Mikhail Lukichev

@Foxtrot Oscar well done! You managed to stuck in a beautiful place!

And thanks for freeing me from my crest 30 minutes later! 

@Frederic I guess it was not far away from the city. Lot's of light pollution, stars are not that bright.

It should be better in the desert! 

Also, I would lower the horizon line, as you said. And use portrait orientation to capture more sky and less ground 😃

9 minutes ago, Veedooshee said:

Hi @Mikhail Lukichev

The camera is a Nikon D7200, 18-140mm lens and we do have a tripod..

Excellent!

3 minutes ago, AlexPol said:

Hi Nikki, I got at home (will fly soon and will bring it to UAE) Olympus O-MD Mark II with 3 different lenses, if I'm not mistaken. Bought it for my son, he never used it)

And I do have my iPhone 12)...

Olympus looks good! 👍

21 minutes ago, sertac said:

@Mikhail Lukichev

Sony A7ii with 28-70mm kit lens will be used for milky way photo. 

Nikon F3 or FE2 with Vivitar 24mm f2.8 with Fujifilm c200 film. This will be used for star trails. 

I have some previous experience on this but it`s been a few years. Quality is very low i got screenshot from my instagram.

Wooooow! Awesome photos! I'm sure you know all the basics very well. So you can help others! 

20 minutes ago, Mario Cornejo said:

@Mikhail Lukichev

The camera I will bring is a Nikon D850 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.  Apart from the camera: tripod and a remote timer as I want to test for long exposures.  One item I've found useful and would like to suggest is a small brush, I carry one with me to remove sand from camera and first element of the lens I am using.

Great camera! True, small brush is handy at times!

13 minutes ago, Goutam said:

@Mikhail Lukichev 

I will primarily bring Nikon Z6 with 24mm 1.8 Z series.
 

I will try to bring rest of my kit as well which is mostly geared toward Portrait, travel and Street photography consisting mostly of primes and kit lens.

Awesome! You should get great pics! 

4 minutes ago, Niki Patel said:

Okay I am starting to get camera (and lens)  envy!!!  Such a great varied range ... it’s like the ultimate camera showdown  

True! Now I feel myself as a beginner among the pro photographers with their beasts 😃 

However, we all know that camera is not the most important element but the person behind the camera!

48 minutes ago, varunmehndiratta said:

Hi @Mikhail Lukichev a beginner query - do we need additional camera flashlight? Or just a  general Headlamp/flashlight?

Kindly bring a headlamp with red light, it will help to reduce the stress for your eyes. No camera flash needed!

54 minutes ago, varunmehndiratta said:

Hi Mikhail i have a Nikkon D5100 with couple of lens 18-50mm, 50-200mm and I believe a 50mm. 

Great set! 

5 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Hi @Mikhail Lukichev

Canon Eos 5D Mk2 with:

- Samyang 14mm 2.8

- Canon 24-105mm 4.0 L series

Will also do some trials with Iphone 12 Pro Max (night mode). Apparently this phone is quite capable for night photography too.

 

Awesome! Would be interesting to see what iPhone can do!

17 hours ago, Niki Patel said:

@Frederic will you also be trying a few shots with the iphone?  if so do i need to download any special software to allow me to play with the exposure time?  

 

@Mikhail Lukichev HUGE kudos to you for making this happen!  the list is a great idea and only item i am missing is the red light headlamp so will pick one up before the trip!  

my camera gear for the trip:

• Nikon 3300
• Kit Lens 18-55mm 3.5-5.6
• Tripod (basic but sturdy)

excited for this first astro drive!

@Niki Patel Your camera gear is good for us! 

@Frederic @Mario Cornejo @sertac @Veedooshee @varunmehndiratta @Goutam @AlexPol @Mahmoud Hamzawy, when you have time, kindly advise what camera you are planning to bring with you. 

Thanks!

1 minute ago, Frederic said:

I found this online:

https://photographylife.com/landscapes/how-to-focus-for-star-photography

Not sure if its helpful. I have very little experience in shooting stars, and will using manual focus will take me a while too. Love to engage in talking with others and learn a lot that evening !

I have my eyes on a Samyang14mm 2.8 Ultrawide lens i might be picking up secondhand (inshallah). 

 

Samyang 14mm F2.8 is a great option!

By the way, autofocus is not needed. We will focus manually and tape the focus ring after 😃

You can expect to get pictures similar to this one!

By the way, it was my first off-road trip on a rented Pajero which convinced me to buy my own 4x4 😃

3 minutes ago, AlexPol said:

Great idea @Mikhail Lukichev! I,d love to go. Will set up great fire place) Will we need someone experienced with us - then we will not get lost in a desert? Or you know the route?;)

@Frederic is with us, no worries! And we are not going far away from the paved road.

Our aims is to practice astrophotography basics so later you can do the same on your own in so many lovely places in the UAE 😃 So, location for the first time does not matter much.

Hello everyone! 

Thanks for joining us!

Since we are going to take some stars photos, we need to have some basic equipment with us. If you do not have something, probably, you will not be able to get desired result. 

However, equipment list is very basic:

1) tripod suitable for your camera. There is no need to have an expensive tripod, however, if your camera and lens is heavy, sturdy tripod would be handy

2) DSLR or mirrorless camera able to shoot in raw with exposure time up to 20 seconds. If you do not have one, you can try to shoot with a simple point and shoot camera or phone, but lack of settings could be an issue. If you have a camera but not sure if it is suitable or not, feel free to ask here!

3) wide angle lens. Actually, any kit lens should work fine. Do not bring your telephoto lens or a portrait lens this time, we will not use it. Again, if your are not sure what to bring with you, feel free to ask!

