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flyhy

stills camera dilemma

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What kind of stills camera to buy? Most people have canon but many others say canon sucks and you're better off with nikon, minolta or pentax. But then some of these cameras require special plugs or lenses or whatever. And is it worth anyway to buy a stills camera at all or will digital cameras soon rule the world of commecial skyiding? For personal use I'd rather buy a normal stills camera.... but which one...? It has to be reliable (!!!!), and compatible with tongue switches and fisheye lenses. Any advice??

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Well if you were to ask me personally what I would buy to get me over the next few years for skydiving and general photography I would say buy the rebel digital. It is expensive but the performance is awesome. Unless you want a lot of custom funtions and a little more speed then you could go with the 10D. Canon has superior optics and the Nikon, Minolta, nor Pentax currently do not have a comparible model. If you already have a fisheye lens? it will be a great bonus as the 1.6 factor for wide angle makes it necessary to have a wider lens than normal film optics.

~Chachi

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A lot of people at my dz jump canon 500x or the newer 300x camera's. Lightweight, cheap and compatible with all the switches. Mostly it is the lightweight part that I like.

Also if you want to try out lenses look at what other people at your dz are jumping. If you're the only one with a minolta you can't borrow anything (conversely, other people can't borrow from YOU which may not be such a bad thing ;)).

Since I own a backpack full of canon lenses already for me the choice was easy. Although I'm not really happy with my canon 300d but that's another story....

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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A lot of people at my dz jump canon 500x or the newer 300x camera's. Lightweight, cheap and compatible with all the switches. Mostly it is the lightweight part that I like.



well...lightweight... think again:
three weeks ago I almost bought the canon 300D, to replace my nikon 8008 (since i am suffering from a bad neck, i thought also: going lightweight...) but I canceled the order after looking at the complete setup: the canon 300d, together with the sigma 15mm fisheye is about the same weight as my NIKON! and twice as big! Especially the latter is an issue if you plan to put the camera not on top of your helmet, but at your forehead....

So for me it's back to the good old Nikon....

(by the way, i am using slides, no negatives: cheaper and better quality, and make them digital using a canon 4000us scanner )
Caren

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No spot measurement, and the Nikon I sometimes borrow gives me way better lighting, Bruno Brokken's 300D quit on him in Thailand from the first jump(error 99), I gave him mine and it quit too >:(. He's fixed the problems but it took him (us) a week >:(. No such problems with the Nikons and 10D's (well fogging did come up).
I mostly use mine on the ground and the 10D and Nikon's D100 just perform way way better. Also I really don't like the small buffer size and lack of speed. I knew that of course when I bought it but together with the other problems this camera bugs me. Pictures are sometimes good but a lot of the times not really. Bruno did make some good shots with his, eventually tho. Pro's: I already have it, I have a bunch of Canon lenses, it's lightweight, it can take a standard switch, can't really afford another camera. Not sure if this weighs up to the cons tho: I want a Nikon!

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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Caren I meant the analog camera's, not the digital ones.


then you are completely right. I am still considering a lightweight analogue camera too, but then again... the nikon is still my favorite, and with the video cam no in my helmet, really small (bullet size) i can put my nikon on top, which helps a lot in weight acceptance..

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So this means I can't get you to buy my 300D? [:/];)


nope :D or you must have a real nice price in mind:ph34r:
Caren

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Nikon is always bashed for adding weights to thier body to make them feel more rugged to field photographers...want that on your head?

Canon is nice and lightweight, and is catored by the bite switch manufacturers.

First Still Camera??? The last thing you wanna do is buy a $2000 camera and jam it on your head (i.e. digital canons). Imagine climbing out and playing smack down with your new camera and the door frame.

When your flying a new piece of equipment, buy cheap, so if you do bump and grind it, it's no big whoop.

For a first camera, I'd suggest the "Rebel Ti", Runs about three bills locally at a retail outlet and is lightweight and easy to use. The auto focus motor can keep up with most lenses, and if you put it into the tail your not going to be crying all the way to the bank.

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Saskia,

Can you explain what he did to fix the Error 99 problem?

I haven't seen any problems with my Digital Rebel, only that I have to use a tongue switch with a stereo plug, that's the only way the camera operates perfectly for me.

