Zee 0 #26 September 8, 2007 QuoteMore often than not, I wear shorts and my Tony suit jacket. I've worn the jacket since I designed it for him 10 years ago. The first one was built for me, and I've used it ever since. -Tony You designed that thing? Guess a thank you is order cuz I've been using mine for the past 7 years and absolutely love that thing. If it's hot out I just wear shorts and the jacket but if it gets chilly I put on some FF pants. For really fast falling stuff I use a shorty Tony suit. Action©Sports Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 1 #27 September 10, 2007 QuoteWhat do you wear, and why do you choose to wear it, or not? Curiousity, and there will be a point to this poll at some near future point. Up until this weekend I'd been jumping with a Firefly freefly suit to shoot tandem/aff videos. It worked great, except for those cases where the student and instructor were very light. I'd struggle to stay up with them, and plead for them to arch harder. So I added some wings to my freefly suit Friday night (I copied wings from my roommate's Merlin suit, with some minor changes). I jumped this suit all weekend and I got the drag I wanted, but the suit flies completely different now. Everything seems natural when filming AFF or tandems: It seems easy to fly when I'm slightly above the subject. For tandem videos however, I like to be directly in front and slightly lower, so I can look up at them. I find it really difficult to get in that position now, as the wings seem to push me back away from subject when my head is up & hips are low. Any advice on body position to corect this while using wings? Chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
newshooter12 0 #28 September 10, 2007 just start flying with more leg pressure to compensate for the wings wanting to rotate your upperbody up. that's the advice i got from some DZ camera fliers. matt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 1 #29 September 10, 2007 Quotejust start flying with more leg pressure to compensate for the wings wanting to rotate your upperbody up. that's the advice i got from some DZ camera fliers. matt That works great when I'm above or on level with subject, but when I'm a little below I'm thinking a position like the mantis (shoulders up, hips low) would make it easy to lift the camera up for a good shot from underneath. If I put legs out it'll rotate my head down so I can't really get the shot I'm looking for. With mantis type position using wings I 'm always getting pushed back away from the target. I haven't found how to counteract that while keeping head up and hips low. Some local guys use sit-flying for this angle, but I'd like to be able to use belly down position if possible. Chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vdschoor 0 #30 September 11, 2007 I don't have a picture of how I fly on my computer here, but this is basically it: When you lay flat on the floor, put your hands on the ground at about shoulder height, and push your upper body off the floor, keep your hips on the ground. That's pretty much my body position, the arms down like that will inflate the wings (on my suit at least) and put my upper body up high. This also makes me backslide like crazy.. so to compensate for that, you push your legs out. At slower fallrates, I am less steep with my upper body, but it's still the same body position. give it a shot.. of course, this is how I can fly with my suit, since you have another type of suit, the body position might need some tweaking, but just to give you an idea.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peej 0 #31 September 12, 2007 Quote I don't have a picture of how I fly on my computer here, but this is basically it: When you lay flat on the floor, put your hands on the ground at about shoulder height, and push your upper body off the floor, keep your hips on the ground. That's pretty much my body position, the arms down like that will inflate the wings (on my suit at least) and put my upper body up high. This also makes me backslide like crazy.. so to compensate for that, you push your legs out. At slower fallrates, I am less steep with my upper body, but it's still the same body position. give it a shot.. of course, this is how I can fly with my suit, since you have another type of suit, the body position might need some tweaking, but just to give you an idea.. That's exactly how i fly, until i perfect my backflying technique Advertisio Rodriguez / Sky Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zee 0 #32 September 12, 2007 QuoteI find it really difficult to get in that position now, as the wings seem to push me back away from subject when my head is up & hips are low. Any advice on body position to corect this while using wings? Chris I wear freefly pants with my jacket or my shorty when it gets cold outside. With the freefly pants you add drag on your legs - to compensate you have to arch and and pull in your legs a little. Then stick your arms out and forward so your wings can cup air like they're designed to. Something like this. The steeper you get, the