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Like probably most of us i have started photography with the 35mm film. My first decent camera was the analogue Canon EOS300 that came with a standard kit lens and a 75-300mm Canon zoom lens. I got hooked immediately to how the camera was always able to give me good quality images, but i never found the time to get into all the manual settings and the digital age started to creep in. I sold that camera and went for a Lumix FZ8 which was a small but capable digital camera with a very impressive zoom. Unfortunately this camera never gave me that feeling the Canon did, and for many years i never paid too much attention too it as it was busy pursuing my career, being a DJ, and balancing with family life. I found myself taking lots of snaps with my Iphone (6,8) which was acceptable but again never dug into the possible settings. Last year on a business trip to Poland i was able to pick up a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2 with a Canon 50mm 1.8 prime lens, 24-105mm Canon lens, and a 70-300mm Sigma zoom lens and i got hooked immediately by getting the real DSLR feeling back and i started taking some snaps in the city in late evening. Since then i've started reading lots of tutorials, manuals, books, to be able to use the camera in a better way. Currently i mostly shoot in Aperture Priority mode and like black and white candid photography the most. I recently got the latest Iphone 12 Pro Max with the 26mm f/1.6 lens and i am amazed with the quality of the photos, especially landscape photography with the wide angle lens.I took an online course with IphonePhotographySchool which provides a lot of information on how to use the Iphone to take amazing photos and i hope to use this club to share more information and become a much better photographer ! I have a DJI Phantom Pro 3 as well, and registered as a private user. I am looking forward to using this drone more often and learn more about the settings.

Thanks @Frederic for the great new club. As far as introductions go, alongside my previous activity (more a hobby) as adventure tour guide (see other threads), I enjoyed photographing the extreme places I had the fortune of visiting. Since we are speaking of a different era (it truly is, in terms of technological advancements), those photos were taken with a series of reflex machines: first Minolta, then Canon, and finally the gem of the times (talking about the middle 1990's), a professional Nikon F5 and a Nikon F100, with Nikkor lenses. I guess my approach in photography has been as the one I had with off-roading: first learn how to "drive", then upgrade to a better car. So I first taught myself the skills and tricks of photography using a basic camera, then slowly moved up to more sophisticated machines, which just allowed me to capture a few more things (quicker focus, more range of exposing options in manual, longer and/or wider lenses), but didn't add much to my abilities to choose subjects, frames, lights, etc.. I used to travel with the 2 camera bodies on me at all times, each mounting a different lens (a wide angle zoom with 17-24 mm opening, and a telephoto 70-300mm zoom). This made me always ready to "draw", and gave me many more opportunities to shoot different subjects and situations. Hard to believe nowadays, those cameras used real film rolls. I used to favor Fuji Velvia 50, for its vivid greens and blues, and Ektakchrome E100 for its warm reds and oranges. I would normally leave for a trip with between 50 and 100 rolls, and ended up taking an average of around 2,000 shots each trip. One reason for this enormous number of pics was that I liked to use underexposure and overexposure with most shots, to ensure a variety of color hues with the same pic, from which to chose my favorite). Also, the risk of not getting the right photo was quite high (no live viewing of the pic), hence more shots were taken of the same subject, just in case. I used to work a lot in manual, and sometimes with A priority (less times with S priority). Each photo was the result of a thought process, which forced me to think about a lot of variables, before and while shooting, that made each chosen photo (not more than 100 each trip) extremely satisfying. Then, digital photography appeared. Slowly but surely, great film types and brands went out of production, reflex cameras were virtually terminated, photos started to be viewed on a PC rather than with a projector (you wouldn't believe the difference if you haven't seen it), immediate reviewing became available, automatism started to kick in, and photography lost all its poetic meaning, for my. At least, it became a much colder, mechanical means of expression, in my opinion. So, here I am, an old-timer in the world of today's quick and cheap photos. I have tried using digital cameras, only to be displeased by the lack of detail, warmth and finesse that old slide mounted pics possessed. I have used all the ready-made tricks the new camera's menus have to offer, but they all have given an artificial feeling to my photos. So I am doing what most of us do today: I use my cell phone (and indeed some take great quality pictures), while trying to apply the old tricks, learned in a foregone analog world, in terms of how to "cut" a photo, angles, choice of subjects, and all that went into the preparation of a nice, well constructed shot. This has still allowed me to take some nice photos of our deserts, during our drives, which I will be very happy to share with you on this thread. And thanks again to Fred for coming up with this idea, which will has surely revived my desire to take pics.

