video suit with or without booties?

[bastichu 0]

I´m planning to buy a video suit. So maybe some of you could tell my if you prefer booties or not and for what reason.

thanks

Sebastian

http://www.ziehleine.de

[pcalandra 0]

I like mine with booties, mostly the increase in forward speed for me not only on RW but Tandem and AFF as well. I never jumped booties for about 2400 jumps, now I'll never go bootieless if I can avoid it. One issue to consider is that if you sit, roll over, stand up or otherwise fly on moe than your belly pay the extra bucks for the full zippers and ask to have a strap added to around the bottom of your foot. I had several "boottie blow outs" where one would come off and they were not fun!

Pat

[Miami 0]

I prefer without...you lose some flexibility as far as what you can do if you have booties on. I'm no 4-way video guru but I filmed all of my teams jumps at nationals, collegiate nationals, and CSL's with a "freefly" style camera suit and had zero video busts throughout (and pretty nice looking video, too!). I also use the same suit for backflying while filming tandems. Having booties on a camera suit will not do anything noticeable to get you up the hill any further, maneuver over your rw group any better, and in general going to just be more of a pita than they are worth.
Hope that helps...

Miami

[skydiveoc 0]

I agree with mi hammy. Booties were a 90's thing. Pain inthe arse to maintain, need to get them off if you surf. To be a more rounded camera flyer, you need to freefly and booties do not fit the equation. I like a bigger wing, medium to tight torso and thigh and bell bottom baggyness from knee to ankle to balance out drop speed and pulse recovery. If you watched the X games you'll see camera flyers who needed the most range, slow to fast. Not one was wearing booties.

Josh.

[airgord 1]

It is a personal choice, I have always used booties, I can back fly with booties and they help *me* get back faster if I leave slightly early and I can track alot faster with booties than I can without. I'm over 200# and booties help me stay above scrawny 4 way teams without having to go to huge wings that can flap at speed causing some vibration on my videos and I still have alot of range.

The previous posters make it sound like no booties is an absolute must, I say make it your personal choice, you may prefer no booties,
cool, you may want them, cool too.

Try some different suits and buy the one you prefer best, just make sure it will be compatible with what *you* want to do.

Oh yeah, buy Bev.

[birddog 0]

i started out with out "boosters". after a few jumps i borrowed a suit that had them fitted. Wouldnt jump camera with out em now. Heaps better for rw exits. But it a personal choice, try out a few 1st and decide then.

Deal with it

[pcalandra 0]

I agree, there is no right or wrong suit, it depends on your personal preference, flying abilities and discipline that you are photographing. Obliviously booties won't do much for you if you are free flying.

The bottom line for me like most is several suits, then you dress for success based on the skydive.

Pat

[Deuce 1]

All my camera jumps and my first two nationals were in a suit that didn't have booties. I like not having to screw around with booties cause I have enough to do with the camera helmet. On a busy tandem day in the summer where I'm going to be on the floor of the plane all day they're just another thing to have to screw around with.

-But- I found I would like to have them to get over a four way team that flattens out quickly after exit.

I am going to train all year with an advanced team for this year's nationals, so I'm going with a suit with booties. Booties just provide extra speed and braking power in exchange for some additional complication.

I've never seen "removable" booties that worked. Get a suit with or without them, but I'd suggest not getting the removable ones.

[davelepka 4]

What do you plan to do with the suit? What sort of flying will you be doing? Have you ever jumped with booties before?

[bastichu 0]

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What do you plan to do with the suit? What sort of flying will you be doing? Have you ever jumped with booties before?

I`m more a freeflyer than anything else, so I think
booties won`t be the best choice. But i have to confess that until now i`ve never tried any booties. I think especially for a rookie like me booties would be an aditional thing you have to care of before and during your jump (as written in a previous post). But it is good to hear the different opinions from all the experienced skydiver in this forum. Thanks
http://www.ziehleine.de

[davelepka 4]

Yeah, forget the booties. They only work on way (belly to earth) and sometimes fly off or get in your way if you're trying to freefly or backfly.

