Rate my first video

[kwmontreal 0]

First off lets get the important stuff taken care of .... Beer has been paid! I love my new FF2 and find myself (again) back in a student roll as far as video goes. Below is a link to video I shot prior to mounting the ring sight. I used a tiny piece of electrical tape on my goggles to keep the frame (sort of). The AC was a C-206 and I had practiced all of one type of hanging exit the jump prior to this one (hanging way out on the strut with a toe on the step). The FF2 was loaded with a PC1000 and a 0.45 Keno lens (next time I’ll add a touch of zoom to get the video without the black boarder due to the 30 mm to 37mm adaptor ring in think).

This Tandem is special in itself as the TP was a paraplegic who had come to the DZ a few times, and am sure she will be back. The TM did an awesome job, and for whom I have a HUGH amount of respect. I am a TM (newish) and would have loved to do it , but, I would not be in my personal comfort zone at this point in time.

I welcome all your input both positive and negative!, and would appreciate tips and tricks both in-air and exits used out of Cessna’s.



As I am not up of "clicky" stuff, below is the link to the video at skydiving movies.com

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=5120




Thanks.

Kent


PS: have fun with the poll .... I think Norm is safe for now!

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[TMPattersonJr 0]

Clicky!

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[kwmontreal 0]

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Smarty pants! I will not do my first Clicky as beer is getting expensive!! Clicky!

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[TMPattersonJr 0]

Good Job but watch that Drogue!!!! Very nice view of the deployment. I haven't shot any Tandems out of a 182 or 206 so i cannot comment on the exit but with some work you have it down no problem. All in all it is sellable footage that I'm sure the customer would really appreciate!!!

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[TMPattersonJr 0]

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Smarty pants! I will not do my first Clicky as beer is getting expensive!! Clicky!

Here's the guide to using markup on DZ.com [url "http://www.dropzone.com/content/Detailed/349.html"]Markup Help[url]

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[mwabd1 0]

Out of 182's and 206's you can leave with em but a half second before gets a nice exit shot and it will keep you away from that drouge. Back up a little, it's personell preference but I like to keep both the passenger and TI in the frame with the emphasis on the passenger. When the Ti waves off back up a little, I wave goodby to the student which gets my arms in front and I backslide a few feet, there have been people killed by a deploying tandem! Oh and it may just be me but, the camera box in the frame is a little annoying, you could replace your lens or trim the box a little.

Just my 2 cents........keep it up!

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[Cacophony 0]

Would have been nice if the instructor gave you a clear exit count. But since this doesn't always happen, nice following with it. You can definately get a lot lower. (I understand this can be hard with a parapelegic since they are usually very light weight) It looked like a Strong tandem rig, and they are notorious for being the best tandem rigs for video because they sit you very head high. Overall, nice job for your first time out. I would recommend being a touch lower or farther back for deployment. If they had a large trap door and sank just a little, then had a hard opening I bet they would have surged forward a little. Thats just what 1000 tandem videos have taught me.

[alw 0]

Equipment - I have the same camera and helmet combo. I use a low profile lense which eliminates the adapter tunnel. I had to modify the mount slightly to get the lense forward and take the box out of the picture. If you can live with the zoom that would work well.

Composition - Several of our camera flyers are really good at getting the shot when the student is head down. They go to their back and fly low - now and then you see a foot in the shot, or they may present their foot to the student for a dock.

Dynamic footage adds to a static face-on shot. carving to the side to get a profiled shot adds dynamic proportion and is also a nice perspective.

All in all I's say your framing was good and it was a good effort. Now edit!! You can't fix it all in post but you can do alot.

Nice work.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[ffejdraga 0]

Hey nice video.

Much better than my first one...well done.

One thing I can suggest is to turn OFF the Image stabilizer. The way it is now, the stabilizer is trying to stabile the black edges of your wide angle lens, and it makes it bounce around.

So you can either turn it off and have no bouncy effect, or zoom it in and leave the stabilizer on.

Otherwise, work on the exit, and you are golden.

jeff D-16906

[sugdad 0]

Nice Video, whats up with the goggleless TI!

[jeiber 0]

Very nice work for your first tandem vid!
What everybody else said. Also, you seemed really close to the tandem on their deployment, but maybe that was just the lens distortion.

I disagree with turning off the image stabilization though. Zoom in, so you don't get a vignette. Better yet, if you're going to be doing alot of vids, I'd spend some cash on a good lens that doesn't vignette. That's just a personal peeve of mine though.

Jeff

Shhh... you hear that sound? That's the sound of nobody caring!

[Zee 0]

Not bad at all for a first tandem vid.

Just a few tips:

Equipment - Remove the filter on overcast days. The rings in the middle of the picture look like those you get with a polarized filter. Better yet, get rid of the polarizer all together. If you want a filter to protect the lens, use a UV or Neutral Density filter instead. There is nothing wrong with the Kenko .45 but as has already been mentioned, zoom in a bit to get rid of the vignetting.

Get some wings. Tandems come in all shapes and sizes and wings will help you control your fallrate and help you get a little beneath the tandem pair for a good shot that doesn't chop off the instructors head.

Discuss the skydive with the TM - Work out a good exit count so you can leave with the tandem or just slightly before them (a drogue in the face hurts - trust me on that one ). Also agree on a time between wave off and deployment. That gives you a few seconds to move in to a safe spot to film the opening. If the TM is experienced he's probably seen tons of video guys fly around him and they can often give you some very good tips on what to do and what not to do.