One day you must tell me what stuff you are smoking my friend....

.... the beautiful moments slips pretty fast from our hands like a vehicle sliding smooth down a soft dune .. no matter we try to capture every moment ;the sand particles are gentler than our wheels can grip hold tight ...so just let go! ...what matters is not what we know or expect more than what comes spontaneous silky and make sense ... so just let go! open your heart and you will feel what your eyes can’t see how magnificent is that place where I try my best not to let it go ! for all desert lovers cheers

If this thread took 7 pages of pre event warming up 😄I wonder post event how much will take to cool it down 😄🤪

DRIVE REPORT : WAGAN/UMM AL OUSH/BU TAIS Every single time I come back from a drive in Abu Dhabi Emirate, be it Liwa, Sweihan or Wagan, I ask myself the same question: Why? Why don't we go there more often? Covid test hassle? It took me less than 45 mn to get it done this time. Long way to get there? From Dubai, you can reach Wagan in approximately 2 hours. Early in the morning you won't find any queue at check point. Why this question? Because off-roading in Al Wagan and all the surroundings (Umm al-Oush, Bu Tais, Al-Qoaa) is a very different experience. Basically, what we are used to call a "high dune" in Dubai/Sharjah area is a small or middle one for this area; to figure what a high dune is in Wagan or Umm al Oush, one should actually call it a mountain. As a matter of fact, everything there is higher, bigger, wider. This comes of course with a little bit more apprehension from the drive leader and maybe the drivers, which is the reason why I decided to restrict the access to "intermediate plus" off roaders for both drives. First, thank you @Nabil Bishara and @marks for reaching our meeting point (Al Wagan ADNOC Gas Station) about 20 minutes before time. After filing gas tank + jerrycan, we were already on our way to our entry point, 15-20 km away, at 8 am. Quick deflation, quick briefing, very quick convoy numbering (well, 3 cars...) and we were off. Since we were only three, I had decided to keep it safe, so we started at a moderate pace and gradually increased difficulty when we reached the first "mountains". From my previous experiences of Wagan, I had kept in memory the image of completely untouched dunes, so I was surprised to see a lot of tyre marks on these first high dunes (it seems that it became the Wagan people's Iftar Bowl). But the most surprising was about 20 km ahead, when we started to see tracks all around, parts of a grid covering the entire area. I had heard about such heavy human interventions on the landscape of Umm al-Oush, something related to seismic surveys for oil and gas prospections, but I didn't know it was also reaching Wagan. Just to reassure everyone, it didn't affect the beauty of this place. Wagan-Umm al Oush still fences the most stunning views that can be found in UAE, with Liwa of course. Back to the drive itself, I must say that both Nabil and Mark didn't struggle at any time. On a distance of 110 km, at an average speed of 28km/h, crossing Umm al-Oush, reaching Bu Tais amazing high dunes and back to Oum al-Oush entry, how many stucks did we have @Nabil Bishara and @marks? Three maybe, including mine, as I had a the best one on a very soft slope ? And I'm not sure if I heard the word "refusal" more than two times during the day. You guys rock! Well done! I posted in the gallery the 3 or 4 very cheap photos that I could take during the day, but surely Nabil and Mark will add some nice shots and videos...

I am a photography and especially analog photography freak. I never enjoyed these new technology toys. I had tried many different analog cameras and at the end I am a Nikon and Mamiya freak. In Dubai there is very active Analog photography club. With them I joined the Sikka Art Festival 2018. One of my picture find a place in the exhibition. When I was living in Istanbul I was having more free time and a city that can be photographed every second. In Dubai mostly because of work I slowed down. I was mostly producing Street photos. Currently I have; Nikon F3, Nikon FE2 bodies as 35mm. With them I am. Using; Samyang 8mm Vivitar 24mm f2.8 Nikon 28mm f2.8ai Nikon 35mm f2.8ais Nikon 50mm f1.2 ai Nippon Q 135mm f2.8 Vivitar 70-150mm As medium format I have; Mamiya 645 Mamiya RB67 Mamiya C220 Other then these I have Fujifilm XE1 and Sony A7ii digital cameras.

