My dog Tatum has that severe phobia of cameras and thunder & lightning. Strange thing about the camera is that she is afraid of it even when I turn the flash off. Storms are the worst though, like you said. The worst part about storms here was that Shawnee used to pick on Tatum (by nibbling her ear and things like that) when Tatum would become terrified of the thunder & lightning. Now for some reason, Shawnee doesn't do that anymore and Tatum just shivers and hides under a table or something. A dog obedience trainer at PetSmart told me to reward Tatum when she comes out from under the table with treats. Puppy sedatives aren't a bad idea either probably. I occasionally will buy some called "quiet moments," but for some reason I feel kinda guilty giving them to my dogs, like they are screwing them up or something, which is odd because they are just natural ingredients like tryptophan, and also I take psychiatric meds myself, however, I just don't want my poor pooches to have to do anything remotely close to that.