Ballpark Jump Numbers for Photography

[Grips 0]

Hey everybody.

I am still doing my AFF. I hope to jump a lot more frequently in the coming months.

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I really love photography, and eagerly want to get into photographing jumps.

I know everybody progresses at their own rate, but was just curious about how many jumps you had before you starting shooting as well.

I will be using a 20D btw.


Thanks!

[Peej 0]

260 or so before i put a video camera on my head.

This weekend i will be jumping a stills camera for the first time.

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[piisfish 135]

count a minimum of 200 jumps before jumping a camera. And don't fool yourself in thinking you're ready and you're natural enough etc...
Before jumping the camera, ask yourself : am I ready to jump, fly smoothly around/above people and take nice pictures/footage and not having to think about body position, gear, etc etc and that all your stuff is done naturally .

Peej, will you jump stills+video ? How's your neck doing ? Don't do like me on my first stills day. 1video only+8video&stills the same day .

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Peej 0]

Hey Fish,

Yup, i'll be jumping stills + video on tandems this weekend. Thanks for the advice man! I hadn't even thought about easing into it

Will have to see how many i've been booked on for saturday at JSC, it can't more than 3 or 4 though...

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[The111 0]

About 450 for me, video only so far. 99% of my camera jumps have been in my wingsuit. Will add stills sometime soon, maybe.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[Grips 0]

thanks for the insight.

I have a long way to go. I really look forward to it.

[Peej 0]

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thanks for the insight.

I have a long way to go. I really look forward to it.

I can honestly say that getting down from videoing a tandem skydive and seeing the look on the passenger's face is one of the most rewarding things i have ever experienced. The same goes for getting praise from a four way and eight way team that is stoked with your footage.

Good luck with your quest!

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[Icon134 0]

Read the SIM for recomendations and look at the FAQ at the top of this forum for additional information too. I'm just getting started in Video and will probably start shooting stills later this year.

OH, and talk to local vidographers and instructors... most will recomend that you shoot video before considering stills (as the learning curve is much lower...) take it easy and be patient... moving too fast in this sport can kill you.

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[jimmytavino 16]

I had 1,750 jumps when I started using a video camera.
I have been a camera flyer now for almost 12 years.
I very seldom skydive without camera(s)..I shoot Tandem and Aff whevever I am needed..but I much prefer fun jumps... videoing anything from a 2 way to a 20 way.
I also often will share a jump with a newbie ,, I earned a coach rating a couple of years ago ( Now I can legally do what I have done for decades. i.e. skydive with and tutor novices )
and I will often create a video for them upon landing...
It isn't ALL about the "first jump " customers.

[davelepka 4]

You do want to have a couple hundred jumps, at the minnimum. At that point, maybe go and jump with one of the local video guys. Have him lay a base for you, and you'll need to fly with and around him as if you were filming him. This is the best way to know where your skills are, and they can point out anywhere you're lacking.

Once they give you the thumbs up, set up a VIDEO helmet start with. Shooting stills adds another layer of complexity as you have to operate the camera in freefall. At least with the video, the camera takes care of itself.

Once you are feeling comfortable with the video, and producing nice footage, do a few jumps, and see if you can think about where you'd like to take stills.If you can do that, and maintain the quality of the video, THEN you can strap on a still camera, and jump the full set up.

Unitl then, have fun with your jumps, and don't worry about video. If you have a 20D, great, go out and take stills of landings. If you don't, try to not buy any cameras or helemts unitl you are less than a month away from juping them. With the way new technonlogy appears, and prices swing, you may end up wasting a huge amount of money buying something too soon.

[dragon2 0]

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try to not buy any cameras or helemts unitl you are less than a month away from juping them. With the way new technonlogy appears, and prices swing, you may end up wasting a huge amount of money buying something too soon.

OTOH, learning to take a decent picture before mounting it can't hurt... I know a few camera people who have no clue about photography, they just use the settings that always work. So in a different situation they don't know how to take a decent pic The same goes for video too.

I usually can use a few extra camera people on the ground for say swoop competitions, and some of the footage I get from "real" camera flyers is quite bad FI lots of -uncontroleed- zooming, dirty lenses, into the sun, bad framing, moving the camera too much, out of focus, ....
Luckily sometimes someones kid or girlfriend does real good
It takes time to learn how to frame a shot and get the settings right, why not start that before you're jumping a camera, if you have the money of course...

