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Kimblair13

Handcam camera and lens

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Doesn't matter what the subject is, a .0175 is currently the widest lens available for small format camcorders. Add that to a very wide camcorder, ie; CX7 or similar, you can get a full body shot on a wristmount.
Waycool and Royal both offer the uberwides.

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Oh sweet. I was just looking at waycool's web-site and only say the red eye something .3 and black eye something .25.
Right now I have the black eye with HC96 and it's really not that wide...
Has anyone, or DSE, know how well the .0175 works with an HC96???

DSE...do you think the Royal or Waycool lens would be better...or both the same?


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The Waycool and the Royal are about 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.
At that width, no lens is "good." The focal length of the HC96 is approx equivalent to a 36mm length on a 35mm cam, so adding an .0175 or .2 to the lens is going to be damned wide, like about a 6mm lens on a 35mm cam. Be sure you order a thread size of 30mm on that...and if you might be changing cameras anytime soon, order a 37mm thread, and then downsize with a stepup ring.
Make sense?
I don't have a Waycool, I've only seen one. Grant was going to send me one for a comparison I did about a year ago between different lenses, but it never arrived. I do own two of the Royal, and they're plenty good, very high resolution at the center, bu the color starts to slide pretty quickly as you'd expect on such a wide, single element lense.

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Tandems.



Kim, do you mean more specifically Hand Cam tandems? I have a Royal .3 and it does a good job but I do wish it was just a hair wider for doing tandem handcam. I know a number of people seem to like the .25 Black eye as it gives just a bit more.

I do know that Royal has put out the platinum 0.2x I have seen it on their site and on Paragear:
http://www.paragear.com/templates/parachutes.asp?group=455&level=1

I don't know much about it and have not seen one in person but Spot might have an idea..

Scott
"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

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Any of the samller minDV cameras will do for hand cam.
SONY's seem to be the most durable. IOW SONYs tolerate abuse - by skydivers - the best.
It was funny when I took my three-year-old Sony HC 40 in to the SONY depot for cleaning. When I showed them sample hand-cam video, the broad at reception got all horrified "They were never designed for those pressures!"
I replied "It worked great for the last 600 jumps."
Tee!
Hee!
SONY's upright series were very popular - when they were in production.
For the last few years I have used a SONY HC40. It was $300 less than a PC109 and I could not justify the additional cost for the same CCD.

As for lenses: I have used Royal 0.3 and 0.2, but have been having problems with condensation. It does not help that I jump in a rain forest!
My next lens will be a Cookie 0.2.

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I find the cheaper sonys, (ones you can find at walmart) are cropped or "zoomed in" compared to higher end ones like a PC 1000 or cx7. (DSE come to my rescue with the tech reason here) Also, annoying tape motor hiss during the interviews.

.3 is not wide enough for handy. couple that with a camera that has a shorter focal length and it is too close.

I use a pc1000 with blackeye and my buddy has a pc 109 with same lens and people complain "man your video looks better than mine"

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The reason the cheaper/smaller ones are often less wide (what you're calling cropped, i think) than some of the higher end, is they're a shorter focal length and/or don't have as much lens travel, as some of the older models rely on digital zoom vs optical. Once Sony and other settled in on around 10x as an optical..it settled out a bit.
If the focal length is *too* wide, you'll get vignetting on some lenses, because the end of the camera lens can see the sides of the wide angle adaptor. Personally, I absolutely hate that look.
Tape motor hum will vary from unit to unit, dependent on how the ribbon cable is made. The cheap ones have no shielding. Hiss is usually due to autolevels being improperly controlled.
I'm not a TI so can't comment on what is too wide or not, but have loaned my Royal many times to various TI's for handcam use, and they're very pleased/I'm pleased (I edit their stuff) with the width.

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I like the .2 ALOT. Using it with an HC 96...this vid just came up on youtube using that combo...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Avyr2xliu2g

Warning...the vid is long with alot of extra scenery footage, but that's just how we do it here.



In the beginning, I thought I was watching the boarding of the fuckin space shuttle :D I see the TI's get the cheap seats in the plane. Nice steady camera boom, I mean arm. ;) Cute gang sign before opening too.... :D
Nice vid girl. :)
www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

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Nice video!
No need to apologize for the scenery. Use what you have. If you want even better scenery, try jumping Pitt Meadows, but the best scenery is at Pemberton.

Double kudos for your exit.
Much better than the TI ahead of you.
Does he really enjoy side-spins enough to start every skydive with a side-spin?

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Nice video!
No need to apologize for the scenery. Use what you have. If you want even better scenery, try jumping Pitt Meadows, but the best scenery is at Pemberton.

Double kudos for your exit.
Much better than the TI ahead of you.
Does he really enjoy side-spins enough to start every skydive with a side-spin?[/

Hey Rob, why do you think the cookie .2 will be better than the royal?

joshreply]

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Ask me - in a couple of months - my opinion of Cookie lenses



ask me, ask me.....

I have been using on e for a number of months now and they ROCK. I have never seen a lens give such quality and width as this. I run it with a PC350 which is not the widest of cameras and get great results.

Money well spent
I like my canopy...


...it lets me down.

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