Quite a Nationals

[billvon 2,396]

Well, that was quite a Nationals for me.

I did video for 4 way and 8 way. The 4-way team I had been training with lost their outside center a few weeks before Nationals when he was offered a spot on the Thailand 2010 camera team, due to time off from work issues. Thailand 2010 was then canceled the day Nationals started - which of course was too late for him to get back on the team. So they used someone else.

The new 4-way team tried to get together to train before Nationals, but the timing never worked out. So we tried to get together on Sunday to make a few jumps before the draw, but the weather didn't co-operate. The team ended up switching to intermediate - they had been training for advanced, but with zero training jumps it seemed like a bad idea.

Thus Monday saw us making our first jump together as a team. The weather was dismal for the first two days, alternating between windy, cloudy, rainy and hot and muggy. We got a few jumps in between Mon and Tues. Both days fogging was a huge problem. My HC1 was fogging on every jump and occasionally shutting down when I tried to dub. It did better than my CX100 backup camera, though, which fogged so badly the video was unusable.

Wednesday was finally mostly clear and we managed to finish 4-way. I made it through with only one real video bust (plus one they claimed, but we reviewed the video and they must have hit the wrong button while judging.) With two reported video busts I actually got hit less hard than some of the other camera people - people far better than me were getting half a dozen busts with what looked to me like perfect video.

Thursday 8 way started. I had been training with the Perris team Cobra Kai, but got switched to Blue Ice the week before Nats. (Since Fury organized them both - and was paying me - they got to decide who was filming who.) Getting the exits down was a bear, because their tail seemed to do something a little different on each exit, and it was hard to anticipate how each count would work out. In addition one exit would be very flat, the next steep, and the next would funnel, so I couldn't reliably figure out where to be just after exit. Fortunately their time to first point was usually in the 5+ second range so getting judgable video wasn't an issue.

I peeled a few exits due to sun angle, but in retrospect probably should have just peeled them all. I was reluctant to do that because they were debriefing exits pretty extensively, and it's harder to see what's going on with their exits from on top.

Having previous 8-way experience helped a _lot_ when it came to making sure the video was judgable. I knew they were going to have trouble with 5's and 14's, for example, so I'd gain altitude before the block was keyed to make sure I could keep everyone in frame. I'd sometimes have to go pretty high.

During this time my CX100 failed completely. I traditionally check the zoom and focus on both cameras in the plane, and one time the CX100 gave me no image when I opened the screen. It gave me the icons and playback worked, but no image. It gave me the "check to see if the lens cover is closed" message which indicated that most of the camera was working, but the imager wasn't giving any output. (The lens cover was definitely open.) So I worried and messed with it, but the HC1 worked until the end of the meet.

We did six jumps Thurs and the fogging problems persisted. On Friday the weather finally got nice (72 degrees, not too many clouds) and the fogging problems ended.

I was tempted to do 16 way but also wanted a day off so we headed to the coast to waste a day at a boardwalk down there.

At the awards ceremony I took the HC1 to film the teams that won (Cobra Kai got gold in intermediate) but then _that_ camera died. Something in the touch screen failed - I lost the backlight and the Y axis of the touchscreen. I'm guessing it's the flex cable between the screen and the main PWB. That night I checked the CX100 one more time and it had started working again. Really annoying, because I like the HC1 (it's my primary camera) and now I don't trust the CX100.

Some lessons I learned this time -

1) Don't listen to people just because they're the team captain. On one jump I looked out, saw clouds and no sign of the DZ, and told the captain we shouldn't get out. He took a look and said "no, it's fine" and like an idiot I climbed out, assuming he saw something I didn't. Needless to say the spot was as bad as I thought. On the plus side I met a nice lady named Lucy who gave me a ride back to the DZ.

2) Two element lenses may produce great video but they fog more often than single element lenses. When I tried a single element lens on the CX100 before it failed fogging went way down.

3) Keep cameras warm. Keeping the camera in the sun as long as possible (and keeping my hands around it until we were ready to climb out) helped a bit. A box/condom would have helped even more.

4) Jumping with a team _before_ competing with them is always a good idea, as is knowing the dive pool well enough to know what's coming next.

[beowulf 1]

Did you keep your cameras away from air conditioning?

I did video for 4 way FS and never had any camera problems. I also used anti fog on my lenses.

