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I’ve been carrying the D800 with me all week and I’m loving it. I really haven’t found any major kinks so my first impression has been very positive. I’m going to try and not get into too many technical details but it’s going to be a bit difficult to avoid that since what really differentiates this camera from others is the technical aspects.

Look and Feel
Even though the D800 is a lot more bulkier than regular DSLR’s I still found the size very manageable. I’ve actually been carrying the camera around with me in my small Think Tank 5 bag which I had gotten for my much smaller Panasonic GX1 camera. The camera weight isn’t bad either and feels really solid and comfortable in my hands. The viewfinder is huge compared to my older Nikon D90 but that’s no surprise since the D800 is a full frame camera. What does that mean? If you have a DSLR it’s most likely using a APS-C sensor which is around 23.6 x 15.7mm in size. That sensor is a lot bigger than sensors in point and shoot cameras which are around 7.18 x 5.32mm but it’s still a lot smaller in size compared to a full frame sensor like on the D800 which measures at 36 x 24mm. The larger the sensor the more light and detail it can capture. (more info on sensor sizes)

Customization
The camera has a lot of buttons and majority of them are customizable. I shoot in aperture priority mode so the front rotating dial controls the aperture while I’ve setup the rear sub dial to control the exposure. I have two programmable buttons in the front which I can active without looking and I’ve set one to turn on the virtual horizon inside the viewfinder (shows you if the camera is tilted) while the second button turns on spot metering. One feature I’m currently loving is the Auto-ISO. I’ve previously had cameras that had Auto-ISO but what sets the D800 apart from the others is the fact I can set a minimum shutter speed (for each lens). Once the shutter speed drops below what I’ve set then the camera will increase the ISO until it reaches my minimum shutter speed requirement. I can also set the maximum ISO which I currently have on ISO 6400 (yes it’s that usable!).

The camera has two memory card slots and I can tell the camera to record pictures onto one or video onto the other. I can even tell it to record RAW images onto one, JPG onto the other or even record the same information on both so all my images are backed up. Finally you have three different RAW formats you can save to which is great since the 36MP RAW files can reach 80MB on the highest quality but can drop down to 35MB with very little quality loss if I need.

Features
What’s made this camera really popular is the fact that it’s 36MP. The fact that it’s 36MP was actually a turn off for me since I don’t need 36MP (16MP would be more than enough for my needs). But after shooting with the camera over the weekend I can easily see why 36MP is so great… cropping. When you’re in the moment it’s sometimes difficult to frame the shot the way you want it and that’s what happened with me over the weekend when I was shooting some workers. Because I shot at 36MP, once I got home and started processing the shots I was able to frame and crop into some shots and still have a very large image to work with. Low light shooting is also great with the D800, like I mentioned earlier I have it set on Auto-ISO right now and I’ve set the limit to 6400 because at 6400 the noise is barely noticeable. Actually if I only need the shots for my blog I could shoot with ISO 25,600 and post it here and you wouldn’t be able to see any noise at all.

I really do love this camera. It’s super responsive, there are a ton of buttons which means if I want to change any setting I don’t have to flip through menus, the viewfinder is large and it really just feels great using it. It won’t make me a better photographer but it has reignited my passion for photography. The only negative I have to say about the camera is that you need a powerful computer to process the large RAW files. If you’re paying this much for a camera anyway then you should be willing to invest in your computer. I’m using Lighroom 4 on a 27inch iMAC 3.2Ghz Core 3 with 12GB of RAM and it takes around 5 to 10 seconds to load a photo at full resolution to start developing. I’m now planning to upgrade it to 32GB of RAM to see and if it will help improve things but the best solution will most likely be patience. The camera is currently out of stock all around the world but I pre-ordered mine from Electronic Express and they had it shipped to me within a week. Because of that Electronic Express are now one of my favorite online electronic stores.