Unless you're shooting competition four way video, and you suck at it, no camera man needs booties. For non-comp videos, you'll get there soon enough. The difference in speed between booties and no booties isn't that much. A better flyer or a guy who reacts to the changes faster can more than make up for the difference in speed.

They rock for four way guys, who are turning points, but camera guys should never have to move that much, that fast (unless they suck).

Edit: No offence to the bootie flyers out there. It's really just a matter of preference, but if you've never used them, a camera isn't a reason to start.

[Deuce 1]

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Unless you're shooting competition four way video, and you suck at it, no camera man needs booties.

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They rock for four way guys, who are turning points, but camera guys should never have to move that much, that fast (unless they suck).

Geez, Dave, what do you really think?

I've flown camera at Nationals twice with intermediate teams, and went clean last year. No booties. I don't suck.

I have an Advanced team this year.. The members are all veterans and will medal. I'm leaving nothing to chance and I'm sponsored for the suit, so I opted for booties. Booties like I wore while setting the current world sequential record .

To the original poster, booties aren't necessary to shoot world class video. Like Dave said, if you want to fly on your back or in a sit, they are a pain.

Also, learning to really fly camera wings is difficult enough, and if you've never flown a suit with booties, the combination of wings and booties for the first time is going to be a pretty steep learning curve.

Even if you don't suck.

[davelepka 4]

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I've flown camera at Nationals twice with intermediate teams, and went clean last year. No booties. I don't suck

Thats what I mean. The team isn't going anywhere you can't follow if you're paying attention. Booties help if you're a little 'slow', and need to catch up to the team.

If you're jumping with a sponsored team, than you have to put on the dog and pony show. The suit mfg. wants his suits out there, on the winning team, loaded with options, so people buy them loaded with options.

If that was the case, I'd wear booties too. I'd also probably sell the suit the day after nationals, but thats just me.

I have no world record to gloat about.

[AiRpollUtiOn 0]

If you want to do tandemvideo on the belly I would recommend booties, since you'll be hanging in your wings, and flying on your knees and lower legs (or bootiez...)
Furthermore I'd agree with anyone that says you'll have to find out which suit-setup you like most yourself. All the rest of us can only blah away at you

"Don't make me come down there" - God.

My site:http://www.skystudio.nl/video.html
Some of my vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSkyStudio

[davelepka 4]

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If you want to do tandemvideo on the belly I would recommend booties, since you'll be hanging in your wings, and flying on your knees and lower legs (or bootiez...)

OK, here's where I don't get booties. How are they helping you here? You're flying by yourself, and can position yourself however you please. Also, you're the only one out there, so what the rush to get anywhere?

Again, no offence to bootie flyers, but unless you're trying to remain really relative to someone, such as 4-way or AFF instruction, whats the point? It seems like one more thing to check, or break, or maintain, or worry about, or pay for.......

[chachi 0]

i can out track most booties or not. work on skills not adding crutches.

as for Jp i can understand if it was sponsors choice i would where them.

[freefalle 0]

Sebastian, looking at your profile, you only have 100 jumps, I hope you are holding off on flying camera until you get a little more experience. Not getting off on that tangent, I'll get back to the post. My suggestion is this, take it for what its worth. If you are just starting to fly camera, hold off on getting a camera suit at all. Learn to fly your body to the best of your ability without the suit. I made the mistake of starting camera with fewer jumps than I should have. I also made the mistake of buying a camera suit right away I became very "dependent" on my wings to hold me in the positions I wanted to be in which hurt me in the long run. The best advise that was given to me was to learn to fly without the wings and they will be much more helpful when you need them. Good luck have fun

[ltdiver 3]

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I have an Advanced team this year..

Cool, JP! You don't need my connections to get you a gig this time, 'eh?