I was using the CX100 and the HC5 with the Raynox 3030 and 5050 lenses.

[billvon 2,396]

>Did you keep your cameras away from air conditioning?

I tried both. I kept them inside the packing area, then I tried keeping them outside on the picnic table. Best results seemed to come from leaving them in the (airconditioned) packing area, then making sure they were left outside in the hangar for at least 20 minutes before the jump.

>I was using the CX100 and the HC5 with the Raynox 3030 and 5050 lenses.

I was initially using a CX100 with the 3030. Were you using a box/condom?

[beowulf 1]

I used two pieces of gaffers tape to keep the display closed and nothing else to shield it from the elements. I used the 3030 on the CX100 and it gave me the best results. Even with the Cat Crap anti fog the 5050 would have a little bit of fogging, but the 3030 didn't have a problem as long as I didn't go through a cloud, but that would cause a problem no matter what.

I kept the cameras out of the air conditioning.

[PharmerPhil 0]

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1)..On one jump I looked out, saw clouds and no sign of the DZ, and told the captain we shouldn't get out. He took a look and said "no, it's fine"...

As long as there is enough visibility to see the green light...

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3) Keep cameras warm...

I try to keep my camera's lens in my crotch on the plane with my hands over it. Particularly if I'm sitting in the door. No comments, I'm serious.

[The111 0]

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2) Two element lenses may produce great video but they fog more often than single element lenses.

Yup. I had a Raynox 5050 and gave up very shortly after a humid weekend in FL kept causing fog between the elements. I replaced it with a Century .55x and have had no problems with fog since, though I do miss having full zoom for ground shots.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[BMFin 0]

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A box/condom would have helped even more.

Those few times I have jumped without a box on a bad weather I have had issues with condensation and the camera stops working. I have jumped much worse conditions with a box and had no problems. Sure it doesnt prevent fogging, but prevents the camera shutting down/giving error msg...

[HSPScott 0]

The best way that I have found to keep moisture out @ Spaceland is to use a heating pad. I put it on high as soon as I arrive and put my camera in it. It is nice and toasty by jump time. After I dub the jump, it goes right back in. By doing this, I rarely even get fog at opening time.

[psuCory 0]

Add to your list: When jumping at a DZ with unfamiliar conditions (and the humidity of the gulf coast is probably not normal to most), find a local camera flyer and ask them how they deal with XYZ issue. Between the staff vid guys (quite a few) and the team vid flyers (half a dozen at least), we've come up with different ways to keep different cameras/lenses happy.

A note on two-element lenses in the humidity - if the fogging occurs inside the lens, get a new lens, it's not worth the effort.

On cameras and the humidity - unless it's completely unavoidable (dubbing), don't turn cameras on under 4K (or some similar altitude where the humidity is much lower). And try to turn your cameras off under canopy - the higher the better. It helps avoid the vapor lock message and subsequent hassle.

[champu 1]

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2) Two element lenses may produce great video but they fog more often than single element lenses. When I tried a single element lens on the CX100 before it failed fogging went way down.

Our camera guy had the opposite problem, but there were other variables. HC5 with two element lens (not sure on make/model, not a particularly expensive one) had no problems but had the help of a d-box. His backup camera, a DCR-HC... something or other, had a single element royal lens and no box and fogged every time.

As for last minute changes, I was our team's camera guy all season, and ended up jumping as inside center to replace their player coach who jumped on another team (this part was planned but time ran out on finding a new inside center.) Luckily we were able to do some jumps a couple weeks prior (I hadn't done 4-way since the 2008 Nationals) because we got weathered on the warm up days.

[tonyhathaway 0]

at sebastian 1999 nationals I used a heat pad (little hand warmer) inside of a piece of cordura wrapped around the camera. I got lens fog, but AFTER 35 seconds, but while everyone was in the video room airing out their moisturized cameras, I was dubbing. No problems. Its like the frosty mug. It isn't frosty until you take it out of the freezer. Its the temperature change that does it. (partly) But keep the camera warm at altitude, and if you can keep it warm on the way down, you won't have any problems. It's all about the 35 seconds. Mine would fog, but WAY lower than most, and the camera never required me to remove the tape.

My O.C.D. has me chasing a dream my A.D.D. won't let me catch.