Frederic

What happened ?

Great snap !

I wrote a topic on this matter: To make a long story short, 4H uses the viscous coupling inside the transfer case to regulate the ratio power going to front and back wheels. This will be around 30% to the front and 70% to the back wheels on most cases. But this ratio can change anytime based on the terrain and torque needed. Its a pretty smart system and works well. 4HLC will lock the center differential, so the car splits the power on a 50/50 ratio permanently. Which can give an improvement on difficult terrains, but not necessarily. Up to you if you want to experiment with both options in the sand, but i do not believe this is related to overheating.. Toyota FJ Cruiser has Torsen differential which works also on torque-sensing technology. I am not sure how different it is from the 4WD select Mitusbishi technology. Xterra does not have this, their 4H locks the front and rear on a 50/50 basis just like 4HLC.

Nice ! Your Nikon has 24MP you can probably crop it a bit more without losing too many pixels. My zoom lens is budget too, the Sigma 70-300 is probably my least loved lens as it has no O.I.S so it’s basically useless unless you put it on a tripod and use the 10 seconds delay timer to avoid the camera lens from shaking when i push the release.

This one was taken with my daughter’s Celestron 700mm telescope, with the iPhone camera 😅

First Attempt: 70-300mm Sigma f/11 1/125 sec. shutterspeed Canon EOS 5D mk2

That is a good idea @JeromeFJ, i will adjust the timings.

Some starting information: Lenses You can use the kit lens that comes with your camera when taking photos of night landscapes with the moon in the background. But you need to be aware that it doesn’t have the magnifying power required to shoot close-up shots of the moon. Now you must be asking, how do I make the moon look bigger in pictures? The simple answer is by using a telephoto lens. Think of it as a big telescope that allows you to see everything up close. You can find so many options for your camera out there with various levels of magnification. So what’s the optimal lens to pick for moon photography? You need to find one with a focal length of, at least, 300mm. Thankfully, the moon is so bright that you do not need fast, expensive, telephoto lenses. Anything with an aperture of f/5.6 or f/8 will do. Headlamp Even when the moon is shining, it can still be quite challenging to see everything at night. So bring a headlamp with you to make everything easier. You’ll find it useful when setting up your equipment as well as adjusting camera settings. Just remember to turn it off before you take any pictures. You don’t want to be accidentally shining a light on your lens. Any headlamp works for night photography. But try to get one with a red LED light. Since it’s not as bright as the white light, you can use it without worrying about accidental lens flares as much. How to Focus on the Moon to Get Sharp Images If you want to get sharp moon photos, your focus needs to be precise. Unfortunately, chances are the autofocus will have difficulty when it’s so dark. So, switch to manual focus. Do not trust the infinite mark on your lens or the hard stop of the focusing ring because it’s not reliable. Although it comes standard on all lenses, its position is often inaccurate. In reality, the infinity zone sits somewhere between your lens’s infinity mark and the maximum focal length mark. So instead of using the infinity mark, use all the advanced functions your camera has to help you focus on the moon. Features such as Live View, Magnification, and Focus Peaking will all help. With the camera on a tripod, frame an area on the moon with contrasted craters. Now, try to get their ridges as sharp as you can by focusing back and forth until you find the sweet spot. Achieving good focus can take time. If you can, use a white marker to mark true infinite on your lens. Doing so will speed up your future photographic sessions. How to Include Landscape in your Moon Photos Taking pictures of both the landscape and the moon can be tricky. Especially since each one requires specific exposure settings. For the most part, moon pictures need a fast shutter speed while longer exposures are essential or nightscapes (a.k.a. night landscapes). So it’s not surprising that there are plenty of ways to take pictures of scenes with the moon in the same shot. And each method produces a distinct effect. The simplest way is to photograph both the moon and the nightscape is by using long exposure. The slow shutter speed lets in enough light to properly expose the landscape. In this case, the moon will be overexposed, which would otherwise be bad news. But sometimes, it creates a beautiful hazy effect that adds mood to your pictures. This method works even better if clouds are blocking the moonbeam. But what if you want to expose both the landscape and the moon in one shot? Then you can try boosting your ISO. These days, some cameras let you work between 3000 to 6000 ISO or more without introducing distracting image noise. With such high sensitivity, you can take pictures of anything with relatively fast shutter speed. The only downside is that even with minimal image noise, high ISO could still drastically reduce the image quality. So use this method with caution and only apply it only if you find it necessary. The best way to expose for the landscape and the moon separately. In other words, take two photos with different exposure times and combine them in Photoshop. Mask in the moon into your nightscape, and you got yourself the perfect image. Photographing and Editing Workflow for Moon Photography What Settings Should I Use to Photograph the Moon? Now to the most crucial question in moon photography: How do I set my camera to take a picture of the moon? A lot of people end up with overexposed images because they think the moon requires long exposures. But the truth is that you need to photograph it using daytime settings. So what does that mean? First, you set your ISO to 100. Next, adjust your aperture between f/11 and f/16 for maximum sharpness. And finally, use a shutter speed of about 1/125th of a second or faster. It’s that simple. To get the best results, you should always shoot in RAW. Take a test shot and check the histogram that you have not clipped the highlights and that the Moon is not too dark. The sky will probably be pitch black, but that is not a problem. If you don’t have a remote shutter, use the built-in 2-second timer to avoid camera shake. When checking the exposure, be sure your moon is sharp.

