Niki

@Frederic you inspired me to head out to the balcony and try. 

ISO 100 | F/11 | 1/125 | 200mm | Nikon D3300

I am searching online for a decent (budget) 300 or 400mm lens ready for next week 🙏

Nice one @TT_Dubai ! 🍻🎉

Many congrats @Anish S 🍻

3 hours ago, Arman said:

There's also trying to hunt down the service manuals for our cars, they make diagnosing issues quite easy and also help you decide if a job is personally doable or if it's best left to a professional. 

I'll do my best to fill this up with stuff, although my experience has been with my TJ....which there are only 4 active ones in the club i believe?

Hey @Arman 

#1 Service Manual for your TJ

#2 Parts Catalogue for your TJ

#3 Jackpot for all Jeep TJ Owners - all years documents

I love your idea of a 'hands on' session to learn some of the basics!  living in an apartment I am forced to hand my car over however would love to build skills on learning the basics.  I found a garage space with ramps we can hire in the Green Community and lets work on getting some like minded people together in the near future to share the cost of that facility and learn together.! 

Hope the above helps and pls do post on your Jeep channel if it can benefit the others. 

Hi all,

I finally uploaded a selection of the pictures captured of your wonderful cars doing the climbs!!  I didn't get to edit any so if you would like the RAW images i can arranged to have them shared via Drop box/google.  Apologies if i missed any cars, likely due to the time it takes to get the camera out! 

What a wonderful drive and some real eye candy on the dunes yesterday (I am referring to the cars before you feel uncomfortable 😁)! 

https://carnity.com/gallery/category/743-newbie-suwaydan-to-faya-sharjah-14-may-2021

3 hours ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

Here you have very close subject on the foreground and beautiful stars on the background. It's impossible to have both in focus, of course.

We can take two shots: focus on the stars and focus on the car. Then we can merge both in the Photoshop or similar software. Main thing here is not to move the camera and use the same settings. Actually, you can use different settings for the foreground and background. It's a bit more difficult for the post-processing but might provide better results 😃

It was actually all the stars that lost focus… when I changed the battery I must have moved the focus ring (as you warned) so all those shots were sadly not usable… but a super learning (remove live view as that drained my battery in the first place and use some tape as you advised to hold the focus ring even if I handle the camera for what ever reason) 

2 hours ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

During the session I mentioned that I was working on one image from March. Here we go, today I've posted it to my social media.

Overall, I took almost 800 photos from 02:27am to 5:44am. Around 100 selected photos were merged to form the star trails. Foreground was taken from another photo taken during twilight before sunrise. 

Everything is edited in the Adobe Lightroom.

As usual, one of the RAW photos before processing.

I love the sky’s colour … I need to work on my Lightroom curves usage as it’s so easy going to the extremes and hence make my sky’s look over saturated/ blue!  Thank you for sharing these @Mikhail Lukichev … stunning pics and inspiring me to try again and keep practicing … do share your insta details!  I am now following @samamaraalso and she has some stunning shots and cannot wait for her to join us … having so many talented photographers keen to share and teach is a privilege! 

Nikon D3300 ISO 800 15 Seconds 19mm F/2.8

All of my Nikon shots facing the well were sadly out of focus ... lessons learnt ready for the next trip

iPhone 12Pro Max. Ultra wide 10second exposure (Lightroom edit)

Sony RX100 (ISO 1600, 10.4mm, f/1.8, 65 seconds 5 stacked images) (Lightroom edit… will replace if I can improve via PS)

@Frederic @Mikhail Lukichev thank you both for such a super night!  
 

@Mikhail Lukichev massive thanks for the tutoring throughout and the patience with those of us like me! apologies all for my super bright red head light!!! I think it maybe one of those over engineered German brands… I’ll stick to dragon mart next time! 
 

Sadly most of my shots from the Nikon were out of focus!! 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️ I should have used tape!  
 

from my tiny Sony rx100 I did get some nice pics so will hit YouTube for a quick Photoshop/Lightroom tutorial and then post what I managed to shoot! 
 

was such a fun night and cannot wait for the next session - thinking we make this a monthly event and by the time we hit Milkyway season we may all get some super shots!  
 

Eid Mubarak for those celebrating tomorrow and enjoy this wonderful holiday period all! 
 

As we are submitting our homework it seems.. do let me know if I missed anything also (I reduced the brightness of the screen after taking this pic)

10 hours ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Full frame cameras have lot of admirers due to its ability to record less noise and the bokeh it creates. APS-C cameras are best for daily rugged use. EFS lenses are cheaper than EF and lighter too.  Regarding crop factor and max, min aperture you can multiply the crop factor and get the equivalent. Overall if you are shooting in a controlled environment full frames are better but APS -C's are best for daily use as they are lighter by more than 200 to 300 gms from the camera body itself. Best is to keep both format cameras in your camera bag. You never know what you will get to shoot and when. 

