Is there any camera/firmware that can take pictures on its own if the scene changes by certain predefined parameters?

For example, to take pictures of lighting, set the shutter to trigger if the sensor senses an overall brightness changes by +50% or more from a captured "baseline". Let the camera sit there and wait for the precise moment, fully automatic perfect lighting images...

Another example, to take photos at the finishing line, set the mounted camera to trigger if the sensor image changes by over 50%...

Just wondering

Sounds like an app waiting to be written.

Do you mean lighting or lightning?

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Cognisys Inc - Capture the Hidden World

There are plenty of cameras/systems that do exactly that. Many security cameras can do that. There will be an issue of latency.

It looks like Cognisys got some interesting equipment, not super expensive either. The imaging sensing should be done by the camera though. In theory the camera has everything it needs to do these types of auto-shots.

True on the issue of latency. It will require quite a bit of imaging processing power to make a fast detection to trigger the shutter in time for faster setups. The other part that's needed is a clear and intuitive interface to setup the workflow, however that can get complicated quickly if the user interface isn't capable for dealing with something other than drop-down/selection menus.

Even with, initially, a slower shutter speed cap and a convoluted workflow interface, this auto-capture system will still be a nice feature to see, giving the camera a bit more AI...

sorry, typo, I meant lightning.

... However, this will take all the fun out of capturing the "perfect moment" and dumbs down these types of photography.

Having been involved in the developement of a system like this for video, it's not the latency of the detection that's the hold up. The bottleneck for detection is the speed of the camera. If the camera is 60Hz, then the fastest that the detection can work is 1/60th of a second.

The greater latency would be the shutter lag on the camera. In comparison, that's huge.