Christchurch storm nut

Just seen a flash of lightning here in Christchurch, popped outside and my god it's windy! And cold Looks to be passing to the north east of where I am.

Thought I would post this in here, unfortunately this lighting strike caused the death of several hikers. But I have never heard thunder like it https://nypost.com/video/deadly-lightning-strike-sounds-like-a-bomb-going-off/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site buttons&utm_campaign=site buttons

Total dedication! I tip my hat to you. I just don't get the chance to chase further afield unfortunately, one day though. This feels like the last chance for a while Hopefully I'll have some luck when I'm on holiday in France. Good luck and good night all, I don't think it's gonna happen tonight.

I'm in Barton on sea, the wind has picked up in the last 5 minutes. If anything is going to happen in this neck of the woods, it will be soon, and if not, I've only been sat here for 2 hours for nothing

I have a great view here from the cliff top, and I can see the tops of the cells that are south of Weymouth, so I'll be keeping a close eye on them. Fingers crossed

Good evening everyone Looks like it's been very lively on here today! Unfortunately I haven't been able to keep up to date with today's offerings, could someone give me any idea if the far south has a chance for the rest of the evening, or is the game up? As I'm currently sat at Barton on sea cliff top, and I don't know wether I'm wasting my time Cheers

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not knocking kit lenses! Almost all of my best shots were taken with the Canon 18-55, but I always felt they would have turned out better with a more expensive Lens, I found out to may amazement that you can have a 100 megaplex sensor, but put a kit lens in front of it, and you'll be lucky to see the equivalent of maybe 10-20 Megapixels It makes a huge difference!

Some cracking photos posted in here today Here are some shots I took from last night, but as frequent as the lightning was, it wasn't the best for photography, and in retrospect, I wish I had decided to video it.

What I found out is that the kit lenses are not the best for setting manual focus and keeping it there, but a more expensive Lens has more resistance in the focus ring, so it tends to stay where you set it. I have just spent a few quid on the sigma 18 - 35 mm lens and it's so nice to use compared to the kit lens that came with the camera.

I had the 1000d I'd I think that had it, so I would be surprised if the 500D didn't! Check in the menu as it has an option to turn it off.

Do you have live view? If so, put the lens into manual focus, then when in live view find a distant lights source and focus on it, you should be able to digitally zoom to get a better result. Works for me

Yep. Getting more visible by the minute.

Yes I can definitely see lightning coming from one of the storms leaving France. Come on!

Lightning spotted on the horizon

I'm using Jupiter as a reference for clouds building out to sea, and it's just disappeared! Are we about to have liftoff?