Second hand stills camera - value for money?

[Shivon 0]

I have a TRV22 which I plan to mount in a bonehead box on a Batrak. I am now looking for a stills camera to complete the setup. Question is: if you were starting out (again), would you:

a. Wait a little longer to save up for a suitable digital. My assumption is that a digital is going to be more expensive initially, or

b. Buy a second hand conventional camera which will be less expensive, but will have ongoing costs like film / processing. I have been told that an option may be an EOS 500.

Thoughts? For either option, suggestions on models would be appreciated.

[quade 3]

Depends on what you want to do with the stills.

For tandem/student work -- film is still the king. If in the operation in question the customer pays for the film, then it's a no brainer.

For publication -- digital makes things a lot easier and less expensive for the photographer in the long run. You'll recoop the cost of the camera in not having to pay for film and processing -- quickly.

So, why do you want to hang a still camera on your head?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Shivon 0]

As with the DV camera, subjects are going to be 4-way RW teams and tandems.

In the short term, the camera setup won't be for profit, but a little later down the track I want to be filming tandems and burning a DVD of their jump instead of the way my DZ currently does it - on a VCR tape.

Now, how much the stills camera will be involved in that - I am not sure. At present, our DZ camera flyer uses a DV camera alone (with no stills capability) when putting the tandem videos together - and the result is quite polished. Certainly digital stills would be easier to include in the DVD, but how much it will be used? I don't know.

Hope that complicates things sufficiently.