now that it is all over for Sony PC's what are you going to do?

[rhys 0]

I sold my top mount over a year ago and went for a Rawa and a PC 350.

I'm still lovin it but what happens when it comes time to purchase a HDV7 or similar and you want to take stills as well?

I saw a guy here in Russia with the same helmet as me and he had a plate to mount a canon eosd350 as well as a HDV7 i think it was.

I will probably do something similar but what are you all going to do?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[Fast 0]

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I sold my top mount over a year ago and went for a Rawa and a PC 350.

I'm still lovin it but what happens when it comes time to purchase a HDV7 or similar and you want to take stills as well?

I saw a guy here in Russia with the same helmet as me and he had a plate to mount a canon eosd350 as well as a HDV7 i think it was.

I will probably do something similar but what are you all going to do?

Cry? I am at a point where I need to guard my PC1000 with my life. A friend of mine just found one new on the internet for like $1500. I paid $960 for mine right from the store.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[DougH 270]

I am going to buy a couple more pc350's as I find them in good condition on the internet.

I just ordered a cookie box and wide angle lense that fits them, so why not have a couple in reserve.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[sgt_ludy 0]

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Cry? I am at a point where I need to guard my PC1000 with my life. A friend of mine just found one new on the internet for like $1500. I paid $960 for mine right from the store.

haha, same for me. everytime a friend asks me to borrow him my pc1000 it gives me sleepless nights... bought mine for 800 dollars one year ago.

[diablopilot 2]

Nothing.

Top mount was always the choice of professionals, so that's what I've always stuck with. I'm doing alright, got a few older PC's in backup, and a new HDC3 on line.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[pope 0]

adapt, improvise, and overcome.

[DSE 3]

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adapt, improvise, and overcome.

Now that the horse era is over, what are you going to do?
Kodak recently announced the death of several of their film stocks too. Hollywood is going digital.
Norm Kent, Joe Jennings, Tom Sanders...all have been jumping HD for over two years. I can see how those with helmets made for a specific camera might be unhappy, but time marches on. Better pictures, lighter camcorders, faster transfers, NLE systems. It's all good, IMO.
Everyone loves progress, it's change that they seem to resist.

[The111 0]

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Now that the horse era is over, what are you going to do?

Dude, you can still buy horses if you search hard enough. I'm going to buy like 10 and stock up.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[DSE 3]

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Now that the horse era is over, what are you going to do?

Dude, you can still buy horses if you search hard enough. I'm going to buy like 10 and stock up.

Can't wait to see you in the air with that, Matt!

[boyfalldown 0]

PC's are still easy to find if you look in the right places. Last month I was in New York and picked up a pc-105 for $400 and a pc-101 for $300 (brand new in factory boxes, with all accessories and warranties). A lot of the smaller electronics shops in Manhattan still have 9's, 101's, and 109's on the shelf. The going rate was around $500 for a 109. PM me and I'll be glad to give you the phone numbers of a few of the shops I've been to.

As far as HDV goes, until an affordable means to burning a widely accepted media format becomes available, SD will have to suffice for the average weekend tandem cameraperson. On the subject of NLE, while it blows away linear editing in terms quality and finite control of your final project, it just can't compare to the speed of linear editing. Yesterday I did 7 tandem videos in six hours and managed to edit every one of them in between loads, there is no way I would have been able to do that with an NLE system.

The HDV cameras available today are very impressive, but I do not believe they are yet ready to be put to work in the tandem environment. I'm not dismissing them completely, just saying that I don't yet see any way to send the average Joe home with an edited video in a format he can easily play at home. Until a standardized affordable media format becomes available SD will have to do.

Long live the PC,

Jim

[DSE 3]

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PC's are still easy to find if you look in the right places. Last month I was in New York and picked up a pc-105 for $400 and a pc-101 for $300 (brand new in factory boxes, with all accessories and warranties). A lot of the smaller electronics shops in Manhattan still have 9's, 101's, and 109's on the shelf. The going rate was around $500 for a 109. PM me and I'll be glad to give you the phone numbers of a few of the shops I've been to.

As far as HDV goes, until an affordable means to burning a widely accepted media format becomes available, SD will have to suffice for the average weekend tandem cameraperson. On the subject of NLE, while it blows away linear editing in terms quality and finite control of your final project, it just can't compare to the speed of linear editing. Yesterday I did 7 tandem videos in six hours and managed to edit every one of them in between loads, there is no way I would have been able to do that with an NLE system.

