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degeneration

Do I need to keep my dslr?

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I've got a Nikon dslr that I use currently. It's quite big and heavy.

I see people using the likes of the Sony mirror less, and Samsung NX series cameras that are much smaller and lighter.

I'm not an avid photographer, I just like to capture nice pictures. I occasionally use it on the ground (family events etc.). I don't do any paid tandem work, so it is all recreational.

What would I be losing by changing from my Nikon d3200 to a Sony or Samsung camera that's quite small but allows changing lenses?

Would I gain anything other than a lighter and smaller camera on my head?
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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Keeping in mind I am a amateur ground photographer (with aspirations to become a freefall photographer)...

In my opinion, by moving from an entry-level Nikon to the Sony A6000, I would say you not losing anything and you are gaining lots.

Have a look at http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-D3200-vs-Sony-Alpha-A6000 - which lists the pros and cons of the d3200 vs A6000.


1. According to the link - the d3200 has faster AF but looking at reviews I know the A6000 AF is super fast too ("the world's fastest autofocus for a APS-C mirrorless camera")

2. A6000 Shoots faster - 11fps vs 4fps

3. Probably the main reason I want the A6000 is it is a lot smaller and lighter than DSLR, especially when you throw on a small pancake prime like 16mm. That is really important if you want to skydive with a camera on your head ;)

Having said that, I have not played with the A6000 yet, but I have ordered one :) Will only have it in 2 months though :|:o:S

Cant wait to eventually take it in the air!

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Would I gain anything other than a lighter and smaller camera on my head?




In skydiving photography? No. But so what, small and lighter is important here. It's a big gain by itself. DSLR gives you a nice view finder that you can't use when it's strapped to your head.

In general photography the best camera to use is the one that you have with you. So small is better here as well. What you lose is the flexibility of the Nikon system of lenses and accessories. That may or may not be important to you.

I just bought a used Nikon coolpix A. It's got the large DX sensor, same as a D7000, but no viewfinder and a fixed 18.5 mm lens. (About 28mm full frame equivalent) Not changeable. The camera is recently discontinued but can be had used on Ebay for about $300 if you look carefully. Two years ago when it was new they wanted $1100 for it. That's why I stopped buying new cameras.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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Comparing to the a6000 is maybe too much as they're completely different price points.

Will have a look and see what Sony /Samsung etc is similar price.

Is the picture quality noticeably different between dslr and these smaller cameras?

Other than my mouth switch I've not used any accessories for the Nikon.

I think I'm being Sold on the smaller cameras...
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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DSLR is essentially dead; large imager mirrorless are owning the world. I'm in the process of making the switch, and so far, loving it. The Sony lineup is incredible for size, and photo/video quality.

Samsung's photo quality is very high (video leaves a lot to be desired).
Other than the requisite mouth-switch modifications, losing the heavy weight and gaining the additional resolution for post-shoot crops/processing is a great thing.

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I changed mid season last year from my Canon to the Sony a6000. I use the kit lens 18-50 and tape it down at 20mm.

It weighs a little less than 1 lb. The auto focus is incredibly fast. Pop up flash for in air plane shots. Set it to 6fps or 11fps for those of you who spray and pray. 24 megapixel or less if preferred. Shoots in RAW if wanted. And you can manually change the settings for those of you who are like Spot and know what you're doing. Interchangeable lens so you can use your own glass if you want.

I can also pull it off my helmet and carry it in my back pocket for ground stuff.

Bottom line - I've compared my pictures to a friend who has a
heavy Nikon d7100 and expensive heavy glass. Neither of us can really see much difference and in some shots my pictures actually looked better.

I will never own another DSLR.
Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

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Thanks for all the replies, and it more or less confirms what I was leaning towards.

Now it is the issue of which camera. Would love the A6000, but too much money for me.

I'm looking at something that is more the same price point as my Nikon D3200 - as I'll be selling that, and maybe put a little more towards the new one, if necessary, but not much.

So after a quick browse of a local electrical superstore's website, I'm looking at ones that are in the Samsung NX mini, NX3000, Sony A5000 sort of price point.

If there are other threads that already cover this, feel free to point me to them, otherwise, in that sort of range, which is recommended? I do like the idea of having a flash, for when I do use it for non-jumping/in the plane stuff. I gather the Samsung's don't have a flash (but some come packaged with an external one?).

Thanks.
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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With regards to the A6000 vs A5000, if I remember correctly the 5000 does not have a view finder (who cares if you using it for skydiving).
It has a slower burst rate (again probably not a bad thing as 11 fps is probably too much for most).
I don't think it has the fast AF that the 6000 has. I think it's only contrast detect focus if I'm not mistaken.

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I'm not sure what contrast detect focus means, or if/how that's bad... sorry!

Looking at prices, the ones I've found that are in contention are:

Samsung: NX300, NX3000, NX mini, NX2000
Sony: A5000

If I'm missing any in that general region price wise let me know!

I hope I won't need a 10fps continuous shooting one. Don't plan on spray and pray, but 4 or there abouts fps for when I do want to get the shots in would be acceptable.

The fact the A5000 has a built in flash (the NX mini's isn't meant to be that great) is a selling point for when I'm on the ground at home.

But I gather the remote port for the mouth switch is on the same side as everything else - memory card etc too. Is that a big deal?
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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I currently have the A6000, somebody else at the dz has an A5000 (bought at my recommendation). If the camera is strictly for tandems and the occasional fun jump the A5000 is more than sufficient IMO. The A6000 has super fast auto focus, but its almost over kill the A5000 is plenty quick enough. The A5000 is lighter and the SD slot is on the side which is a huge advantage, the A6000 unfortunately loads from the bottom by the battery.

