What is proper decorum?

I would ask first. I would not use a flash.

In Istanbul, just leave your shoes at the door and walk in with your camera and shoot away. A flash won't do you much good and is impolite, maybe prohibited. I used a mini tripod and fast film. Check out one of my photos at<BR>www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap30/30-302.htm. The floors are covered with great carpets and the interior decors consist of beautiful geometric designs.

What about palmcorder using add'l flash-light (I don't know what it's called)? The mosques look dark inside and we want to videocam the inside -- is this acceptable?

I've only been in mosques in Egypt and I don't think they allowed it there at all. That was many years ago, however. In any case, I'd say don't worry, they will definitely tell you the rules.

You can ask when you get there, but most mosques don't allow you to photograph inside -- at least that's the way it was when I traveled in Israel.

We never had any problem photographing with camera or camcorder inside the mosques. Even in Koyna which is very conservative we did not have a problem. Of course, we did not go in during a service.

My husband is Turkish and we went to the blue mosque and others and had no problem taking pictures and using our palmcorder. But as the above post says, don't do it during the service.

Even though some mosques appear to be too dark inside, we were able to use our sony camcorder without additional light and the movie came out fine. <BR>Our tours of Egypt and Turkey were with guides who told us when we can not photograph and when we can not use flash; flash was not prohibited inside the mosques. The only times flash was prohibited was for photographing frescoes (as in Istanbul's Kariye Museum, formerly a church then a mosque).<BR>By the way, some places (especially in Egypt) require additional fee to take pictures or movies.