high-tech weather wizardry.
For example, Sony is still rocking CMOS sensors, but they're not your garden-variety ones; they're back-illuminated and stacked, giving them an edge in hoovering up light and speed-processing the data. Their cameras are so good, so ground-breakingly good that the recent movie THE CREATORS was recently filmed with one. Six lbs! But it's important to note: cameras packing this technology aren't selling for the $145 USD or whatever that people picking up Ring cameras or other cheap security cam solutions.
Anyway. This is kinda why GAW is moderated as strictly as it is. The mod logs are public, you can see them in the sidebar. GAW doesn't get touched much, lately. We're just humming along. But, this post is hopefully a good explanation about how sometimes the mods do get involved in something.
Thanks, <3 frogs
catsfive's explanation would have more credibility if the color was also scientifically explained. Why green? The continental USA has some major lightning storms. Have there been any more sightings in areas with cameras?
Then ask! It's caused because of the way CMOS chips even work. Five layers. Three sense red, green, and blue, and the other two sense hue and intensity. Cheap security cams skimp on the RGB layers and focus on night/day performance.
See this1
Green "smearing" in CMOS sensor images can stem from a few factors:
Anyway. This is why. It's the mix of sensor design and lens characteristics typically highlights green artifacts under certain conditions.
Thank you for the additional info.
Thank you frog. Thank you for being open-minded to my explanation. I'm not deliberately trying to be a "know-it-all," but, having been in digital photography since buying my Casio QV-10 in 1995. The sensors were everything and I followed the CMOS chip development intensely. What Sony is doing with their CMOS is literally absolutely criminal, it's next level amazing what they can do.
You're welcome. This handoff of information is much better than banning the topic altogether. Many on this board are not just providing information, but also looking for information, albeit sometimes clumsily. As stated earlier we have many lightning storms throughout the USA, so this explanation will be proven or disproven with the passage of time.