Deployment - get off to the side of the tandem pair. Tandems often have sketchy openings and depending upon the rig, they might experience a trap door effect. The trap door effect can easily put you above the tandem and that's the absolute worst place for you to be.

The rest is all practice.

Hope it helps,

Z

Action©Sports

[kwmontreal 0]

I'll try to hit everyone at once! By the way this was not just my first tandem video, it was the first video ever. Here in point form is what I have taken away so far.

1) There is a way to make "Clickies"

2) Drogues can hurt! hope not to experience that! would make a cool video clip!!

3) Back off some or go to the side shot for deployments. Excellent as I was not thinking about the trapdoor effect! I guess four boots in the head could put a damper on your day!

4) Zoom in a little to take the outside ring out of the frame. I believe it is the ring adaptor (30mm-37mm). When I get a little extra cash I am thinking of buying a liquid lens. I can't figure out what those concentric rings are? I have only put on a clear UV filter to protect the lens.

5) I bought some wings off of the classified here. I will have to practice before using it filming. I will also need to fly on my back with the camera suit.

6) Dick never wears goggles! (on any jump). Like I said, I have much respect for him. He (I believe) was one of the pioneers out of the box and trained in the early days by Bill Morrissey. You can start another thread .... but lets let this finish here.

7) When I can squirrel a little cash away (read: secret fund the wife doesn't know about!). I would like to get a lens (Liquid)I can use for tandems and general RW/FF with a littler wider angle (0.38 or 0.40). I am open to suggestions!! BUT I do not want to get the "fisheye" type.


I keep thinking that I would like to carve a 360 around the tandem to get a kind of panorama shot. Why don't we open it up a little .... please share your coolest tips or technique that really looks great on video! This could be in air or ground video ...some little trick that you do or say to the TP who has just landed.



Thanks for all your input!

Kent

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[kansasskydiver 0]

I've got a couple hundred 182 tandem videos so here's my advice:

On exit, I get all the way out on the step and look back into the plane. I'm kind of sideways on the step holding onto the strut. I wait for the ready, set and half way between the set and go I start to leave. I come off belly to relative wind, arms tucked all the way behind me grabbing my container and legs tucked to drop straight down with the tandem.

Depending on how many rolls or how quickly the drouge comes out, I track back up the hill to keep proximity to the tandem, or steepen the attack to chase if he's gotten below me.

The TM and I always meet to the righ if we're not facing eachother and then carve to the sun. Once stable, if ever stable, I'll move in and dock on the passengers hand, sink below and turn them, then relocate so that they're facing the sun, lift back up and undock.

This generally gives time for them to do a 360 and then a salute and pull.

On pull, having almost lost my head once... I back up and to a 45 degree off of them and above. As they go by, I rotate onto my back and shoot up and carve. Make sure they're open and then roll back onto belly and pull.

The biggest thing I've noticed is the difference of the tandem exit for the 182 vs otter etc. The door is so much smaller that it's harder for them to get out and stable right away, thus giving them more time to accelearte before getting the drouge out.

leave just a tad bit early and reading what the tandem is doing and then TM you can adjust your fall rate while watching them and know where it's going to end up and not get a drouge in your face. it's also better for exit shots, you get the whole plane etc in the picture.

The tandem will tend to sink and go more straight down than you will as a camera man off the step, so you do need to track up the hill a bit, which is my preference to actually be a bit below the tandem on exit as they'll generally pass me or we'll level out together. Once you see the TM reaching for the drouge, start to slow down, or hit the brakes hard and then go from there.

My camera setup is a flat top with a HC90 on top shooting with a .42 kenko and a 20D on the front with a 18mm lense. Works great for the up close stuff, the .42 really shows the sky and allows you to get in and personal.

Enclosed is a pic of being low and exiting before and tracking up the hill. You get a nice shot out of it.

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[kansasskydiver 0]

Here's some other ones so you can see the angle of attack up and distance on exit

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[Cacophony 0]

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Here's some other ones so you can see the angle of attack up and distance on exit

Thats a sweet angle, but what if the drogue gets half-hitched or blows up or something? You appear to be only slightly off the wind line of the tandem for a sustained period. Do you fly on your back for the entire video or is there some other method you use to get out of the way?

[Zee 0]

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2) Drogues can hurt! hope not to experience that! would make a cool video clip!!

It does make for some funny video. The TM did a gainer out the door and whipped out the drogue when he was head down and it hit me square in the face (it was perfect timing on his part, I'll post it if I can find it - that was at least 5 years ago.

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7) When I can squirrel a little cash away (read: secret fund the wife doesn't know about!). I would like to get a lens (Liquid)I can use for tandems and general RW/FF with a littler wider angle (0.38 or 0.40). I am open to suggestions!! BUT I do not want to get the "fisheye" type.

You don't need to go that wide, a .5 or .45 is perfect for tandems. Usually, anything wider than that will give you a fisheye effect.

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I keep thinking that I would like to carve a 360 around the tandem to get a kind of panorama shot.

I usually make at least one trip around the tandem pair. One thing that looks pretty sweet is when the tandem spins in one direction while you orbit in the other. Getting steep or even a bit above during the orbit makes it look even better. It works much better if you work out a routine with the TM so you're both on the same page.

Action©Sports

[kwmontreal 0]

Sweet pics. Thanks for thetips. The reversing carve with the TM sounds like a winner, and it won't take too long. Being above with the ground spinning would be cool .



Kent

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