The HDV cameras available today are very impressive, but I do not believe they are yet ready to be put to work in the tandem environment. I'm not dismissing them completely, just saying that I don't yet see any way to send the average Joe home with an edited video in a format he can easily play at home. Until a standardized affordable media format becomes available SD will have to do.

Long live the PC,

Jim

Yesterday I made 13 camera jumps, edited all 13 of them in less time than any other camera guy. It's all about;
a-having an intelligent, thought out workflow
b-having a reasonably fast computer (I use a laptop, 1.83Mhz and/or a MacBook Pro)
c-having some media prepped in advance.

My DVDs for instance, not only include approx 7 mins of tandem vid, but also a reel of skydiving footage that encourages a T2, has AFF information, and some fun footage of various activities. TRT is 16-20 mins depending on what I shot on the ground.
I use Sony Vegas, and have several templates laid out. Other than capture time (which is about to go away soon), I take approx 3 mins per video. Music is already laid in, it just needs to be rippled. Titles are already laid in, the name just needs to be changed. Transitions are already in place, length only has to be specified.
My workflow?

Finish ground/post jump interview.
Drop gear on packing mat
Go straight to computer, start capture. This takes 5-7 mins because it's real time.
Put CF card in reader, start CD burn during capture.
Now I go pack. By the time I'm putting my canopy in the bag, capture is usually complete, so I set my locking stoes, then walk over to computer, edit/tweak, then set to render to MPEG. Render to MPEG and AC3 is a one-button push, takes about 2-3 mins to render, so it gives me plenty of time to finish packing, but it doesn't matter much if I do or don't.
I use DVD Architect, and have 10 pre-made menus that are pre-linked to my "extras" video. Drop a DVD in the burner (have to remove the stills CD that is already finished), and press "burn DVD."
Finish packing if I didn't already do so.
All that said, I do have two rigs, and occasionally have a packer (I only allow one particular person to pack for me) that helps me on days where I've got 13 vids. 14 vids if you count a fun jump at the end of the day in which I wore a camera and captured the event without making a DVD for the group.
Today, I made eight camera jumps, every customer walked away with their video in hand.
Additionally, Vegas allows me to capture one vid while editing another, and stll have a DVD burning while I'm capturing and editing.
It *can* be done, and is done.
In closing, bear in mind that I edit more or less full time 5 days a week, too. But I also put stuff in my video that you *can't* do with linear editing, such as repeating the exit with flash transitions, second exit shot at 40% speed, repeat deployment with transitions, deployment set to 40% of speed, plus at least one highlight of the jump, replayed at 40% of speed.

[stratostar 5]

Yea, I love it when people try to tell me I can do it on my laptop or tower as fast as my old Mx-1 system. Ok I should say when I used to, now that I'm retired and all.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[AFFI 0]

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Other than capture time (which is about to go away soon), I take approx 3 mins per video.

And how much time is added with the capture and why/how is that about to go away?

If anyone else were telling me they were cranking out tandem edits in 3 minutes using DVNLE I would have trouble believing them but I know you have your shit together, so I will take your word for it.
I would love to see one of your edits, the way it is delivered to the student, just curious...

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[jimmytavino 16]

excellent..
we can witness here, the evolution of tandem
video cameramen... DSE you've achieved what has long been dreamed of.....
While shooting tandem and aff video for years, and creating souvenir tapes of which i was proud,
The thought has always been, How can we get better, how can we fine tune, how can we stay efficient during editing, in order to deliver what is essentially an 'ad' for our DZ....I learned many years ago that sharing between one another, and teaching each other how to best utilize the features of our equipment, certain techniques allows for the growth and improvement of all...
Early on we made VHS tapes with music , video and audio using Radio-Shack $29.95 mixer with all sorts of cables running out of ithaving drifted away from tandem videos and AFF i find myself to more often be part of a fun jump, RW and the occassional freefly...( while a true novice in the ff world... I can flat fly, no suiter, and go plenty FAST...matching speed with many a sit flyer, and serving as a fast enough base for most jumps....)