This is very sad news. I just read that legendary footballer Sameer Saeed is in a coma after being hit by a car while jogging. I used to really love watching Kuwait play football in the late 80s and early 90s and as a goalkeeper myself I used to really look up to Sameer Saeed. Even today he’s still one of my favorite goalkeepers of all time and I really hope he’s going to be ok. [Link]

Photo from q8i stuff

A couple of years ago I was looking to buy an arcade machine and a reader contacted me letting me know they had a few for sale. I was hoping to find either NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat I or II, Killer Instinct, the original Daytona or the original Sega Rally but sadly they didn’t have any of those games and I completely forgot about the whole thing. Then out of the blue around two weeks back the subject came back up and I ended up contacting the guy and passing by to check out what he had.

Turns out I actually knew the person since he used to be based in Burj Al Abyad (White Tower next to Marina Mall) back in the 90s when the arcade scene there was pretty big. He took me to their warehouse and I got to check out all the machines they had available.

They didn’t have any of the games I wanted but I figured I’d get the list (and their prices) so I could post them here on my blog. Some of the games are a good deal others seem a bit pricy (KD750 for Sega Rally 2 although it’s with the full moving cockpit) while others like the NeoGeo/Capcom machines are a steal at just KD75 with two games.

If you’re interested here is the games list and prices:

List of all the arcade machines they have (with the quantity)
The price list of the machines (FYI: twin means 2 machines side by side)

One thing that’s not listed in the price list above is the NeoGeo/Capcom cabinets. They have two kinds of cabinets, one that holds 2 games and another that holds 4. They’re selling the machine that holds 2 games for KD75 and the machine that holds 4 for KD100. This price includes the games.

What games? Here is the List

If you’re interested you can contact Nagib on 24841382 Ext 555

Zaydoun hadn’t posted on his blog for over a year but he came back today with a simple and legitimate question aimed towards the expat community… Why are you still here? It’s an honest and curious question and he doesn’t mean it in the if you don’t like it get the hell out kinda way. With all the problems in Kuwait what keeps you here? Here is why I’m still here:

I’m an expat but I grew up here so I don’t see myself as an expat although Kuwaitis do. This is my home. I’ve lived here all my life so even if there are a lot of problems I stay and deal with it. I adapt and I get used to it. Sometimes things really piss me off which is when I come here on the blog and rant but most of the time I just take it all in and try to ignore the problems. There’s always the “hope” that things will get better (although with the way things are going I’m finding it harder to believe that).

I’m not Kuwaiti but I do feel frustrated in the same way many Kuwaitis do. When I see all the trash scattered all around my area in Salmiya its really depressing and frustrating because with all the money available why isn’t Salmiya cleaner? When I see people running red lights in front of the cops I find it frustrating because again with all the money available why don’t we have better law enforcement. I guess it’s unfair to connect everything with money but I believe everything can be solved with money and since we have a lot of it here we shouldn’t have any of these issues.

But, with all these problems, as an expat I have to say one of the most frustrating things is the fact I can’t get a permanent residency. I’ve lived here for over 30 years and my visa still gets renewed year by year. If I want to quit my job and take a break I can’t. No job means no visa and I’m out just like that. I think that’s extremely unfair.

Anyway check out Zaydoun’s post on his blog and tell him why you are still here. I’m curious to read all the answers as well. [Link]

If you have a Kindle you can now subscribe to 248AM and read it on the go. Any new posts will be downloaded and updated on your Kindle automatically and of course you can then read the blog without having to be connected to the internet. I check out the majority of the blogs on my Mac or iPad but I have a few I prefer to read on the Kindle so I figured I’d make this option available to whoever wants it. Since most of my posts don’t have any videos you really won’t be missing out on anything. This option sadly isn’t free since Amazon has set the subscription price to 99cents a month and I don’t have any say in that.