8 now.... or Japanese stopped on 7th ??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 It will keep going bro.... hahahaha

Thanks for the wonderful introduction Ale, i agree that going to digital has brought a lot of challenges for many of us. I loved the fact that on 35mm films we really needed to think before shooting, because otherwise the roll would be full before realizing it. Now we can point and shoot at anything and delete it whenever we want. The same thing happened to music, where i still have more than 500 vinyl records and few thousands CD's stored in my basement but everything became MP3 and here we are using Spotify as it has become so much easier. to bring back these hues that analog films typically had is possible nowadays with Adobe Lightroom that has thousands of possibilities. But i think for now let's focus on trying to have fun with shooting with our favorite cameras and learning some tricks from each other. I've always been jealous of my wedding photographer who persistently stuck with his old Leica gear and the joy of spending few hours per day in his dark room. He once opened the boot of his car and there were probably 15-20 high end cameras thrown in there. Now many years later he went digital too but he must surely miss these old days.. (see him below fighting with his gear)...

@Srikumar @Gaurav @Anish S @Frederic @Wrangeld Thank you all for these feedbacks. The issue is well lighted up. I am globally happy with my Pajero since it is definitely good in technical areas. As @Srikumar mentioned, we are rarely doing long hill climbs but need technical recovery capabilities in almost every single drive. So, I agree now that long hill climbing should not be the sole criteria to judge an off-road car. @Anish S @Gaurav @Wrangeld yes, maybe it is better to re-motivate myself not to look up of the hills only. I will try some attempts with 4HLc but your technical comments are very logical, so I do not think this would make a difference better than 4H... @Anish S thank you! You and me are trying to exploit full capacity of our cars so this helps development of our skills I think... @Frederic, I am also using my car for family purposes as well and Pajero is quite sufficient especially in my situation with two small monsters on the back seats and with many stuff on the luggage. So yes, this satisfies the both on and off road. That's why we will continue with this for a while I think. Maybe later I can convince my wife to sell her convertible audi and replace it with a SWB Wrangler, which still she can open its top and I can borrow some days when long-hill climbing is required.

@Ahab Shamaa @DANIEL NOGUEIRA Anxiously waiting for Mad Max (GCC Edition) 😂

Yes. Three stucks in total I believe.. what an amazing area with a beautiful scenery. I hope all Carnity members get to drive there at some point. Thanks Emmanuel for the memorable drive.

@Wrangeld and the whole team, thanks a lot for the drive! Convoy abilities, pace of the drive and technical dunes made the beginning a bit challenging but so fun! Once members were warmed up, every body picked up the speed and, as a result, we had only a few refusals! Great job! It was surprising to see all the hidden gems of Margham including little gazelle watching us from the bush just 10-15 meters away. See you soon!

Really, what a contrast from Kaiju to Sushimobile.........! Ya rayal @Ahab Shamaa, enough said. Let's show the bower of real Kaiju.

Believe me since I got the desert bug and it ain’t stopping ... but also I have little back ground of such stuff ( not the smoking but the writing 😆) but it’s all because of Carnity it came with no previous warning 😃🤪

How can you see yourself as a "most boring guy" with your drives, is beyond my belief..... @Rahimdad you are the reason why many of us are with Carnity, and you are at the beating heart of this great community. Magic guy is a more apt description. Looking forward to our next drive together (it has been a while).

@Mehmet Volga I am with the ithrrr guys. Getting up Faya is not all its cracked up to be. Right day, right sand, right line you'll make it. 30 minutes later, forget it. If climbing big bowls is your thing think about your angle of attack and your momentum. 'Underpowered' cars in the right hands can surprise by having more than enough. My swb 3.8 is wonderful for most climbs ... but i will happily give up getting to the top of a hill if it does not feel right. The sand is fickle.

