UKH

I'm going to take my first ever stab at this tonight.

Any tips on how I can get some good results?

I'm watching a real time lightning strike site at the moment to see if the storm heads this way.

Liverpool is getting pounded right now.

Hopefully  head my way.

In the dark(!) with camera on a tripod or solid surface, point it towards the storm and set a 30 sec exposure. Using self-timer will reduce shake even more,

Chris

I expect you to come back with something like these

vimeo.com/245581179

vimeo.com/226958858

Worth looking at the other videos from the second link as well.

Amazing stuff and only wish I had the talent and time to make something like this.

Sat on the prom and the sodding lightning has stopped.

Aggg

https://www.lightningmaps.org

What CC said. It's dead easy with digital cameras as the issue is getting lightning when the shutter is open, and that's just a matter of probability. The more frames you take, the higher the chance of a good shot, and loads of frames have no financial penalty unlike they did with film. If you've an olympus OM-D the live bulb mode is great as you can stop the exposure as soon as you've had the lightning.  Use a wide lens unless the lightning is miles away. The shot below was taken with the Samyang 7.5mm m43 fisheye with ~180degree f.o.v. with the camera on a flexy mini tripod gripping the car door as it was drizzling. The lightning is about 3/4 a mile across.

The same night, but a small strike a mile or two away. Not with the fisheye iirc.

On my way home from fishing years ago, panasonic digital point and shoot balanced on the car roof. No manual exposure, I got really lucky as I only managed 7 shots before the battery went flat.

As others have said; 30-second exposure, then just keep clicking until you get lucky. 

As well as the lightning, try and make sure it's still a nice shot; try and get some interest in the foreground, hyperfocal distance to get as much in focus as possible and such-like.

The time of day and available light will obviously make a difference to what the final shot looks like - lightning at night doesn't tend to light much up other than clouds (unless it's particularly close).

My effort from Sardinia last year: 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/durbs/o03BTw

I'd love to know how to get hyperfocal with a fly-by-wire lens. Don't suppose you know?

If you're using a panny 20/1.7 don't, use an oly 17/1.8 or something else with distance markings instead.  You'd need to manually focus the panny which you can't really do in the dark due to a lack of focus distance markings on it.  Although it's a great environmental portrait lens, it's useless for anything in the dark as you can't manually focus it and it's too slow to autofocus. I changed to the aforementioned Oly lens for that reason.

This thread inspired me to get some photos a couple of nights ago.  Got lucky on this one 5 second exposure, 50mm, f3.5.  Handheld, but I was leaning against a post.