This time we will be focusing on taking nice shots from the full moon. Bring your DSLR with zoom lens (if you have one), or if you have a telescope please bring it along as well. You can signup for the event in below calendar:

Well deserved @Anish S !! Keep it up !

Congrats !!!

Fantastic shots ! I guess we'll see them on the Carnity Social Media soon

I came across this website which contains a lot of information too: https://astrobackyard.com/nightscape-photography/

Both are very heavy vehicles. A friend of mine drives a H3 and does well during the occasional desert drive when we go camping, but it’s clear that the H3 feels better at home in the mountains. @Joe Biju Joseph has an H3 and takes it everywhere too 😃. The small windows is a bit of an issue too when off-roading. The H2 which I assumed you owned already is a mighty beast, @Gavin Hill does great with it. But not the easiest vehicle to learn off-roading.

The rear bumper of the Pajero acts as a sand scoop, and from Fewbie level onwards you might be damaging the rear bumper. Mostly the long wheel Pajeros have this issue but eventually also the SWB will get the rear bumper damaged. @Wrangeld will be able to give his two cents on this topic for sure. About the noise, this should be not an issue at all. These plates are quite thick and will not cause any noise or vibration.

Very good topic @Arman many amongst us have that initial fear of trying something ourselves, but there is so much we can do with some common sense, elbow grease, and the occasional Youtube video to help us out. I don't think every mechanic is trying to rip off their customer. In most cases they are just not interested in digging a little bit deeper into the problem and want to kill the mosquito with a bazooka. On the other hand i have seen small workshops doing wonders with what they have. But it takes time to find good reliable workshops but yes even then you'll need to keep an eye on them and be a critical and difficult customer to get it done properly.

DRIVE REPORT Waking up at 4AM has its perks: You get to see a beautiful sunrise from the dunes, and enjoy some offroading adventures in the great company of our Carnity family. We first headed towards the sun and covered the Suwaydan area, which is a bit more technical and bushy/bumpy, but the scenery is totally worth it. The lonely ghaf trees, shrubs, and even a bit of a forest which i fell in love with a few years back and labeled it "Sharjah Forest" We took a nice photo of the entire convoy over there, before heading out to Faya. We reached Faya from the back side, but as it was quite busy with other convoys and cross tracks, we quickly climbed via the cheat route, and descended with some nice playtime in the bowls around it. Everyone was managing so well and the ropes and shovels remained in the car during the whole drive. With some time left, we decided to head towards Camel Rock and Fossil Rock. Once we had our fill, we took the pylon track and exited at the Mahafiz Mosque. I was stunned by the entire convoy on how you guys all did so well. My aim for today was to practice a smooth track in which the drivers practice restraint, in order not to churn up the tracks for the team members behind them, and everyone did this superb. Thanks for the great support of @Hisham Masaad @Mukundan Nair @Nivin and @Nabil Bishara, and the team spirit shown by all, our newbies were in great company and we were able to cover 52kms in 3 hours with hardly any refusals. The few ones we faced were easily dealt with, and that meant we could keep driving and enjoying this wonderful morning. Special thanks as well to @Niki who was my SL, and finally was able to get into a drive with me 😅 Hope to see you all soon in the sands again ! Enjoy the rest of your Friday !

Eid Mubarak to everyone !!

Amazing !!

DRIVE RSVP IS NOW CLOSED Convoy Setup 1) Frederic - Pajero SWB - Crew @Frederic 2) Niki - FJ Cruiser Black - Fewbie @Niki 3) Anoop Raj - FJ Cruiser - Newbie @Anoop Raj 4) Anoop Nair - Jeep Wrangler - Newbie @Anoop Nair 5) Tareck - Nissan Patrol Y62 - Newbie @Tareck 6) Hisham Masaad - FJ Cruiser Black - Intermediate @Hisham Masaad 7) Sunil Mathew - Jeep Wrangler Yellow - Newbie - @Sunil Mathew 8 ) Pacific - Jeep Wrangler SWB - Fewbie - @Pacific 9) Mukundan Nair - Nissan Xterra - Intermediate - @Mukundan Nair 10) Lakshmi Narasimhan - Pajero LWB Gold - Fewbie - @Lakshmi Narasimhan 11) Darren Brooke - Chevy Tahoe - Fewbie - @Darren Brooke 12) Richard Franks - Jeep Wrangler Red - Fewbie - @Richard Franks 13) Lawrence Chehimi - Nissan Patrol Y62 - Intermediate - @Lawrence_Chehimi 14) Goutam - Jeep Wranger Yellow - Intermediate - @Goutam 15) Nivin - Nissan Xterra - Advance - @Nivin 16) Nabil Bishara - Jeep Wrangler - Advance - @Nabil Bishara We will be using Channel 2: 446.03125 Mhz. Please make sure you have your off-road gears as per your level. See you guys tomorrow at 05:30AM !