Quickest sound sensor for triggering a flash

I just got my first Arduino, and am completely new to this stuff. My first project is going to be a sound sensor that triggers a camera flash, for high speed photography.

I have searched around and seen this done a couple different ways.

One way used a "piezo element" to detect the sound.

Another used a microphone and amplifier to detect the sound.

Can anyone tell me which would be faster, better, more consistant, and what the benefits of each way would be? Or even if there is another better method?

My guess (and I could be very wrong about this), is the piezo element would likely be faster, cheaper, and easier, but may not be as sensitive? And the mic with amp might be a little slower since its traveling through more stages, but may have the abilty of being adjustable for various sound levels. Again, just a complete guess. I have no idea which method would be more consistent, but consistency would be nice, because I'm guessing you could make fine adjustments to the timing by putting the sound sensor closer or further away from the object making the sound.

Once the sound gets converted to electricity, whether by the microphone or the piezo, the rest of the processing will be very nearly the same. Those little electrons travel very fast, you know. Faster than a speeding bullet, you might say.

I'd go with the microphone and amplifier. That way, you have much more control over the gain of the amplifier and threshold that triggers the action.