davelp

'Awesome' in the literal sense of the word!

Would be nice

Will be fun. Lots we can do.

I have been Nikon owner for some time now, so if I can help let me know.

I mark it up as a definite maybe! lol.

Pretty much my thoughts, but just a little teaser to whet the appetite and get the grey matter ticking over. Roll on May wish it was sooner

Could be, interesting shape, shame it was at night, difficult to get the clarity required to see for sure.

It was on the 11th June, Final chase day. Unfortunately I did not change my camera clock so I have it recorded as 03:32 on the 12th which is GMT.

Here one to ponder over, I was browsing my images from last year and found this little teaser at the bottom. Question is what its it? Please feel free to speculate. Nikon D3s 24mm ( 24-70mm f2.8 Nikkor Lens ) ISO 1000 15 Sec f7.1. Taken in the dark between 2100 and 2200 The area of interest is so small it was a bugger to blow up big enough. I only noticed it when I printed the image. :blink:

Bring it on.

Certainly am. Arriving on the 30th for a fun filled evening in the Great Western

Go Walkabout was the one I used. I was recommend it last year as they have one of the few that cover storm chasing.

Flights booked, Hotel booked, Insurance obtained. Roll on May..

BA0193 flights am on the 30th. 11.45 I think.

Just a taster of thing to come. Anvil bolt from tour 4 last year

I am curious does this chase require the full blown storm chasing insurance.

They seemed to have different rates. My said pay up front, the slightly more expensive flexible one was a debit on the day system. Who knows!

Very easy Look up the Great Western Irving rather than Dallas., once on the website just click on rates and availability which was top left. Gives a number of options. I went for the cheapest which worked out to be approx $66 ish plus tax. Paid up front to get the rate. Total cost was £44 ($70.83) just need to remember to bring my card on the day. Booking was for one in a king sized, no smoking, internet room with the standard US breakfast. Nice thing is they have a shuttle from the airport so no taxi fares.

Best Western Irving booked for the 30th, ready for the off when we meet for tour four on the 31st. Can't wait.

Right as always. Rain coats are for those rare occassions Paul does not hit the mark. They would not be capable of withstanding a full downpour, and certainly not hailstones, however they can extend the shoot in moderate circumstances. Generally speaking the human element gives up long before the camera would. The important thing with modern cameras, is to keep the body and mounting ring dry, as thats where the guts of the system are. lenses tend to be sealed and can take a serious pounding. Unfortunately the more expensive SLR's are the ones which can withstand the weather as they tend to be metal construction with water and wind resistance built in as part of the spec. A good microfibre cloth for cleaning the lense and a proper chammy leather for keeping spots off the camera is a good alternative.

This is the one I use. It does come in different sizes and colours. Well made and easy to get on and off, also light and small to pack. Shouldnt need it too often when you are out there but a nice safety blanket. http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-storm-jacket-slr-medium-black/p1017351

Highly overated clothes.

I would not worry too much about being outside with the remote release, follow the lead of your crew and when they get back in the cars it is time to consider doing the same. day time shots are always difficult owing to exposure issues. I will be outside with the camera regardless of tigger or otherwise. If you feel more comfortable not being attached to the camera, there are radio triggers available. These operate on the wifi 2.4 ghz system. You can pick these up for between 20 -70 quid. The range will mean you can fire the camera from anywhere in range. My take on the lightning trigger is not so much being separated from the camera but reaction time. The tigger will react faster than I can, During the day it might take some of the guesswork out. In addition to my Nikon I'll be taking the following 15mm Full frame fish eye (Sigma) 24-70mm 2.8 zoom (Nikon) 70-200mm 2.8 zoom (Nikon) 1.7 teleconverter Spare battery & Charger Charger Lots of CF cards Manfrotto tripod Ball head Panorama head remote trigger wirless trigger lightning trigger Storm guard rain cover ND filters Various ND grads various Polarizer Lens cleaner Sensor cleaning kit Microfiber cloth Chammy leather

There are a number on sale via ebay. I ordered a Patch master which gets reasonable reviews. Only cost $100 via the make an offer system. Delivery was quick. Seem to work using a flashgun, but only a storm will give a true test. There are others available, some from the states and one from the uk. The one from the states is the AEO Lightning strike which get similar reviews to the patch master, just a little more expensive. The Uk one seem complex and no track record to speak of. There is a $300+ one available but that is available only from a us company. The one thing we all need to be aware of is they do having technical limitations. The reaction time of the trigger is most likely considerably quicker then the sutter lag on a digital camera one being electrical and the other mechanical. So triggers will fire the camera but for at least some of the time the lightning will discharge quicker than the camera shutter can operate. They will record duds. There are ways of improving the shutter lag time, using mirror up etc but it will never be perfect. In theory it will have better reaction times that the human controlled trigger so the odds of capturing improve. The purists will argue the fun is in the human element. I know I will be trying both. I still recomend use of manal trigger and bulb for night shots.

Ill take one of those as well Wish I was out there for the season, but Tour 4 will give me my fix