About the picture quality.. I have no problems with it at all, I don't know what kind of modes you are shooting in and what lenses you are using?

Iwan

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:)4 x6 or 8 x10 shots that seem Very Very nice.
Sony makes a wired remote RM-VD1 which plugs into an accessory port on the side of the camera. It not only fires the shutter, but also lets you turn the cam. on or off,,,,It has an amber indicator light
right on the pendant... to tell the status of the camera..( cam eye II ) and you can operate the zoom, from the pendant, .The pendant itself is about 1.25 inches by 1.25 inches by One inch thick.. It has a 5 foot wire and a spring loaded clip which attaches nicely to my altimeter "tubestow" around my fingers.. i fire it with my left hand...
The camera is not large, or heavy,,,
yet is it rated @ 5 megapixels.... It has a variety of settings,,,and recovers quickly... It probably would not fire 4 times a second,,, for 5 second bursts... but it does have a "multi Burst " feature,, where it
grabs 3 frames, in quick succession,, then needs maybe 6 or 7 seconds,,, to come back up.....Still, 3 shots, right out the door,,,,then be patient,, and shortly, as the dive develops, 3 more,,, recover, 3 more..... etc etc. Or ,,,Normal mode lets you grab many many stills in the course of a jump..
It has nice post production capabilities, and the memory stick fits a variety of printers...( I use 256mb sony sticks,,, but I want to try the proscan stick to see if it can make the camera faster )
I purchased one last year in
June for 579, and now they are available for 499.... They also make a nice wideangle lens
sony part VCL-DEH07V
www.sonystyle.com..... but so far i like the camera,,, and have had no problems....

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So you all reckon digital is the way to go? Do many dropzones change to selling digital photos with the video? Wouldn't it be worth waiting a bit longer until the dig cams get cheaper and improve more (pixels, speed, size/weight, etc.)??? And what's the story of plugs that don't fit (Pentax??) and cameras that don't work with certain lenses although they fit but they interfer with the autofocus...?

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Well we tried a lot of different things. Swapped out components (lens, battery, cf card, body) at first. Didn't help. In the end, the camera was completely wrapped in plastic (plastic bag) and ducktape! That worked. Looked crappy, but it worked ;)

What he did:
- tape the lens securely to the body
- piece of tape on battery to get a better fit
- entirely close off the camera, in this case with plastic (we both ordered custom thailand-made fabric 'jackets' for the 300D but they weren't finished yet when we left, so after the Thailand boogie I'll get mine).

Probably the platform you mount the camera on is important too: an L-bracket on your forehead is less secure then top-mounting it.

We think the camera cannot handle vibrations AT ALL. The error 99 is probably a loose connection somewhere, be it lens-body, battery, cf card, whatever.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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Probably the platform you mount the camera on is important too: an L-bracket on your forehead is less secure then top-mounting it.



I have a flat top pro, and I mount it on the front without any problems.

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We think the camera cannot handle vibrations AT ALL. The error 99 is probably a loose connection somewhere, be it lens-body, battery, cf card, whatever.



i would like to challenge that :P I think it handles vibrations very very well. I crashed on landing with mine with no problems, and the camera does vibrate in freefall, I have to figure out a way to mount it more secure, and i haven't gotten any problems yet...

What I think is a bigger problem with the kind of jumps you guys were doing with it, is humidity and cold...

Regarding the Error 99, one of my friends had all sorts of problems with the camera when he mounted it on his head. finally we found that the problems were with his tongue switch.
He ordered standard tongueswitches, with the stereoplug on em from Conceptus and he was good to go, and from what i have heard he hasn't had problems since.

I would blame humidity and temperature for the jumps you were doing. don't give up on the camera just yet :P

Thanks,
Iwan

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So, that means if I use that camera in the temparature I was jumping in today (10 below 0 C) I'm fucked?
:S
Crap....well, let's hope that global warming makes it to Norway soon:D



I can't comment. I would just try. Official operating temperatures are way higher than that anyways.
I think cold is ok for the camera, it might be the humidity.... and major temperature changes.

Iwan

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Here´s the bag I had made for the camera(I´ve had something similar for my videocameras for years),worked great during the last few days of the record attempts,and also back home in exceptionally cold weather(-20C at altitude).
Don´t know where the problem came from ,but the bag make it work....

Bruno

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