Laser induced impedance changes in hollow cathode lamps containing sputtered metal atoms have been employed to measure the spectroscopic properties of metal. This technique, known as optogalvanic spectroscopy, has been shown to be a powerful and inexpensive technique for the investigation of atomic and molecular species. Characteristic optogalvanic signals from hollow cathode lamps (HCL) made of different metal species and induced with a pulsed dye laser were observed, and the dependence of the optogalvanic signal on the discharge current and wavelength of laser was measured. Based on the results obtained, the mechanisms involved in evoking the optogalvanic signals were consisted of single-photon absorption, multi-photon absorption, and photoionization. Moreover the current dependence of the optogalvanic signal indicates that the optogalvanic technique could be one of the most sensitive optical methods of detecting atomic species.