Thomas Varghese

An absolute fewbie drive. The fun we had is beyond words. @Wrangeld and @Janarthan & @Mohamed Seidam thank you for the wonderful drive.

There is another problem as well with my Xterra. Its so weird. If I'm in JLT the remote key fob doesn't work. I will have to lock and open the car manually. Everywhere else the key fob functions normally. Any tower I go to in JLT the key fob doesn't work. No problem with my other car which is an Altima in JLT

@Wrangeld & @Janarthan I'm comfortable at any position offered and I'm ready. Can you believe I was already driving in the desert with you all when I took a short afternoon nap.

Thanks for the info @Mohamed Seidam. Hopefully I will fix the tow hooks today as my garage informed me that they are fabricated & ready to be fixed

Its very advanced calculation and I think only to be used by astro photographers for which you need to have very deep knowledge about modifying the camera, the lenses to be used, the declination of stars etc. I am very happy with the present set up which keeps me wondering which type of photography to be pursued with the equipment I have. After coming to know about anamorphic lenses and how the movie stars were portrayed in movies in larger than life sizes I want to try them for my portraits

Are these seconds to be considered just plainly or 1/the time mentioned? None of these speeds mentioned can be achieved handheld and you sure need a firm support to anchor the camera. If you are firmly anchoring the camera I believe you can shoot at any speeds. @Frederic please clarify

@Wrangeld I already had all the fluids, checked yesterday at the garage. Got the radiator hoses & spark plugs changed along with the inlet manifold, throttle body & MAF sensor cleaned and serviced. All electricals checked. Hopefully the vehicle will not give me more surprises as it did yesterday at the garage by showing the radiator hoses were weak. Me & my car is ready. I did all this as 2 cars developed problems during our last drive with @Ale Vallecchi and had to be extracted to the tarmac. See you on Friday ay 7am. The only thing which worries me are the stock tow hooks which I didn't get time to replace with new ones. Hopefully the stock ones will serve the purpose as I got stuck 3 times during my Absolute Newbie drive and held when it was being towed out of the stuck by @sertac and once during a Newbie drive by @Jeepie. I pray I won't get stuck much as more throttle control and momentum along with reading of surfaces had been learned from @Frederic, @Gaurav, @Ale Vallecchi , @Rahimdad & @Chaitanya D and I will not hold the convoy up with more stucks.

are you letting yourself to be kidnapped by @Arman. I don't mind getting kidnapped too. Let me know the time and venue so that I can surrender myself.

@Shehab Alawadhi to tell you the truth I'm not a photographer. Its like calling me an offroader bcoz I have an offroader. It would be lovely to meet a fellow offroader who likes to take pictures. Looking forward to meet you, your friend and @Arman

@Arman you have again elevated my excitement. I can't believe myself why I'm excited for a drive. Only 1 answer. The passion to drive and learn new techniques on every terrain. @Wrangeld will surely elevate the passion.

Anybody here has experimented with anamorphic lenses? I wish I could lay my hands on one.

@Frederic I totally agree to what you said. As a beginner photographer the most difficult part is what is it you want to picturize. Portrait, Landscape or Wild life. Maybe go beyond earthly photographs and turn to astro photography. Each has to have its specialized gear. Initial years of this hobby you just click moments you think have to be captured. I bought a camera just for the heck of it. Once you have the equipment you start to experiment. You will reach a stage where the passion overtakes the equipment. Like my Xterra. I know its a very capable machine to take you to places. Until you are trained by a professional can u? Answer is a simple NO. During my absolute newbie drive I was thinking there was something seriously wrong with my car as it gets stuck at every corner. Then I realized its not the car but the driver who is at fault. The car is only a machine to amplify your abilities. If you have zero abilities the machine is also zero. Same with the camera. All the crazy upgrades the camera manufacturers offer you is simply to make you buy a new product when you didn't even use the older one properly. Actually most cameras capture stunning pictures if you know how to. Same with the car. For real astro photography you have to actually remove the anti aliasing filter which is inbuilt into the camera and probably renders it useless for any other mode of use. Same like modifying your 4 X 4 too much and renders it useless for daily use.

@Niki Patel my objective is not to become a professional photographer and sell the pictures I capture but shoot something I like. I went through your gear description and why are you sad that you don't have the latest equipment. To tell you the truth this gear you have is more than enough to shoot what you like. The Nikon you have is the same as my Canon 700D and I have the same lenses. More than enough to shoot family pictures or some landscapes. Please understand you are shooting pictures to capture the essence of moments and any upgrade you do will not improve your pictures or your skills as a photographer unless you yourself start to like the pictures you shoot. Upgrading the gear is just like saying I cannot be a better painter if I don't have this and that brush and colors.

I have a sigma 10 - 20 mm with the wide angle 10mm at f stop at 1/4 & 1/5.6 at 20mm for canon mount. I can loan it if you want it for sometime. Its the only lens I bought extra as it helps me to capture my office shots even though with some distortion. All other lenses I have is the kit lens which came with the cameras I bought.

Wow it looks so exciting. I'm impatient to be 7am Friday. Maybe with my level of expertise I should be requiring lots of assistance.

@GauravSoni its said Birds of the same kind flock together. I was bit late in joining carnity for the drives. Now after I joined nothing can stop me. Will see you soon in the sands.

I promise I will learn from you.

@Gaurav Soni you didn't join this drive. I know its difficult to RSVP when the calendar opens, I was chugging through the traffic from Dubai to Ajman where I live when the RSVP opened. One eye and a finger on my phone to RSVP and the other eye focused on the road ahead and hand on my steering to drive. I didn't want to miss the chance with @Wrangeld. By the way he has already promised it would be different. How could I miss the opportunity.

congrats @Harold Roberts. Will catch you up for this Friday drive with @Wrangeld