So that, coupled with videoing RW jumps. has led me to the HD format... I use a sony HDR HC3... and use the footage mostly for direct de-briefs, general viewing and Not for burning dvd's to sell...It does seem like i can output in Dv and use the burning feature of my desktop dell if i'd like to make a disc. but direct cable from the camera to a hd screen works for me...
never used the PC model ( mostly TRV's ) but learned a lot from a guy with a pc 109...
It's always been about diffusion of ideas, and teaching others and we all benefit from that.

NOW... as to making 13 video jumps a day...!!!!!! and packing for yourself,,, and editing stills & dvd's.......
you DSE, have moved right up near the top. of my "impressive skydivers" list.....
You're already hovering right up there .. on the "impressive videographers" list. so now you're 2 for 2 ....
work hard, play hard, enjoy the rewards

jmy

[aardvarkeater 0]

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Other than capture time (which is about to go away soon), I take approx 3 mins per video.

And how much time is added with the capture and why/how is that about to go away?

I'd guess the capture time will be going away due to solid state recording. You can simply drag and drop the video file from the camera to the computer, Might take a minute to do so instead of the 7-8 minutes of realtime capturing from tape.

Muff Brother #4026
Loco Zapatos Rodriguez
SCR #14793

[dragon2 0]

I have sort of the same workflow as DSE, minus the extra videos and menu. I just let premiere do an instant-playing dvd. I have some templates ready, capturing and burning take the most time, editing is a snap now that I've got my workflow going (haven't done too many tandemvids yet but have years of experience doing competition vids and daily videos).

While I'm capturing I dump the stills to my laptop then burn them. The video is about 7 minutes, it's our DZ logo, talk to student, walk to plane, take-off, in-air shot, gear up, [change song] entire jump up to opening, than the jump again but with some bits at 30%: exit, face shot, opening [change song] some shots of me flying, tandem landing, talk to passenger, bye bye, fade out.

I edit on a dual core laptop, 2gb ram, premiere pro cs2, nero for the stills.

Since I'm a fill-in tandem video only, I usually have more time between jumps anyway plus they have other videos to watch in between so 'my' passengers rarely have to wait any longer than they would've had to with one of the regular camera guys. I'm not as quick as the other guys but I'm getting there

Capturing and burning take up most of the time, plus all the tandem passenger family friends etc looking over my shoulder and asking questions and stuff, because I have to edit in the bar, sort of solved that by putting on big headphones and pretending I don't hear ' em

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[DSE 3]

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Other than capture time (which is about to go away soon), I take approx 3 mins per video.

And how much time is added with the capture and why/how is that about to go away?
...

Capture time is about to go away, because of direct to stick, so rather than running a tape to your vid guy or capturing, you'll simply transfer. It's about 20% of real time. AVCHD ain't ready for primetime yet, unless you've got a BEAST of a machine. By November, it will be ready for prosumer use.

Bear in mind as I said before, I've got most of the vid laid out in advance. I just need to change title names. In other words, it takes some pre-production setup. Sometimes I'll do something special (birthday overlay, etc) and those add a coupla minutes. I have a small library of graphics for birthdays, anniversaries, and leaving on a Mormon mission (those are popular reasons to jump here). But I don't have a template for those kinds of vids.
With ripple enabled, you simply cut the chunks you don't want, stretch the ones you want slowed down/sped up, and everything stays relative. It's usually a total of 8 cuts/edits. I do it with a keypad, but you can do it just as fast with a mouse.
~extra crap at head of interview
~slow walkup
~cut extra crap before/after an alti shot
~cut extra crap before exit, after deploymentd
~duplicate/slomo exit/deployment
Done.

So, say seven mins of footage, it takes three mins to edit, that's approx 10 minutes to finished product.
Takes about 4 mins to render, and deliver to student. Shorter vid takes less time. If I don't duplicate/slo-mo/color correct, even less render time, but very litte is taken off of the edit time.
Using VB-based scripting, a lot is automated. I use a template builder found in "Ultimate S", which is a scripting tool/macro monster for Sony Vegas Pro.

[Fast 0]

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Other than capture time (which is about to go away soon), I take approx 3 mins per video.

And how much time is added with the capture and why/how is that about to go away?
...

Capture time is about to go away, because of direct to stick, so rather than running a tape to your vid guy or capturing, you'll simply transfer. It's about 20% of real time. AVCHD ain't ready for primetime yet, unless you've got a BEAST of a machine. By November, it will be ready for prosumer use.