To subscribe to the blog on your kindle you can either visit the Kindle Store from your Kindle and search for 248AM or you can subscribe from your browser by following this [Link]

Me Blogging posted about the Bayt Lothan Photography Club Exhibition and going by her pictures it looks like there are some really great work. You can check out her post [Here]

If you want to check out the exhibition yourself here is where the exhibition will be on the following dates:

April 2nd and 3rd: Australian College of Kuwait Campus
April 6th and 7th: The Avenues
April 10th and 11th: American University of Kuwait

Ever since I started this blog I’ve been searching and requesting photos of Kids ‘r’ us and I haven’t really had much luck until today. Awhile ago I received two really hi-res photos of Kids ‘r’ us Farwaniya taken right after the Gulf War. I thought I would be happy to finally get some pictures but looking at them actually depresses me. It really sucks how it got destroyed and it sucks even more that until today we don’t have a toy store that’s as big or as cool as Kids ‘r’ us was. Actually what also sucks is that we don’t have any pictures to show people how cool of a place it was!

Pictures were taken by Adel Al-Yousifi and a big thanks to Abdulaziz for sending me them. You can view larger versions of the pictures above by clicking the links below:

First Picture
Second Picture

The original Panasonic GF1 is easily one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve ever used. I got it two years ago and it quickly replaced both my Canon G11 and Nikon D90 DSLR. Size wise it was slightly larger than the Canon G11 but the quality of the shots easily matched that of the Nikon D90. The camera was very well built and had a fantastic and bright 20mm f/1.7 lens and really my only issue with the camera was that the image got fairly noisy once it hit ISO 800 and above. The new GX1 is the GF1 replacement and it’s better than the GF1 in practically every way. I’ve been using it for sometime now so here’s what I think of it so far. This isn’t a comprehensive review, you can find those reviews online, this is just a review of the things I liked.

What I like about the GF1 and GX1 is the size since they’re small enough to fit into a jacket pocket and light enough to sling over my shoulder without noticing the weight. The reason I always stuck with the 20mm lens and never got a more practical zoom lens is because of the size. The 20mm lens is very compact while all the zoom lenses were pretty big and so added bulk to the camera and made it less pocket-able. But, with the launch of the GX1, Panasonic introduced a new series of lenses called X Lenses. These lenses have powered zooms and are a lot more compact than their regular lenses (Here is a comparison picture). How compact? Well the 14-42mm lens is now exactly the same size as the 20mm lens when closed. It’s super compact!

There are a few changes in the over look and feel between the GF1 and GX1. The GX1 is slightly smaller but now has a larger rubber grip on the front which makes holding the camera a lot more comfortable. The buttons have been shuffled around slightly in the back and they’re now made of metal instead of rubber. The rear screen was also replaced with a touch screen which I thought I would hate but I actually like a lot. The main reason I like it is because it makes focusing faster. I like to shoot with the “rule of thirds” so I can now frame my subject anywhere on the screen and then tap where I want it to focus. The touch screen also makes it easy to change various options and settings. Actually that’s one of the best things in this camera, the ability to change various options and settings without having to go into the camera menu. The camera has two customizable physical buttons on the rear and two more buttons on the screen which I can customize and if that’s not enough I also have a “Quick Menu” which I can access with a click on the rear screen which also pops up a bunch of other buttons which I can also customize.

ISO performance is a lot better compared to the GF1 and noise isn’t noticeable until you pass ISO 1600. The camera focuses much quicker as well not that it was slow before. Really everything about the camera is either slightly improved or better than the GF1 which I thought would be impossible to do. The only thing I’ve noticed that is actually worse is the battery life but that’s probably because the X Lens consumes more power than the regular lenses.

When the original GF1 came out it really didn’t have much competition other than the Olympus PEN series but now things are completely different with Fuji, Sony and Canon all coming into the picture with their own variations of the same idea. The only other cameras I was considering were the Sony NEX-7 and the new Fuji X-Pro 1. The NEX-7 is a great camera but Sony doesn’t have that many great lenses and they’re all really big which makes the camera not very portable. The X-Pro 1 is also a really great camera with really good lenses but the size and price put me off as well. In the end I don’t have any regrets and I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a great carry every compact camera.

