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My photo diary of today

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stuart2588
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« on: September 01, 2008, 09:14:26 pm »

here are some shots from today.


Convection started as I was driving home. Some mammantus about but didnt get them on camera as I was driving.




I took these next few facing south from the Knockagh monument. The area you can see would be in the bangor direction. Quite a few sferics from this area, although I did not catch any!






I arrived back at my house to this nice anvil that was forming.





So off I drove to try and capture some nice shots. This one is me driving up my street.


I arrivied at some fields along the country road from my house and decided to stop.






I was sittin parked in my car watching this huge anvil moving from right to left as I watched it. The rain appeared to be comming down very quickly. This was looking in the direction of ballyboley forest. I was certain that there would be something to come from this storm.

Then suddenly I noticed a lowering from the cloud and I couldnt believe what I saw. It was as if a funnel was rotating and comming down towards the ground.I have never seen a funnel myself but it didnt seem like scud or cloud as it appeared to be rotating so fast. I managed to get some pics but as it was so far away and the zoom on my dads camera isnt that good, it hasnt turned out great. it could maybe be edited to bring it out more. In between these images a farmer drove past me and as I looked back to take the second pic, it was returning back up to the cloud. It was amazin if it was a funnel. It just appeared to be turning so fast.

Here is the pic. You can just about make it out in the distance.



Took this one and got the reflection by mistake lol



I then returned home and about half an hour later I had some nice build ups floating over my house.








I never managed to hear any thunder or see any lightning but all in all it was a good day!


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Steveo74
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« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2008, 09:25:10 pm »

Great report Stuart! The images tell me you had a good day storm chasing...   Grin
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Thanks,
         Steven..

Visit my Blog http://steviesskyshack.blogspot.com

Visit my Flickr  http://www.flickriver.com/photos/16671294@N07/
martinastro
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« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2008, 10:33:42 am »

Great storm chase Stuart!. I enjoyed reading your account and images. Looks like great convection from your location yesterday. The funnel is a bit distant in the image but if you saw rapid rotation then it no doubt was a funnel cloud, the cells above are more than capable of producing one  Smiley

Great report, I hope you get more action today.

* Love the shelf over the water.
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stuart2588
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« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2008, 11:25:00 am »

thanks Martin. I need a better camera lol. Not long to christmas!

Which image do you think shows the shelf cloud best?

I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to studying the storms
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martinastro
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« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2008, 11:29:41 am »

Numbers 2,3, and 4 show it well along the leading edge of the storm's gust front. You can see the long precipitation curtain behind in.

I could do with a new camera myself. I wonder if Santa will deliver the new Canon 450D for me?...probably not lol. I will get one at some stage.  Smiley

The image quality looks good on your current camera?, what model is it?, and what would you like to upgrade to?

Cheers
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Paul
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« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2008, 08:28:26 pm »

Hey Stuart, there some great shots there - this wild weather is much better now that it seems to include clear nights!

Martin - if you're looking at a Canon 450D also consider a Sony A350 - includes in-camera SuperSteadyShot, 14mp vs 12mp and a much better live-view implementation. Compared to the camera you have now - DSLRs don't do movies but do much lower noise due to bigger sensors.
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brianb
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« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2008, 08:46:08 pm »

Quote
if you're looking at a Canon 450D also consider a Sony A350
And don't forget the offerings from Nikon, Pentax/Samsung and Olympus. They're all good cameras, the feature sets are comparable if not the same; what actually matters more is the way they feel in your hand - get that right and you'll find it much easier to take pictures than you would with a "better" camera that doesn't suit you as well.

The only area where Canon has a clear advantage is third-party software support, especially in "free" (as in beer but not speech) applications like Deep Sky Stacker. But DSS is compatible with all cameras that can write 16-bit TIFF files, either directly or through the manufacturer's raw converter software. Raw support is convenient rather than a "must".
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Paul
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« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2008, 09:05:51 pm »

Indeed so Brian - my point being more that there is more than just Canon - others have caught up after Canon's ground-breaking 300D of five years ago. I'm biased of course as a long-term Minolta man - Minolta gave up and sold the lot to Sony so although Sony are the "new guys on the block" in theory, in practice there's 23 years worth of lenses that will fit the mount and all the expertise that comes with that.

The direction of camera design is likely to change rather a lot in the next few years - having replicated the film SLR perfectly we will see the electronic side of things being exploited much more - I already own a bridge camera which will do real (not HSS) flash sync at 1/4000th which is an interesting effect in daylight - rear curtain as well if you like, and there's no reason why DSLRs shouldn't do that, but they don't.

Time for another thread maybe?

P.
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stuart2588
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« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2008, 09:26:41 pm »

Thanx guys.

I think a new thread on cameras would be a great idea.

At the min I am just using my dads camera which is only a small digital one which cost £90. its not a dslr.

To be honest I dont really know too much about cameras but I am really keen on learning more as I have really started to get into photography now.

I love the weather and think this forum is great.

A thread on new cameras would be a great idea. We could cover a good first camera. cameras for weather etc and personal favs. i think that would be great. I am hoping to get one around christmas.

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martinastro
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« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2008, 09:28:09 pm »

Thanks Paul and Brian for the camera help. I will do research on all those models you mentioned to learn more about each. I will be keeping my current camera for video footage but want a better quality DSLR for long exposure imaging and for storms to. I need a camera with a quick start up time, rapid response, sensitive with a good chip to collect as much light as possible, and a good range of lenses from the manufacture.  The reason I was thinking of the 450D was because of the live LCD screen feature.

Maybe another thread should be started because it will help myself and others who are thinking of upgrading. Cheers.
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