With the advent of the digital age, digital cameras are replacing conventional cameras in most fields of photography. While they are not suited for all fields, they are preferred in most. Hence, it is important to understand the aspects of digital photography in the respective field, in this case weather photography.

Resolution is probably the most important aspect of digital photography. When taking photographs of nature, it is important to capture as much detail as possible. A 35mm film slide gives a resolution of approximately 4000dpi, which is what you would get out of a 15 megapixel camera. Those cameras are quite expensive and would require quite a large shopping budget. However, and you could probably get great results with a 10 – 12 megapixel camera.

The human eye perceives light levels logarithmically, and in a wide range of brightness. Films perceive light linearly to some extent, but still a bit logarithmically. Digital sensors (CCD, CMOS sensors) however perceive completely linearly, and hence produce some unwanted effects sometimes. One such effect is thermal noise. The amount of thermal noise is directly proportional to the sensitivity level. Newer digital cameras can produce virtually no thermal noise ate 400ISO, and produce great images without compromising much on quality at around 800ISO.

Digital cameras are not suited for some types of weather photography. While taking daytime clouds, storms, tornadoes and mirages can give some awesome digital pictures, you will find that sunset colors, lightning, corona and halos are better off on films. It’s up to you to try out which is best suited for your style of photography.