I got mine from Amazon and they have three different kits:
Panasonic GX1 Body Only $699
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm Lens $799
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm X Series Lens $950

I don’t post much about Lebanon on this blog but a subject like this needs as much exposure as possible. I’ve always known racism was a big issue in Lebanon but I didn’t think it was this bad. Notice how no one intervenes to stop this from happening? [YouTube]

The local arcade scene was never really huge in Kuwait but it had a presence with places like Showbiz and Burj al Abyad catering to the gaming crowd. Even though the arcade scene is pretty dead world wide they still do have a cult following and in Kuwait we still have a few places that have new games or still have old machines. Yousef from the blog yousefq8.com created a small Kuwait Arcade Database with information on the current arcade locations around Kuwait along with some information on their condition and what type of games they have. I thought that was a pretty cool idea although I would personally like to see the database include a full list of all the machines at every location. Still it’s a nice idea and if you’re interested to check it out check it out on his blog [Here]

Mo is a 22 year old Kuwaiti student currently studying at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. When I first saw some of his illustrations they instantly grabbed my attention since I found them very strange. I contacted him by email and spoke to him regarding his thoughts and future plans.

According to Mo his illustrations come from the core of his personality, it’s who he truly is without the filters of ego and peer pressures. He’s also excited about coming back to Kuwait after he graduates since he feels there is a lot of potential now more than ever for Kuwait to generate culture on its own.

A lot of culture in Kuwait is homogenized, it comes from the West for the most part. There is the traditional Kuwaiti culture, but that is really just a backdrop being humored for the popular culture, the influx of movies and other entertainment is where the interest of younger and even older generations truly lie. People today have the wonderful luxury of taking in media from around the world, and I think some of the talented and passionate people in Kuwait today are digesting influences from both Western and Eastern creators into their subconscious minds. Something that has popped up in the GCC area has been the advent of interesting and funny animated programs, not to mention the lauded 99 comic book series. I believe that I can help contribute to this newly generating culture, and offer something different than the humor of the animated series and the super-hero stories of the 99.

He’s got a bunch of his illustrations up on his blog which you can check by clicking [Here]

I just found out that one of my readers used to pass by the dogs in the Free Trade Zone and feed the dogs every morning. According to the reader the dogs were very friendly and harmless. He even set up a Facebook page asking people to save food left overs and give it to the dogs. Below is taken from the Facebook page he created for them:

Pooch Help – their fate is in your hands.

A group of friendly dogs stranded; probably left there by the friday market barbarians – are in need of continuous food supply. Me and Mom have started providing them with their essentials on regular basis but unfortunately their numbers have increased and require much more attention. I have noticed recently some traces of additional support from kind individuals which I have not met on site; I thank them greatly for their commendable efforts and would like to encourage anyone who still carries a fraction of mercy and capable of assisting to do so.

All that’s required is that you save food leftovers and get it delivered to them.

It was very sad seeing these dogs dead but it’s even sadder going through all the pictures on Facebook and seeing them when they were alive. [Link]

Update: The blogger American Girl just posted pictures and information on the dogs as well since every weekend she used to pass by her husband to feed them. Check out her pictures and post [Here]

That’s gotta suck. [YouTube]

via Grgasha’s blog

It seems some young Kuwaiti boys made a Kuwaiti version of Monopoly Deal and are selling it. If you’re interested you should hurry and buy a copy now before they get slapped with a lawsuit. Check the following link for more information [Link]

Update: The blog SIX TWO has better pictures [Here]

Blogger Qabaq was at last night’s Zagato worldwide launch event which was held at the Salwa Al Sabah Hall. Only 150 Zagato’s will be made and each will be priced at KD175,000 which is around $650,000. He took some pictures two of which I’ve posted but you can check out the rest on his twitter page [Here]

The Zagato will be on display at the Concours d’Elegance that’s taking place in Marina Crescent starting today.