4) a bit of adhesive tape would be handy but not mandatory

5) fully charged battery for your camera

6) red light headlamp. Red light helps a lot operating your camera and not overstressing your eyes

That's it!

Kindly let us know what camera and lens you are planning to bring so we can check if it is suitable beforehand.

Thanks!

So cool to see so many people interested in the star photography.

I checked the moon cycles and found out that evening and night on 12-13 Feb 21 is going to be excellent for the night photography! We will have almost new moon which will hide below the horizon right after the sunset. 

The best place for astrophotography is Abu Dhabi. but there are some very nice places not too far away from Dubai too!

So, 12 Feb 21, 7pm - 9pm, place to be advised a bit later (hopefully, within 1 hour of driving from Dubai).

Should we create a separate topic for it? 

Thanks!

@Pancho, @Rahimdad and the whole convoy, thanks a lot for the wonderful drive!

It was my first drive from the Fossil Rock to Faya and I found it absolutely stunning! Gorgeous dunes complemented by beautiful rock formations made this a bit technical drive absolutely stunning!

@Pancho @Hennie Schoeman @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader @AlexPol @Federico De Chirico @Federico Galbieri @Joe Biju Joseph @Danish Mohammad @Niki Patel @Rahimdad you can find some photos in the gallery.

Just in case you would like to have the high resolution photos without watermark, you can download them following the link: https://yadi.sk/d/A2GNvk9Vn0mW_Q It will be active for a couple of weeks.

Thanks!

10 hours ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Flash Freezes Motion Better Than Shutter Speed - YouTube

Very interesting. I hope @Frederic got a solution to his learnings with motion blur when photographing

Nice to know! Unfortunately, flash cannot help in outdoors 😃

By the way, I took some photos during our last drive. I used 700-300mm lens with a crop camera (1.5x). Most of the photos were taken at 200-300mm focal length. 

So, some of the photos were blurry, mainly @Pancho red Wrangler and @Hennie Schoeman gray Wrangler, while others were ok! Hence, the problem is not the photographer, but Jeeps =)))

Seriously, I had some issues with my 3D following autofocus with the Wranglers. Not sure why. Probably, it's just me 😃

@Mario Cornejo nice photos! Love your colors!

It is tempting to bump the saturation and clarity on the post but you nailed it! Colors are very natural and clear!

Greetings!

Abu Dhabi Tourism released 6 self-driving routes in Abu Dhabi!

I'm sure it is not something new for our senior off-roaders. It would be great to hear your opinion about these routes! 

Maybe, Carnity will be interested in organizing the drives following the routes?

https://visitabudhabi.ae/en/things-to-do/desert-and-outdoor-activities/off-road-desert-driving

1. Al Remah Route

2. Al Ain To White Sands Route

3. Hameem Loop Route

4. Umm Al Oush Route

5. Liwa Crossing Route

6. Al Khazna Route

Thanks!

Yesterday we went to Hatta for some hiking and at the end of the day we spent an hour or so taking some photos at the Hatta lakes.

I just thought that if somebody in the Carnity is interested in the astrophotography, I can give a couple of advices and we can practice together somewhere. I'm not a pro by any means, but it might be useful for a complete photo newbies 😃

True! 

Below you can find some rough guideline for the shutter speed selection. 

I would agree that you need to have around 1/500s shutter in our conditions because the subject moves quickly.

Feel free to raise the ISO to 800 or even more, the difference will not be that huge. Also you can adjust the aperture to f/5.6 or so without worries.

Also, Lightroom or similar software will help a lot in RAW editing. RAW files are designed to be edited and not be used straight from the camera.

Hi @Frederic! Thanks for starting the club!

As you know, from time to time I take some photos. I believe that there two important component of almost every good photo: preparation and luck! If it is supported by some nice equipment, it's even better!

Sometimes it takes a lot of time to prepare to be in a right place at the right time. For me it might take around a week of research to make a decision to go to the fields trying to capture something like meteor shower, milky way or a nice sunset in the mountains. Sometimes I even request some leave days a year in advance just to be sure that I have enough free time for some event.

Then, once everything is ready, I just commit to the plan. And hope, that plan is good and weather would be nice enough to turn the plan into a picture. 

Honestly, my plans were never perfect. All the time something went not in a way I expect. But! This is the time when luck might be very handy! Sometimes you do not expect much but reality exceeds the expectations! In such moments you can just say "Woooooow" and not more than that.

One more important thing. Very important for me. I keep remind myself not to see the world through the camera but to see it with my wide open eyes. It is much better!

@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!

Finally I sorted my photos from the drive! Sorry, it took longer than expected.

All of them in the gallery, there are 55 photos in total.

A few of them are below.

Thanks!

24 minutes ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

Hello! I decided to leave Fewbie drive and join Newbie because I'm going to have one or two passengers with me. Hence, I signed our from Fewbie and RSVPed this drive. It's fine, right?

Could you pls advise if I need to pull any circuit breakers or relays in 2015 Prado? I don't do it on our usual drives, just deactivate Traction control and stability control by pressing the button. Should I do something else? Thanks!

Found an answer in Intermediate drive:

@Heisem: alternatively you can install a kill switch for your Prado at xxxxxx xxxxxxxx, i paid 250AED. Kills the ABS, traction control and airbags. I did that for the FJ i dont think the electronics are that much different. 

Ah forgot i was not supposed to mention garage names on this forum.. Any good offroad garage will do it. Ras Al Khor area is where i go.

Hello! I decided to leave Fewbie drive and join Newbie because I'm going to have one or two passengers with me. Hence, I signed our from Fewbie and RSVPed this drive. It's fine, right?

Could you pls advise if I need to pull any circuit breakers or relays in 2015 Prado? I don't do it on our usual drives, just deactivate Traction control and stability control by pressing the button. Should I do something else? Thanks!