Hey Thomas … with mirrorless full frame coming down to the size of an older APS-C like my Nikon D3300 could this be the ideal platform to upgrade to?  You and others convinced me to not burn money and enjoy my older camera … it produces great pics… but now I have that itch again! 🤦🏽‍♂️ Especially seeing all the full frame cameras turning up this evening 😂 

2 minutes ago, GauravSoni said:

@Lorenzo Candelpergher can you add me as support on the drive!

@Gaurav Soni i have had to leave the drive and i believe you would have been 1st on the new waitlist so feel free to take that spot!  am gutted i cannot make my first mid-week drive!  have a great time out there all!

4 hours ago, Mikhail Lukichev said:

• set manual white balance to 3200-3500K

@Mikhail Lukichev my Nikon3300 doesn't allow custom kelvin setting for White Balance so I will stick to Auto as the presets they have seem not suited for night photography (Auto, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade).  Do let me know if any of the presets are closer to the desired 3200-3500 range? 

Appreciate these pre-trip setting guidance- thankyou!! I have got hold of a remote trigger that allows for multi-shot programming and have downloaded Sequator ready to play with the stacked image (I have a sub for Photoshop so looking forward to playing with the images we capture) 

Thank you also @Frederic for choosing a great location for the night (I have read its a Bortle 4 site which is impressive considering we are <1hour from most folks homes!)

@Lorenzo Candelpergher pls do add me to the waitlist

thanks 

@Wrangeld what a wonderful way to spend a morning!  Loved this drive (views, climate, 80s pop hits references). 

A little more challenging than I remember newbie drives so special kudos to the newbie members within the convoy!  
 

special mention to @Watteau … a master class for us intermediates in the CF role and general convoy leadership!  Clear, calm, patient and such a great approach to motivate and compliment our newbies as they went through their respective recoveries!  I tip my hat as you were an out an out winner of our competition (even with the -3000 points for the baked goods fiasco!  Love riding on a convoy with you! 
 

@Foxtrot Oscar I have to say, in what was the tightest of competitions, you were a slight winner in the 80s/90s power ballads/soft rock references.  By the time I had thought of a line/lyric you lot had already moved on!!! I have a lot to learn and Spotify 80s greatest hits is now my go to playlist for future rides with you! 
 

@Wade Pat2 absolutely love your ride!  It’s pristine … and I hope your new shocks enjoyed the breaking in  

I have added (to the gallery ) shots I got from the play areas and a few nice perspectives I could catch.  Carnity not only has woken up a hobbyist dune basher but has re-woken a past passion for photography… I tried shutter priority to ensure I could keep up with the movement … a few out of focus but in general I hope the pics captured all of your fine cars enjoying that bowl!! @Gaurav Soni I even caught you with 1 wheel in the air!! There were some 💙 cars in our convoy today! 
 

thank you all that made this such a fun and enjoyable trip!  See you soon! 

@Watteau he was awesome! Came personally with the spacers!  Made a ramp free for me in a full garage and changed it up before I could get hungry for lunch!  Such a super bloke and thank you for establishing the connection!  I didn’t get the control arms done yet but plan to at a later stage for sure!  Ps the spacers from the other garage were put on poorly so this was a blessing to get fixed before any issues.! 

41 minutes ago, GauravSoni said:

We have a free sextant app on iOS /android that we can use…. Should be interesting!!!

You just spared my embarrassment @GauravSoni!! I was about to bring in the school project sextant based on that YouTube video!! 

@Watteau if you turn up with a military grade, Bluetooth operated, Siri integrated sextant that’s just not fair!! 

😳 this sounds worrying like navigation based activity… I get lost at mall car parks so am gracefully accepting last place in advance. 
 

and a homemade sextant link below … just need to raid my kids school pencil case!! 

24 minutes ago, Wrangeld said:

@Niki @Gaurav Soni @Shaaz Sha @Watteau - up for a challenge? I'm thinking you'll all enjoy a special Intermediate activity that I plan for you tomorrow during the drive. 

I'll explain to you in the morning a 'merit' points based system that we will use during the drive tomorrow. Be very careful as @Foxtrot Oscar will be the ultimate arbiter of who our 'winner' will be. 

ohhh now that sounds like fun!! definitely up for the challenge @Wrangeld ... i have packed a few extra red-bulls to bribe to judge

Was excited to be out there with you to explore and now even more so with these mini in-drive-games

https://gulfmodels.com/collections/frontpage/products/inno64-mitsubishi-pajero-evolution-205-piaa-paris-dakar-1998-1-64
 

as close as we are going to get to the full size thing  

@Cornelius Wessels I managed to sell on my relatively new stock tires via Facebook groups for my car very easily!  I impressed even the most cynical folks here that someone would buy Dunlop Grandtrek   

yours would be an easy sell on a Jeep forum/Facebook page!  Though as Offroad season is over for many, these platforms are filling up with Offroad gear being sold off.  That said 35” that new and Coopers should sell super easy … else hold them until oct/nov when tire shops sell out and def sell with ease when the season reopens to the masses 

before you sell … make sure you take some photos as they make your Jeep a pinup! 33’s will drive better all round but won’t make your Jeep look as pretty 🤩 

Thankyou @Wrangeld 😃