Bear in mind as I said before, I've got most of the vid laid out in advance. I just need to change title names. In other words, it takes some pre-production setup. Sometimes I'll do something special (birthday overlay, etc) and those add a coupla minutes. I have a small library of graphics for birthdays, anniversaries, and leaving on a Mormon mission (those are popular reasons to jump here). But I don't have a template for those kinds of vids.
With ripple enabled, you simply cut the chunks you don't want, stretch the ones you want slowed down/sped up, and everything stays relative. It's usually a total of 8 cuts/edits. I do it with a keypad, but you can do it just as fast with a mouse.
~extra crap at head of interview
~slow walkup
~cut extra crap before/after an alti shot
~cut extra crap before exit, after deploymentd
~duplicate/slomo exit/deployment
Done.

So, say seven mins of footage, it takes three mins to edit, that's approx 10 minutes to finished product.
Takes about 4 mins to render, and deliver to student. Shorter vid takes less time. If I don't duplicate/slo-mo/color correct, even less render time, but very litte is taken off of the edit time.
Using VB-based scripting, a lot is automated. I use a template builder found in "Ultimate S", which is a scripting tool/macro monster for Sony Vegas Pro.

I have things pretty well set up too, but our DZ doesn't give video out the door. We mail it. I have my layouts / titles / etc done. I spend the most time putting in the music and setting volumes on the music/footages up and down.

I am a adobe guy though. It takes me about 20 min from capture to burned DVD.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[DSE 3]

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[
I am a adobe guy though. It takes me about 20 min from capture to burned DVD.

nothing wrong with the 20 mins, most of that is render time, yes? The one advantage Vegas has (IMO) over any app, is that you can run simultaneous copies of the app at once, therefore capturing in one instance, editing in another, rendering in a third. On our desktops at the office, it's not uncommon to have 5-6 instances open at once, performing various tasks. During trade events, I'll occasionally show off by opening up to 12 instances of the app. In the "real world" this doesn't work, unless you've got a quad dual core, but it's fun nonetheless.

[parachutist 1]

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Capture time is about to go away, because of direct to stick, so rather than running a tape to your vid guy or capturing, you'll simply transfer.

What will you do with the original video at that point? With miniDV tapes I just stack them up in a drawer at home. But for solid state media do you plan to leave it on a RAID array, back it up to DVDs, or ?

Or maybe I'm misunderstanding the purpose of the stick... is the original recorded directly to the stick while shooting, or is it recorded to a tape, then transferred to an external stick after you're on the ground?

Chris

[DSE 3]

Ding Ding Ding....
Best question ever. This is my primary issue with P2...
What do you store on....for me, the answer is currently storing on cheap "MY BOOK" HDD devices, and ultimate, on BD disc for backup. In the long run, this is a MUCH cheaper alternative, but it requires attention to detail. Two cases of tape cost 150.00, but the HDD system will store 8 cases of tape and costs the same. But tape can always be pulled off the shelf. And tape doesn't crash.

[MB38 0]

True, but just as many bad things can happen to tapes as can happen to HDs. And to this day, I've had more tapes dump out than HDs. That's just one man's story, of course.

My main problem with P2 media is the price. A 16GB card of anything should not cost $1,300 these days.

With flash prices dropping, it won't be too many years before we're jumping to flash storage in most things... cameras to computers. Assuming more companies stick to the market price, it'll suddenly become attainable.

So hopefully there'll be some nice, attainable HD+ camera I can stick on my head when the time comes.

I really don't know what I'm talking about.

[Fast 0]

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[
I am a adobe guy though. It takes me about 20 min from capture to burned DVD.

nothing wrong with the 20 mins, most of that is render time, yes? The one advantage Vegas has (IMO) over any app, is that you can run simultaneous copies of the app at once, therefore capturing in one instance, editing in another, rendering in a third. On our desktops at the office, it's not uncommon to have 5-6 instances open at once, performing various tasks. During trade events, I'll occasionally show off by opening up to 12 instances of the app. In the "real world" this doesn't work, unless you've got a quad dual core, but it's fun nonetheless.

Mostly render and capture.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[taz9420 0]

There not dead yet. I still use my PC109 with a Royal Lens .3x

LONG LIVE THE PC's

[mattabram 0]

Hey K2,how's it going?
I bought 2 extra cameras of the same model to use as spares,so that should keep me going for a while!(Or at least until this HD stuff is sorted.

God gave men 2 brains,but only enough blood to fill one at a time....I can live with that.