further out you need to stick out your legs to compensate for the air bleeding off your chest since you're basically forcing yourself in to a back slide. Action©Sports Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steveorino 7 #33 September 12, 2007 Typically I wear a wing suit. My black one from ParaChi has almost 700 jumps on it. I also have a faster one from Bev Suits that I wear with heavy tandems. I have a freefly suit I wear with free flyers. There rest I wear a wing suit. It gives me a larger range of speeds and I can change the speed faster with a wing suit. steveOrino Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PharmerPhil 0 #34 September 12, 2007 That's basically how I fly for tandems or other things I'm filming on level or a little lower. However, rather than useing too much leg (which tends to flatten my body position if extended), I angle my forearms and hands towards the ground to keep from backsliding. This position allows me to look up slightly at the student's face, but not so much that you can't see the ground also on most shots (I really like having the ground there for perspective). Attached is a photo of me filming this way. I should add that unless it is very cold, I now fly with shorts and a Tony Suits jacket for shots like this, so the legs really aren't doing that much. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pope 0 #35 September 13, 2007 typically I prefer to wear a winged camera jacket during the season. I can just wear shorts on the really hot days, or street clothes when I need a bit more on the leg. Mainly I've been preferring to jump with a pair of camos lately due to the awesome storage capability of the cargo pockets for extra camera supplies (see pic).I've found I can stay with just about anything fast or slow with it. Granted, I have a bit of trouble sitting with <110 mph still, but working on it. Otherwise, I will wear/have worn just about everything on the poll list, for specific purposes or for a change in pace. I choose the camera jacket mainly because when I'm on back to back to back to back loads, it gives me the most range without having to change suits. I believe that generally, a good cameraman should be able to fly just about anything to get the job done...that being said though, there is a best suit for each situation, particularly when you're flying larger cameras and for more important shots. hope this random drivel has helped a bit! cheers! pope Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AiRpollUtiOn 0 #36 September 14, 2007 QuoteBack in the 70's before ever thinking about cameras I had a Brand X jumpsuit... I wish I still had that suit,,, My father was jumping one of them as well. Now I am! Just for funjumps 'cause it's falling apart. http://brick103.hyves.org/88350001-88400000/88395501-88395600/88395523_5_qBOc.jpeg For most of my video-jumps I use large wings & booties, because of the range. Going to order a new suit, want to loose the booties for elephant-pants for that one..."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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azureriders 0 #37 September 18, 2007 merlin wings suit with large wings, cause I got a fat ass Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parachutist 1 #38 September 18, 2007 Quote When you lay flat on the floor, put your hands on the ground at about shoulder height, and push your upper body off the floor, keep your hips on the ground. That exercise worked well. I think pushing the forearms down and out helped keep me from sliding back. Last weekend I'd been holding them up at ear level. This time I was able to stay where I wanted all weekend, getting the angle I was looking for. Here's a photo I took using that position with the wings. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bill_K 0 #39 September 18, 2007 Quote Quote When you lay flat on the floor, put your hands on the ground at about shoulder height, and push your upper body off the floor, keep your hips on the ground. That exercise worked well. I think pushing the forearms down and out helped keep me from sliding back. Last weekend I'd been holding them up at ear level. This time I was able to stay where I wanted all weekend, getting the angle I was looking for. Here's a photo I took using that position with the wings. I remember that chick. Nice pic Chris... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pope 0 #40 September 20, 2007 QuoteBack in the 70's before ever thinking about cameras I had a Brand X jumpsuit. I have one of those... crazy big. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmytavino 16 #41 September 24, 2007 Quote Quote Back in the 70's before ever thinking about cameras I had a Brand X jumpsuit. I have one of those... crazy big. no kidding..... wanna Sell it??? seriously??? please pm me if so.......thanks I found a photo from 1977 or so..... taken after a demo.. it's attached...check out the gear, releases, reserve handle....... Round french papillon main.. brand X suit... sorry the wings aren't visible...jmy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
