Kodak Bloggers MeetUp / TweetUp and the Special Ostadi

Tweets and bloggers in Dubai gathered for a dialog with the Social Media Manager of Kodak Europe, Middle East and Africa, Madlen (@madleeeen). Madlen is in town to attend to some conferences and to meet and greet different blogger groups and tweets. She was with Rashid, Marketing Manager of Kodak Middle East & Africa. and Sarah, Account Executive of RAEE PR.

The homey Special Ostadi - Photo from TimeOutDubai.com

The place is called Special Ostadi, located in the old streets of Bur Dubai. It is a homey restaurant - Iranian cuisine they say. I was surprised about the food. I seldom go to Arabic/Persian restaurants lately. But indeed, Special Ostadi serves one of the best, if not the best, kebabs in town. Thanks to Paul (@Daddybird) for choosing the place.

The witty restaurant owner plays with us

Rashid presenting Kodak products

@cnystedt @mnystedt @hshippey @daddybird @madleeeen

We spent some fun time sharing about what Madlen has to see or experience or learn about Dubai on her short stay. We also briefed her about various activities of bloggers and tweets.

After the chitchats, Madlen and Rashid presented us with the new range of Kodak products. Easyshare point-and-shoots, Wifi-enabled digital frames, Playsport and the most interesting Easyshare Max.

The Kodak Playsport

Playsport is a waterproof, shockproof 5MP camera. We had it thrown on the floor and it is still working. Had it dunked in a glass of water and yes it is still fine. The LCD display just looks smaller though than my Olympus. But I wanted to test its mettle on the underwater of course. I'll have a beach holiday this June and would want to try it out. Definitely a shoo-in my camping backpack.

Easyshare Max

My personal favorite is the Easyshare Max. This DSLR camera has an impressive 30x optical zoom with optical image stabilization, a 12 megapixel backside illuminated sensor, a 3-inch HVGA LCD and EVF 'round back, and full 1080p video recording. At first impression looks like I could trade my old Nikon D60 for this. And it only costs around AED1700 in Dubai. Not bad at all.

The rest of the Easyshare group of cameras are as impressive as well. The touchscreen Easyshare PnS could probably one of the reasons why Flip folded up. The digital frames comes in 7 and 10-inches. Currently, only the 7-inch frame is wifi enabled, and social media ready.

Surely there's a whole lot more to say about these products. Once I've tried them, I will definitely share what's the best recommended for your lifestyle.

It's not everyday we hear about Kodak. Most often, it's Canon, Nikon, Olympus even Samsung. Yes, Kodak is really one of the frontrunners in camera. I thought they're being left out. Thanks to this meetup, I was reintroduced, in fact I'm reminded about Kodak.

Thank you for Kellie (@DubaiWriter) for the invitation.