In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.
My new 650-1300mm lens arrived today, and I immediately took it up to the tower site for a test run. I really didn't know what to expect from such a long and inexpensive lens, but overall I'm pleased with the results. The lens is very heavy, and my Bogen tripod was barely enough to keep it steady with the camera on it. I had to use the mirror lock-up feature on the camera to minimize softness. Here are a couple of shots of the lens (sans camera) framed for the WVAH tower tip:
Here is a 100% crop of the above image (click the image for the full size crop). One thing I can see now is that the tower's lightning conductor is equipped with 'dissipation combs', fine points that are supposed to prevent strikes by draining a storm's charge. Obviously, these don't work, a fact that's been well-known in the scientific community for many years! Chromatic aberration is pronounced here - so it remains to be seen how an intense lightning channel will expose.
I also tested the Raynox 2.2x teleconverter/300mm lens setup that I posted about earlier. Surprisingly, the results were not as bad as I had expected - a little softer than the 1300m lens, but not by much:
Although this proof-of-concept test proves the 1300mm setup certainly works sufficiently (I'm more after the research aspect of this shot rather than getting something to frame on the wall), it is going to be very challenging to pull this off with actual lightning. Focusing was difficult, and getting the tower tip halfway centered in the image was a huge pain. Moving the lens by a fraction of a millimeter results in the tower tip moving significantly in the shot, meaning a slight bump could easily take the tip out of the frame altogether. Just tightening the tripod head clamp moves the lens enough to completely mess up the framing. Mirror lock-up was needed to get the sharpest image possible. A dual-tripod setup (one for the lens, another for the camera) may help, but will increase the setup time - a big factor in a storm situation.
So, all I need at this point is another storm up there. We'll see how it goes then!
Why do I foresee a phone call or blog post saying that the wind knocked this camera over? - Posted by Doug K from locked in your computer and partying
Cool lightning shots. What is the f/number of this lens? - Posted by Darren Addy from Kearney, NE
Thanks Darren, the aperture is fixed and dependent on the zoom position - from F8 at 650mm to F16 at 1300mm. The exposure is controlled with shutter speed. - Posted by Dan R. from Charleston, WV
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
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