Thanks @siddharth maheshwari for informing, I have removed you from the drive. Thanks @Athula Dharmadada for confirming that your car is ready, I have added you to the drive.

A relay drive would be great idea for all of this energy rather than parallel . Just crossed my mind and it’s execution is left totally to the leaders of both convoys to decide what is best and honestly we are not asking for more what was given that I really consider it the 2021 gift with a massive thank you once more 🙏🏻

The Al Ain Oasis is definitely worth a visit, and it is known for its for its underground irrigation system (Falaj) which brings water from boreholes to water farms and palm trees. The falaj irrigation is an ancient system dating back thousands of years and is used widely in Oman, UAE, India, Iran , and other countries.

Hahahahahahaha! @Gaurav, I got the bower 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The attached tutorial has helped me a lot when i started experimenting with the settings of my camera. Photography for Beginners.pdf Don't be afraid to post your questions or remarks.

Congrats @Veedooshee!!!

It's true. I do.

I totally agree with what the others here have mentioned above. The LWB Pajero is a very capable off-roader despite its inherent limits. If you rate an off-road vehicle purely on the capability of climbing Faya then the Pajero is not the right car. If you want a capable and reliable allround off-roader which is comfortable as well and suitable as family vehicle than the Pajero is the right fit. If you prefer to stick with Pajero then consider a SWB 3.8 Pajero like @Wrangeld is driving. You’ll have the best of both worlds.

Yes, it is ready now

Current Waitlist Goutam (Second drive) AlexPol Bala Krishnan Harold Roberts Bernd Stucke Ben84 Ranjan Das Jack Thomas imranaasghar81 varunmehndiratta

Hello @Gaurav bhai my plan is not confirmed yet so i decided to leave my place for someone else . Wishing all a very Happy New Year in Advance .

@Emmanuel wow you painted a picture 8n my head now which I'm unable to shake off. Wagan is definitely one place i would love to revisit this season. Since it is a very demanding area keeping it to intermediate drivers is best for now.

@Veedooshee Congrats 👏 👏 👏 ...

I thought that was a Jeep trait of leaving it's mark wherever parked. Guess it's the same with all American cars.

I kindly request on behalf of all the ‘fewbies’ to be re-routed to enjoy the battle royale to be played out 🇯🇵 Vs 🇺🇸 we will bring refreshment and snacks and a working computer/drone! @Ahab Shamaa Be kind to@DANIEL NOGUEIRA ... it was clear in his eyes last week he was seduced by the elegant, petite and graceful Toyota (sushi) so may be over compensating his love for American muscle (cheeseburger) 😀 have a safe and fun ride and look forward to making it to your levels soon!

congratulations!

@DANIEL NOGUEIRA, if I were driving a Meatloaf like you are, I wouldn’t poke fun at a Kaiju! After all, the Japanese still perform Harakiri, and can go Kamikaze when needed 🤣 Question: How can you tell a dodge was in the parking lot? Answer: By the puddle of oil it left behind 🤣

Congrats @Veedooshee truly well deserved. Enjoy the new level and have fun.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/TbeCZyC554Mu7ULb6 I took this on a sunny winter afternoon on 26th of December. As usual i forgot to bring my DSLR but took this with my Iphone and pretty happy with the overall result.

Again you are a strategy man.... trying to be the underdog and leaving all the pressure on me... lol Maybe you used to be a chicken, but you are a very good driver now, I've seen your improvement as well many of the guys that started with us as newbie. Sure that there is no challenge, it's all big joke, and you are carrying the uncle Sam flag in your "looker and mean" sushimobile😜😜 Let's all have a lot of fun, being safe, and learning more from our fellow marshals... See you in the sand 砂浜でお会いしましょう 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If I am allowed I would say “super magic guy”

Congratulations @Veedooshee!

@MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ, @DANIEL NOGUEIRA, @Gaurav &@Srikumar; ya’ll are bad 🤪 This thread reminds me of the movie ‘The Chronicles of Riddick’ where they say: “We all started as something else” We started with a number of us practically begging to join this drive, and ended up pitting my beloved adoptive country against the land of the rising sun 😀 Well, in the challenge regard, I say hold your horses, as it’s a no go 😀 First off, my Kaiju, even though she’s a looker 😍 and I love her, is no match for the powerful V8 Ram💪🏻 Secondly, you’re facing off a fat, middle aged phone salesman (me), against a Jujitsu master, a surfer and and a sportsman! Again, no match there 😀 Daniel is simply a better driver than I am. I’ve seen him do climbs and ride ridges like Mad Max! I on the other hand, am the definition of chicken 😂 So ladies and gentlemen, there will be no showdown this coming Saturday. I think I’ll be joining Miki and @Gaurav in popcorn consumption activities, while watching the rest of you do amazing things on the sand😀 @Lorenzo Candelpergher, sorry to hear about your computer issues. I’m normally a patient man, but my daughter was with me on the “drone drive”, and asks me about the footage daily. So I’m just projecting my pain here brother 😂 See ya’ll on the sand Saturday 😍

Oh yeah baby. Now, this is becoming interesting. 😂 But as a word of advice, never push yourself to the max. Have a good time, but when you realise it's getting serious , that's the time you stop as mistakes happen.

Looks like some folks here wish to see US vs Jap Iftar bowl action........! @Ahab Shamaa VS @DANIEL NOGUEIRA FJC (141 hp/ton) VS Dodge Ram (143 hp/ton) pretty close numbers. It will be good fun to watch them climbing Iftar bowl from left, right and center (in same order). I will sit with Miki and share his pop corn.

Climbing Faya from front with so many cross track is not easy and not many stock can do that incl. Xterra, Wranglers and FJC. And those who make it up again some day they make it and others they cant, due to sheer difficulty, angle and height Such long hill climb, do need serious power mod or change or car or change of attitude as @Srikumar trying to point in last line. One less dune is better than 10-20K AED mods + RTA violations + every week mechanic visits + lack of reliability + low resale vale. Once you are completely done with your Pajero, buy another desert toy having good power to weight ratio which is above 120 hp/ton and you will be enjoying lot more.

@Emmanuel it was an absolute joy to drive in this region- massive dunes, huuuuuuuge bowls in and out. Three car convoy was perfect for exploring and the way you took us around was mesmerizing. Climbing in and out of a bowl, climbing down on slip side crossing a narrow sharp ridge will be in my experiences for a very long time, frankly I was feeling my heart beat crossing that ridge after it was a bit churned as I was sweeping. But it was a memorable day. Thanks to @Christian Andras for being part of this memorable day with you in Um al Osh to Wagan.Excellent driving by you Thank you for letting me experience a bit of leading in this terrain which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wish to come back here more often. All the pain of waiting for covid clearance , passing through check posts and driving close to 600 Km on tarmac in one day up -down is worth the experience in this terrain. See you soon

This gear oil should be fine. So you would need 3 quartz or maybe just a little bit more. Keep the shop name where you got it saved as this brand of oil is not easy to get.

The 1 quartz is at 80dhs... The Redline engine oil is amazing....the engine sounds better and smoother than ever (especially at high revs) I just did another engine oil change, i used the same oil again and actually it's costing lesser now, it is 195dhs a gallon...

I think it is best for him to avoid a face off against your V8. His Japanese car might melt cuz of all that heat coming out of your engine 🤣🤣

Thank you so much @Srikumar... all the leaders are so encouraging that this definitely builds up your confidence to just keep going... keep learning and keep helping others to do same.. Thank you Dr @Chaitanya D... Thank you @Ahab Shamaa...👍

