Camera Options

[LockedInTheTrunkOfACar]

So, I am seriously jealous of the photos on the site so far ... I am working with a basic Canon 5.1 Megashot ... I like the camera and it serves the purpose for 95% of the photos I take, but what is a decent camera to catch the lightening bolts?

I ask as I would like to upgrade my camera to begin with, plus I will be down in the US for the next little bit and anticipate some great weather shots depending on how the tropical storms pan out ... do I just need to tweak my camera settings? If I should be looking for a new camera can one be found at a reasonable cost?

Any advice would be much appreciated.


THanks.

[davefootball123]

If you give me your intended budget I will be able to give you loads of options.

[areid]

I picked up a barely used canon rebel xs, which is the base model rebel about a year and a half ago. It's works great on an amateur level but now that I'm looking into the cost of lense kits for it I don't think it's worth investing the money into a lense kit for a camera that I'll want to upgrade again when I'm ready to take it to the next level. You definitely need to decide what your startup budget is and how much you will be willing to invest in the future. If you think you're interested in getting a little deeper into photography then a lower end rebel is definitely a good way to get into a dslr for under $1000.

[DarkSky]

Originally Posted by LockedInTheTrunkOfACar

So, I am seriously jealous of the photos on the site so far ... I am working with a basic Canon 5.1 Megashot ... I like the camera and it serves the purpose for 95% of the photos I take, but what is a decent camera to catch the lightening bolts?

You need a camera with manual settings - mainly exposure time. You need to open the shutter and keep it open for an extended period in order to capture the bolts when they occur. I wouldn't say you need a DSLR, as many point-and-shoot cameras have manual settings on them. Preferably you want a BULB setting so you can keep the shutter open as long as you want. But you can also capture lightning using a pre-set exposure time (5s, 10s, etc).

The settings I usually use are ISO200, aperture around F9, manual exposure time - I go to next shot right after a bolt, or after the shot has been too exposed due to non-bolt lightning flashes.

[LockedInTheTrunkOfACar]

Ideally I would love to keep the camera under $500, looking at a few options today the SLRs are definitely too bulky for me to travel (airplane) with on a regular basis, I get enough flak for traveling with two laptops already. As much as I would love the SLR, I would need to find an amzing deal to get me to bite.

I forgot to ask when I was going into one of the stores I ventured into today .. but do any cameras come with a setting to snap a picture every X seconds if it was mounted?

[-Strike-]

Like a time delay? I'm not sure. On my medium end DSLR (Canon EOS 60D), I have to use a cable shutter release/timer remote, that has the ability to capture a photo every preset time for as long as I wish. Great for time lapse. But, again. I'm not sure if you can do that on a point and shoot, unless you can attach one of the timer releases.

[davefootball123]

Originally Posted by LockedInTheTrunkOfACar

Ideally I would love to keep the camera under $500, looking at a few options today the SLRs are definitely too bulky for me to travel (airplane) with on a regular basis, I get enough flak for traveling with two laptops already. As much as I would love the SLR, I would need to find an amzing deal to get me to bite.

I forgot to ask when I was going into one of the stores I ventured into today .. but do any cameras come with a setting to snap a picture every X seconds if it was mounted?

Nikon P7100 will fit the bill nicely for you. Its a very fast camera with alot of SLR features but in a point and shoot body. It also has an excellent 1080p movie mode

[areid]

The Canon G11 would be a good option for you because its basically the size of a point and shoot, buts its full manual. I believe they are in the $600 range though.

[DarkSky]

The average DSLR isn't going to be much bigger than a half decent snapshot camera. If you want a small camera you'll get limited functionality.

For instance, if you look at the shots below, my DSLR is a Canon Rebel T2i, my snapshot camera is a Nikon P90. Not too much difference in size. Of course, the Nikon can zoom in 24X whereas if I wanted to do that with my Canon I'd need a huge lens. But all my storm shots are done wide angle and I've never used my telephoto lenses for storms.

If you wanted one of those compact snapshot cameras, the ones I've seen are severely limited in manual settings. I'm not even sure my P90 has a bulb exposure setting. Might just increment up to 30 secs. Nope, just 8 seconds! Heck my old Canon Powershot G2 would at least go to 30! Heh...