Gear

I use Nikon equipment for my weather photography. The body is a Nikon D200 10 Mp DSLR with a DX size CCD sensor. I've found that CCD sensors have advantages over CMOS sensors with respect to handling intense highlights (such as lightning) and produce better results.

The body has a Kirk quick release swiss arca "L" bracket which makes for easy landscape/portrait orientation. Everything including the Bogen tripod w/Kirk ball head and my simple window mount w/ball head are equipped with swiss arca quick release platforms. Other accessories include 2 - 4Gb compact flash cards, a flash shoe spirit level, a Nikon MC-20 remote release, and a few clear, polarizing, and neutral density filters.

I use 3 lenses for lightning and storm photography. A Nikkor AF 24mm f2.8, a Nikkor AF 50mm f1.4, and a Nikkor AF 85mm f1.8 make up my lens kit. If I can't compose a shot with those 3 focal lengths, I'm either too far away or too close for comfort. I use mainly prime lenses because of the better resolution and contrast as compared to zoom lenses. The only downside to using primes is that they are more prone to reflections in some situations. Also, I never use protective filters unless absolutely needed as the filters can cause reflections.

I always shoot in the raw mode and process the raw files on a standard homebuilt PC computer with Win7 Pro x64. Software includes: Nikon Transfer, Nikon View NX2, Nikon Capture NX2, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and BreeseBrowser Pro.

The complete system is color calibrated and profiled using ColorEyes Display Pro and Gretag-McBeth Profile Maker Pro color management software with an Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer.

Printing is done on an Epson 9600 Wide Format printer using UltraChrome pigment inks and Epson papers.