Again just my opinion, if its just for tandems the A5000 is just about perfect.

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Well, I'm narrowing down my choice to the:
Sony a5100 - think I'll afford a 2nd hand one. Presume it is better than the a5000? Or does it not offer anything worth having over the a5000 for skydiving?
Samsung NX 300

Any other I should look at?
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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jtiflyer



Again just my opinion, if its just for tandems the A5000 is just about perfect.



Is there a port for a tongue switch or does it require some modification?

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I've got some best buy gift cards and I would love to get my XTi off my head.

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Yeah, the a5000, a5100 and a6000 all use the multi terminal connector, and switches are available for them. Send me a pm and I'll point you in the direction of various sellers.
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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The Sony A7000 is due sometime mid 2015. Rumors say 4K video capture, shutter speeds as fast as 1/8000, a 24MP sensor, a weather-sealed slightly smaller body, and on-sensor stabilization as well. It should feature a 256 phase detect system with 125 contrast detect points. It will borrow the NEX-6’s viewfinder, feature Tri Nav, a touchscreen display, and a sensor that has been engineered for high sensitivity. The A6000 should start to drop in price soon and signal an upcoming release. The A7000 body rumored to be priced around $699.

http://www.cameraegg.org/rumors-sony-a7000-will-have-on-sensor-stabilization-release-date-in-mid-2015/

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I switched from a Nikon d3100 to a Sony A5100 end of last year. The reasons I went for an a5100 instead of the a5000 are the high-bitrate 60p full hd video option and the super fast autofocus the a5100 offers.

I initially bought it for stills but love the video it takes so much that that's what I use it for mostly now, full hd frame-grabs are fine for facebook use and such anyway. I use the standard kitlens and it works great, haven't felt the need to buy a 16mm prime as of yet.

An example of some video I took with it:
https://vimeo.com/115850497
No fancy editing, simply slowed the footage down to 50% (30p instead of the original 60) and added some music.

ETA: Vimeo only plays 720 as I'd need to pay to upload the 1080 version, so I've added some un-edited framegrabs.
"So I jump out, look up, and think 'Oh SHIT!...

It's PINK!!!'"
- army guy after his first staticline jump

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thank you very much =)

looks clean and simple and very much like I could copy it quite easily for my MXV =D again thank you very much. Gonna keep the gopro though as tandem and team filming backup :)

are you generally against a ringsight or did you find you don't really need one?

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To absent friends

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Maxx

Can you please make it public so we all know?
I'm also looking to switch to an A6000.



Sure, I originally thought PM to avoid taking the thread off on a tangent, but I guess it is all related.

I was going to point towards exit equipment, that raceface has already pointed to; there is also the ultimate blow switch which I'm sure I saw somewhere with a multi-terminal connector but can't find the link now... maybe I was imagining it...; then there is Sky Switches which have switches and adaptors for various cameras; and lastly Conceptus give a guide on their site to splice their switches to other types of connector - http://www.conceptusinc.com/connection.htm

I'm sure there may be others that I'm not aware of too.
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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YvonneWiggers

I switched from a Nikon d3100 to a Sony A5100 end of last year. The reasons I went for an a5100 instead of the a5000 are the high-bitrate 60p full hd video option and the super fast autofocus the a5100 offers.

I initially bought it for stills but love the video it takes so much that that's what I use it for mostly now, full hd frame-grabs are fine for facebook use and such anyway. I use the standard kitlens and it works great, haven't felt the need to buy a 16mm prime as of yet.

An example of some video I took with it:
https://vimeo.com/115850497
No fancy editing, simply slowed the footage down to 50% (30p instead of the original 60) and added some music.

ETA: Vimeo only plays 720 as I'd need to pay to upload the 1080 version, so I've added some un-edited framegrabs.



There seems to be a bit of video distortion and wobble around 1:03-1:10...

Any chance you can post a 720p@120fps vid slowed down to 30fps? Would like to see how that looks.

That's assuming the specs I saw here are correct and it does do 1280x720 @ 120fps?

I think I'm getting pretty much sold on the A5100...
Sky Switches - Affordable stills camera tongue switches and conversion adaptors, supporting various brands of camera (Canon, Sony, Nikon, Panasonic).

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I dont really need a ringsight as long as I use the lens at 16mm, or at least I haven't needed it so far. A bit of practice has thought me how to aim my head depending on the orientation I fly in and so far it's working out fine. My boyfriend uses a similar setup though and he has just bought a ringsight as he doesn't want to be thinking 'head down a bit in trace, up a bit in head-up or videoing tandem, up a lot in hu trace, and normal in head-down or when videoing fs' as I do.

For tandems I use the gopro for video and the sony for photo's. For fs teams I ended up doing the same as they thought the sony video was too narrow on exit, but that could just be my way of filming the exit, I'm a total noob when it comes to fs video (or fs in general, really).
"So I jump out, look up, and think 'Oh SHIT!...

It's PINK!!!'"
- army guy after his first staticline jump

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You're right, in head-up it gets pretty shaky. I'm quite sure this has to do with my helmet, as it is a tiny bit too big on my head and the video is super solid in any non-head-up orientation. I have asked several experienced freeflyers/video guys though and they've all told me the same thing: if you want steady freefly video, go headdown because head-up will always be more shaky.

I haven't done any video on 720 so can't comment on that.

By the way, I use the exit equipment switch, and have used the ultimate blowswitch before. I like the exit equipment one more, although I use it as bite and not as tongue switch (as intended). I've only used it for a few jumps though so I can't comment on durability.
"So I jump out, look up, and think 'Oh SHIT!...

It's PINK!!!'"
- army guy after his first staticline jump

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