Kuwait has banned the use of DSLR's.

[alfredo]

Thank goodness they don't know about the GF1, the Leica M9, the Olympus EP-2, or Samsung NX100.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MzAwMTg4ODg1

KUWAIT: After the ban three ministries placed on photography, most Kuwaiti youth are a bit confused about what to do with their cameras if they can't use them in public and why such laws were implemented in the first place. The Ministry of Information, Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Finance recently came to the conclusion that photography should be used for journalism purposes only. This has resulted in the ban of Digital Single Lens Reflex Cameras (DSLRs) in public, on the streets and in malls

[Celebration]

1. Ugh

Sounds like a worse idea than getting groped at airports.

[alfredo]

3. The photographer will find a workaround.

[bluedigger]

2. That's just silly. n/t

[alfredo]

4. It shows the lawmakers know nothing about the camera market.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. It sounds like a case of .....if you don't understand it, or if

it scares you, then ban it.

I think the 3 ministries are full of fearful people.

[alfredo]

6. And they don't know that the DSLR is being replaced by

new technology. The photographer will be able to thumb his nose at those jerks and take beautiful, detailed images, with his mirror-less camera.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Good for the photographer!

[alfredo]

8. Follow the letter of the law, but not the intent.

This is not a DSLR

[Stevenmarc]

9. And you'll need some Kuwaiti oil money for the Titanium edition

[alfredo]

10. We're paying for that M9, so we want them to have the best.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

11. thanks for posting this, alfredo

While it's nice to think that the photography forum is insulated from the real world, that's not always the case, authoritarians being who they are. As you point out, there are a lot of non-DSLR cameras that will get the images they don't want gotten--and they don't have to be $9K Leicas either. As nearly as I can tell, the Kuwaiti government must be against sharpness and shallow DOF, since those can kind of/sort of be thought of the hallmarks of interchangeable DSLR lenses. Nonetheless, one could still buy a $200 camera with a 300mm-equivalent built-in lens and get all sorts of tele shots of whatever their government doesn't want seen.

On the other hand, maybe this makes journalists an easier mark, with them being the only people carrying DSLR's around now.

[alfredo]

15. That's it. I lived in a theocratic state. One had to be careful

of what you photographed. I've had to destroy a roll of film because the police didn't like what I was photographing. If I would have been a local, I might have been beaten, and my camera smashed.

[BrightKnight]

12. A lot of street photographers prefer range finder

cameras because they are quieter and less obtrusive.

I can't begin to understand why someone would want to ban photography. It's like banning writing or talking.

[alfredo]

16. Check out my Matt Stewart thread.

[Stevenmarc]

13. Apparently there's been a retraction of the story.

Although there is apparently still a rather large cultural mistrust of honking huge DSLR's

[alfredo]

14. Thanks for the heads up.