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[steveorino 7]

I attached a camera to my helmet around 150 jumps, but I only videoed myself and my jump buddies. Believe me - the videos sucked. I doubt I could get much more than 15 seconds of good video off it. We were doing 2 way freeflying. Around 200 jumps I wanted to be a coach so started doing more belly flying. At 300 jumps I went out with some tandems and speced the video. They sold and I was put in the video rotation. Most of my last 600 jumps have been video/coach or demos.

I could fly okay at 300 but it wasn't until closer to 500 that I felt confident to fly without "thinking" about flying. At 900+ jumps it is more second nature than thought, and I hope to learn as much (if not a lot more) in the next 1000 jumps.

steveOrino

[davelepka 4]

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learning to take a decent picture before mounting it can't hurt

Yeah, here the thing though, with the 20D being a small sensor camera, and news of Canon switching over to all full frame sensor cameras, buying a 20D now to jump with in a couple years seems a little short sighted.

Even if he bought a camera a month before he wanted to jump it, that would give him four weekends at the DZ to play with, and who knos how much time at home.

And really, we all know that for the fisrt 100 still camera jumps, he won't be 'framing' anything. It will be more a challenge just to remember to keep working the bite switch.

[vdschoor 0]

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learning to take a decent picture before mounting it can't hurt

Yeah, here the thing though, with the 20D being a small sensor camera, and news of Canon switching over to all full frame sensor cameras, buying a 20D now to jump with in a couple years seems a little short sighted.

Even if he bought a camera a month before he wanted to jump it, that would give him four weekends at the DZ to play with, and who knos how much time at home.

And really, we all know that for the fisrt 100 still camera jumps, he won't be 'framing' anything. It will be more a challenge just to remember to keep working the bite switch.

I agree with Saskia and you.. although I have to say this. One of my friends had been a photographer for years before he applied it in skydiving, and his work was immediately way ahead of anyone who just "got a camera, played with it for a bit and strapped it on"

Photography is not just about taking the picture, it's knowing what to look for and catching that in a photo...

[davelepka 4]

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Photography is not just about taking the picture, it's knowing what to look for and catching that in a photo...

I agree 100%. But keep in mind that first you have to learn to see that in freefall, and sometimes that means knowing how to see things in 360 in your mind, while you are in one place. The next hurdle is having the flying skills to get there before the shot goes away. I'm not sure which is more challenging.

In the time it takes to develop those skills, you've got time to fiddle with the thing on the ground.

[vdschoor 0]

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Photography is not just about taking the picture, it's knowing what to look for and catching that in a photo...

I agree 100%. But keep in mind that first you have to learn to see that in freefall, and sometimes that means knowing how to see things in 360 in your mind, while you are in one place. The next hurdle is having the flying skills to get there before the shot goes away. I'm not sure which is more challenging.

In the time it takes to develop those skills, you've got time to fiddle with the thing on the ground.

100% correct there..

So the general recommendation to the original poster.. get lots of jumps in.. around 300 jumps, put the video camera on your head.. fly that for a couple hundred and then add the stills..

In the meantime.. learn as much about photography as possible..

I've been doing photography for almost 10 years, and didnt start using it in skydiving since 3 years ago..

[davelepka 4]

Oh yeah, the other thing is that the learnig curve for camera operation got waaaaaaay steeper, almost vertical with the introduction of digital photography.

Being able to see pics on the spot makes the learing so much easier. You used to have to take notes about your settings, than wait for and pay for processing to see anything (it's no accident that I worked in a camera store right after I started flying a camera).

On top of that, you can do a jump, see the pics, make changes, and repeat the jump in almost the same light.

It really makes the bad old days look really bad.

[Stumpy 256]

So true. I do kinda miss developing black and white myself though!!! (Never did color - that involved way too much pissing about!!)
The other thing about the 20d and other cameras like it is the sheer volume of pics you can take means that by the law of averages you will get a couple of good ones!!!

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[cacrinklaw 0]

200 jumps and a USPA C-Licence or FAI equivalent is recommended. See USPA SIM Section 6-8.
Talk to other cameramen/women and get tips on what you need to know when taking on this aspect of jumping. Make sure you have a audible altimeter, you never know when you might get caught trying to get that shot and lose altitude awareness

[mattjw916 2]

I waited until I had about 300 or so.

My only other _suggestion_ is make sure you are totally competant under canopy too before you add expensive stuff to your head. You have to be able to land basically perfectly everytime or you risk breaking your cool toys. I've seen it happen, it's not pretty, and it hurts the wallet significantly.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080