Sand to Mountains, RAK Exploration Drive - Report: The more the merrier Dear Desertnauts What a pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning. With so many of you!! Rarely I have seen such an enthusiastic response. Thanks to all of you for the trust, and active participation. This was veritably a case of "the more the merrier". This is not always true in off-roading, as bigger/longer convoys often lead to headaches. But last Saturday, thanks to Legend @Gaurav's availability to lead half of the group, to the nature of the terrain, as well as (and in no small part) to the consistent ability of all drivers, we managed 26 cars, with no major stucks, through a very long drive, in sometimes uncharted terrain. The drive started with a very timely meeting (not gathering 😅), in the tight spot where the dirt track leading into the desert leaves the tarmac road to the Ritz-Carlton Resort. We managed to separate the two groups, each on one side of the road, and to conduct a briefing in the chilly open air, before a rather early departure. As mentioned in the pre-drive briefing, this is an area where locals operate mostly camel, goat and sometimes vegetable farming, with a great number of tracks which lead over and around dunes. The open terrain is not easy to navigate off-track, due to the large amount of vegetation (you never know if there are trees or bushes on the other side of a dune, and when one finds out it may be too late to redirect), as well as a lot of pockets, double ridges, and other features created by the proximity of the dunes to each other. In fact, I had to exit the car twice, as I was uncertain about what laid ahead, to find the right path for the convoy, away from tight pockets full of soft sand, or bushes. Besides the intricacy of the paths we followed, the beauty of this area is given by its most prominent feature: the Longitudinal (or Seif) dunes. As explained in @Frederic's essay on dunes (available among this site's threads). these run alongside the direction of prevailing winds, and both sides (especially closest to the ridge, which tends to be less sharp, as smoothed by the wind) have quite soft sand. We enjoyed the beautiful landscapes' panoramas, from the top of some of the higher dunes, looking down onto the waves of these Longitudinal dunes, separated by sabkhas, the larger ones looking like dark lakes, with lone Acacia trees dotting them, like small green islands. Once we managed to reach the largest two sabkhas, surrounded by lower, still baby Saif dunes, we could not resist riding on top of their humpback, wider ridges. Hence the snaking around up the very ling length of these dunes, which most managed to ride all the way, while a occasionally exiting safely down the low slope onto the safe, hard plain (most of the early exits due to the sand getting softer, and looser, on top, or to some breaks in the ridge that invited more caution). Great job by all the Newbies, @frederic demolder, @Mike Kraher, @Baskaran P.R, @Alphin Aloor, @Arman, @Shehab Alawadhi, @Paul Zeitoun, in practicing a skill - ridge riding - which is more of a Fewbie level trick. Yet, the environment felt safe, so we pushed the drive a little bit toward the end, to add an extra layer to this great off-roading day. Once reached the exit point, on the outskirts of Al Ghail Industrial Area (after driving 53 Kms, in 3:15 hours), with Gaurav we decided to pull an ace from our sleeves, and attempt a "recce" drive in the last area of dunes before sand turns into rocks, and meets the Ajari Mountains. Hence, with the group's Fewbies, @Ahab Shamaa, @Niki Patel, @Federico De Chirico, @Federico Galbieri, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ. @Mahmoud Hamzawy and @DANIEL NOGUEIRA, we remain deflated, exited the industrial area on the main tarmac road, crossed it, and re-entered the sand in the direction of Al Ghail village proper. This is a small plateau of sand, with a variety of dunes, all very young and shifty (moved around and re-arranged by the wind), mostly of soft golden yellow sand, which first cascade onto a smaller, lower plateau, then eventually drop onto a gravel path, where the sand abruptly ends, and the black mountain rock begins to rise on the other side. This makes for a short, but exiting drive, with possibility of ridge riding, some criss-crossing, and, the final bonus, a straight climb, or sharp side sloping, on the wall of a very tall slip-face (where the plateau takes its first step down). Stunning views of the mountains accompany the ride, with a glorious mix of yellow, black and blue colors. After the bonus "recce", we reached our drive, which totaled 67 Kms, in 4:31 hours (3:12 moving), at an average speed of 15 Km/h (21 Km/h while moving). Thanks again to all the members who joined and have already written very good reviews of the drive: well done @Santhosh kumar Rajasekaran, @Bala Krishnan, @Ben84, @varunmehndiratta, @AlexPol, @Hisham Masaad and @Harold Roberts. One final special thanks goes to the 2 support drivers in my convoy: well done to @paolo dassi as a sure-wheeled Center Forward, and @Luca Palanca Falsini as a vigilant Sweep. See you again on the sand, as soon as my FJ will be returned to me.