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The members are all veterans and will medal.

Who dat? Looks like we're gonna have some fun, then!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Deuce 1]

Bah, I will always need your friendship on the DZ. Hanging out with you only ever brings good stuff. Nationals plane rides with Lori? Coolio!

You flying advanced or open?

My team is a reconstituted NorCal version of Elsinore GT. With a cooler name.

And me

[ltdiver 3]

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Bah, I will always need your friendship on the DZ. Hanging out with you only ever brings good stuff. Nationals plane rides with Lori? Coolio!

You flying advanced or open?

My team is a reconstituted NorCal version of Elsinore GT. With a cooler name.

And me

Advanced. Team name Perris Voltage.

Who's on your team?

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[bastichu 0]

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Sebastian, looking at your profile, you only have 100 jumps, I hope you are holding off on flying camera until you get a little more experience. Not getting off on that tangent, I'll get back to the post. My suggestion is this, take it for what its worth. If you are just starting to fly camera, hold off on getting a camera suit at all. Learn to fly your body to the best of your ability without the suit. I made the mistake of starting camera with fewer jumps than I should have. I also made the mistake of buying a camera suit right away I became very "dependent" on my wings to hold me in the positions I wanted to be in which hurt me in the long run. The best advise that was given to me was to learn to fly without the wings and they will be much more helpful when you need them. Good luck have fun

In general i would agree with you. 100 jumps is not much. I made the mistake to start jumping with camera with only 50 jumps. Now the camera is an inherent part of every single jump and to tell the truth i don`t want to miss it. unlike the other students that started at the same time their skydiving education, i took every single jump to improve my skills in freeflying, jumping with others
and to get used to the camera and the different aspects concerning safety during the opening sequence. Nevertheless it has not been the right way.
thanks for your advice, i think you are right. first of all you should be able to do camera without any wings.
Sebastian

[BigBUG 0]

The only problem I have with camera flying is the fact that I started freeflying after 400 jumps as a RW cameraman. So, I jump with video from the very beginning of my freefly jumps and this leads to current situation: I have no troubles to fly head up with almost every freeflyer from 200 to 300 kph, but have serious problems doing docks (since I flew like a vidiot for a team from the start). If I could start from the beginning again, I've learned to be a good 'all-purpose' freeflyer first and only then take a camera with me.

I have an old suit with booties to film a RW team jumps, and a jacket with relatively small wings and freefly pants for all other purposes.

[davelepka 4]

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Sebastian, looking at your profile, you only have 100 jumps, I hope you are holding off on flying camera until you get a little more experience.

I saw this as well, but have come to the conclusion that you can't derail a young camera flyer once they make up their mind.

Shit, it's tough to put the brakes on the newbies who want to downsize too fast, and we have the fatality reports and numerous broken femurs on our side with that one. Without any such stats for early camera flying, it's tough case to make.

I figure that keeping the booties off the new guys will at least moderate the speed at which they can over-amp, and hurl themselves at a subject.

[Icon134 0]

Ok, I don't have a whole lot of experience jumping a camera suit but when I was putting together a camera suit I did want booties since in the last two years most of my jumps have been with them and I'm used to flying with them. So to me it just kind of made sense to put booties on my camera suit (although technically I put camera wings on a bootied RW suit... )

I'm hoping to continue build my RW video skills (shooting 4-way for a team here in OH... I think I've got one lined up too...) this season and I'll let y'all know how it goes...

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

[Deuce 1]

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I made the mistake to start jumping with camera with only 50 jumps. Now the camera is an inherent part of every single jump and to tell the truth i don`t want to miss it.

This past Holiday Boogie in Arizona, either Brent Finley or Greg Gasson explained the difference between this and camera flying I've heard yet. Putting a camera on your head at 50 jumps is providing a visual flight recording of the jump that happens in front of the lens. This is wholly different than "Camera Flying" which is a deliberate piloting of the lens, to frame and record a specific subject.