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KawiZX900

Brand New Optik ... NEW to camera flying

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Just got my Optik in the mail and i was wondering WTF... any recomendations as to how to go about drilling it... don't want to hose it up. should I drill a second hole for the tounge switch??? I've got a cannon EOS Elan 7 any lens recomendations, the good ones seem to cost round 800 bucks or so.........what about sony dcr pc series cameras..... any recomendations there as to one over another.... should i mount the (still)camera all the way to the back or in the middle? ring sight, concentric, or the other one?? do i need any additional hardware w/that or does it mount as is.???
thanx.........
Mucho Gras......

Accelerate hard to get them looking, then slam on the fronts and rollright beside the car, hanging the back wheel at eye level for a few seconds. Guaranteed reaction- Dave Sonsky

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Looks like you may have gotten ahead of yourself here man. I hope you have more experiance than your profile says, if not I hope you are very heads up. I'm not going to to into the why you need to wait until you have a lot of knowledge about camera before you jump it (and maybe you do), but just know this shit isn't just another skydive (no jump is just another jump at 46 jumps....).
1st of all..... Elan 7? I have a 7E. Mine has a bat. pack on it, but it's a BIG camera, not at all ideal for freefall (unless your last name is Finley, Kent, etc...and no I don't jump mine). Esp. for a new set up. If you want to jump something new and like canon, get a rebel 2000. It costs about half, weighs about 1/3rd and is a great camera for skydiving.
Most of us shoot wide angle in the 28mm range. You don't need to get a super fast one ($800), a 2.4 will be fine.

In all honsety you have way more questions than anybody here will really be able to help you with. You need to find someone who you trust who has some camera experiance to sit down and talk with.
there is a LOT to this stuff, and a lot to lose if you screw it up.

Good luck in your quest
Z

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I'm with Z. Too many questions and too many variables to answer them in one thread. Find a good camera flyer. If you're not sure who's who - get with your local S&TA and ask them who'd be best to introduce you to camera flying.

The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

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My personal advise .... start slowly , go in that disciple step by step.
Flying a camera suit while filming and taking still shot need lots of concentration, you should ad things slowly one by one, like Cajones says find a experience photographer to help you in your project.

jump safe

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I'd start out with video for a few hundred jumps to learn the camera suit, learn distances in freefall, learn body positions, etc then look at stills once you are able to crank out good videos.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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i'm not gonna tell ya what to do...... buuuut my advise would be to put the helmet back in the box and put it in the closet, hang the wingsuit up somewere so you can look at it every now and again. use the camera to take pics of your girlfriend, wife ect. and learn how to skydive. after 100 or so more jumps take out the wingsuit and learn how to fly it. when you can do that then take the box out of the closet then take the helmet out of the box and jump it untill your comfortable with it ..... then find your local vidiot god and start learning.

this is just my opinion and you know what opinions are like :ph34r:

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yeah, I only bought the optik, so I would'nt have to turn around and fork over more dough when i'm ready for the added burden to bear, saftery wise while learning to capture the experience... i've got my camera, still not video. and i'm looking to pick up a video camera sony dcr pc style. I'm not drilling any holes or mounting anything anytime soon... although a part of me wants to go get buck f***ing wild and drill and mount and set up and Rock...... but i've seen an episode or two of kung fu, and have that patience grasshopper thing pretty well dialed in.........
I'm a little gung ho stupid as well so it's hard... I downsized a little quicker than I ought to have, and biffed the old elbow into the dirt, now i can tell when the weather is going to change... what a treat!!

so for now it's work on the sit, then the down, an all that....

anybody use speedlite flashes when they jump? does that have any effect on your profile? do they hold up?

just for arguements sake..... here goes... ready..?? oww yeah this is going to be good...

it has been done before, but before there was a check off list, and a caste, and a system there were pioneers, and freedom seekers that pushed boundries with no know outcome yet pushed fwd and did the shiiot anyway and got away with it or didn't . point is theres a choice, and the choice is mine alone to make... although it does fu**ing suck to hear the I told you so's ... i've got a truck load more to say but i'm losing the ability to stare at the screen...

don't quote me but i'm pretty sure that Norman Kent only had 23 or so jumps when he, decided to change the game....

seeing as i'm a little late to do that, I can afford to wait a lil while........


" na de say de ta," -pootie tang

Accelerate hard to get them looking, then slam on the fronts and rollright beside the car, hanging the back wheel at eye level for a few seconds. Guaranteed reaction- Dave Sonsky

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Norman's bio reads 27 jumps.. but that was a different day and age of jumping. Canopies were considered high proformance if they had cells and were not rounds... Email him and ask for advice on jumping with low experience. Also since there are a lot of great flyers in your area see if you can mentor under them. Quade would be a great one to look up.

Here is some good advice from him on jumping cameras and skydiving in general: http://www.normankent.com/advice.htm 460 jumps and I'm just starting to under stand all that Norm is talking about it being able to read the shot and be there when the shot presents its self.

And actually.. you don't have that many choices since the USPA includes cameras in this years SIM, it helps to give the STA the option to ground cameras if they want to.

One side nots, its always nice to have a helmet to wear when you don't want to have to lug 3 pounds around on a skydive so you might want to get another helmet to go with the Optik.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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Brief snip:

1. General


a. Prior to jumping, a skydiver should have enough general jump experience to be able to handle any skydiving emergency or minor problem easily and without stress.

b. A camera flyer should possess freefall flying skills well above average and applicable to the planned jump.


(1) belly-to-earth

(2) freeflying (upright and head-down)

(3) canopy formation

(4) multiple (for skysurfing, filming student training jumps, etc.)

c. A USPA D license is recommended.

d. The jumper should have made at least 50 recent jumps on the same parachute equipment to be used for camera flying,

e. The camera flyer should know the experience and skills of all the jumpers in the group.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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Agreed. you have more questions than experience at this point. I use a dremmel tool when I work on helmets. I am on my third setup, you learn a little every time you put one together. The best resource is your friendly camera geek at the dz you jump at.
My answer to your questions: buy a ring site and post from whomever you want, the concentric ones are nifty but pricey. Get a post and mounting hardwawre from Brent Finley, best I have used yet. Mount you still in the middle, I reccomend using a velbon qra635 quick release on it. I also put a laser pointer next to it so I can check my ringsite inside the plane.
Never used a pc, I am a trv man myself.

Does that help? Also, put the whole mess in the closit until you have 200 skydives, this shit can kill you if you aren't careful.
Drewfus McDoofus

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thanx for the tipz, it' big fun to plot and scheme while working on that bothersome flying thing...

Accelerate hard to get them looking, then slam on the fronts and rollright beside the car, hanging the back wheel at eye level for a few seconds. Guaranteed reaction- Dave Sonsky

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