What lens to film wingsuiting?

[Courteney 0]

Howzit!

Was wondering now that there are two of us in Namibia with wingsuits, what is a good wide angle lens to film wingsuit flocking?
I currently have a Sony 0.7x and it's er...lacking somewhat.

Cheers in advance,

Ca-Caw!!!
Courteney.

...drags me down like some sweet gravity!!!

[Deuce 1]

Depends on how close people get.

This one was taken with a 14mm aspherical. It's about as wide as my .3.

For video that is this close, the .3 from Diamond is a good bet.

For the rest of us mortals, or simple two-ways, I would suggest not using a wide angle at all, or a .5.

You are better getting more in the frame, than less.

LouDiamond has a novel solution where he has his top video canted at an angle that lets him tape students without cranking his neck all to hell and gone.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I jump a .3 on my PC 109 and generally back in in a bit if I think it's going to be a "loose" flock.

[LouDiamond 1]

Depends on what I am doing but I generally jump a .42. Wide lenses are great for getting every thing in but the trade off is the subject looks really far away unless you are right on top of the subject(1-2 feet). Case in point, I have video of me giving hand signals to a student but the student looks like he is 20 feet away in the video when in actuality I was about 5 feet away. You have to play with the zoom on the camera sometimes to find a happy medium between the two. .3 and .5 work fine but you'll eventually get tired of cranking your neck and your footage will get repetative as your cameras field of view is limited by the lens and how far your neck will bend.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[bodypilot1 0]

I use a .3 Diamond for everything and it works great.

Here are a couple video grabs taken from about 30 ft to 50ft away from the subjects.

If you are going to use a .5 or bigger, I'd suggest a sight of some sort.

I dont use a sight personally.



Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[unclecharlie109 0]

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I use a .3 Diamond for everything and it works great.

Hmmm, maybe it is your capture software but those images don't look so great. Colors & definition are rough.

How do they look during playback?

[vesatoro 0]

I'd go with 0.45 or 0.5 for normal flocking video.

Vesa

"Fear is the path to the Dark side"
(Master Yoda)

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I, like Ed, do not use a sight with my point three, though I am considering using a "paper asshole" on my glasses for when I have the lens zoomed in to the point five range.

[LouDiamond 1]

Ditto, I haven't used a sight or a paper asshole in a long time for my Birdman filming.That is one of the benefits of wider angle lenses.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[SCARYPERRY 0]

I have been using Diamond .5 with fair results.On still I use a 19-35 with 77mm filter,depth of field is awesome

Only he can be happy,who can make his the present hour,for today he has lived

[LouDiamond 1]

Whats up wild man, how you doing?

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[SCARYPERRY 0]

been taken it easy for a bit, still reeling from oct. ready to get back into it hard, and you? staying cool over there? still without suit had person i sold my S1 to loan it back, but just sorta chillen

Only he can be happy,who can make his the present hour,for today he has lived

[LouDiamond 1]

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staying cool over there?

Depending on where I am at, there can be snow on the ground and a short helicopter ride later it's jumpable just keeping it real

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[SCARYPERRY 0]

SWEET!!!!! keep the fire burnen

Only he can be happy,who can make his the present hour,for today he has lived

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

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Whats up wild man, how you doing?

Ever hear of the PM feature, chimp?

[Deuce 1]

Looked pretty scary until I saw that moustache. That's for the locals, yes?

[The111 1]

Reviving an old thread. I'm a total newbie to cameras, but I've noticed Diamond lenses seem to be popular. They make 0.3 and 0.5 it looks like. Is it possible to use a 0.3 in combination with the optical zoom on the camera, to create different zoom levels? For example, if the camera can normally go 1-10x, could it go 0.3-3x with a 0.3 on it? Or is this logic flawed?

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[NSEMN8R 0]

I have a .25 from waycool and you can only zoom in a couple notches or it gets all blurry. Also, you can't focus at infinity with it. Diamond lens may be different though.

[LouDiamond 1]

.3 is pretty wide. If you play with the optical zoom on the camera too much, you can get that cheezy black ring(vignettes) and distortion around the outside edges of the picture. best bet is to put the lens on and then film a bit to get some footage and then adjust the zoom based on the play back. Sometimes the LCD doesn't show the vignetting.Diamond claims their lenses won't vignette but you may get corner distortion which a good editing prog can fix if need be. Wide angle lenses are like shot guns, you can cover a large area but the trade off is your subject may look farther away than they actual are when you play back the footage. With wide angles there is a limit on how much you can play with the zoom and still have decent footage. A .3 will require you to be right on top of the subject otherwise they will look distant and all the footage will have a slight distortion to regarless of what you do. A .5 may be more what you need to get started with and avoid frustrations with your footage. When you adjust your focus be sure it is set on manual after letting the auto focus dial it in on the ground initially. you can keep it on auto and let the camera do the work but some prefer not to go that route. try both and see what works for you.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I jump a .3 and get zero vignetting. That said, my "usable" range on the camera with the lens on is between .3 and maybe .45 before it blurs out. On all but the tightest flocks I fly with my camera zoomed out to just shy of blurring; about .45 with my Xdream Optics Skyline (identical to WayCool and Diamond).

Chuck

[lurch 0]

Just wanted to put in to say the "flight" pic you just posted is one of the most fucking awesome images I've seen. Borderline pornographic. Something about the background cloudscape gave me the willies. Here I was all proud of my vidcap of the plane dropping me off and I get oneupped by what looks like a vidcap of the same thing, plus a bird and an incredibly appetizing sky. I'm envious in the most excellent way.

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

[bodypilot1 0]

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Just wanted to put in to say the "flight" pic you just posted is one of the most fucking awesome images I've seen. Borderline pornographic. Something about the background cloudscape gave me the willies. Here I was all proud of my vidcap of the plane dropping me off and I get oneupped by what looks like a vidcap of the same thing, plus a bird and an incredibly appetizing sky. I'm envious in the most excellent way.

It was awhile ago that I posted it, but thanks just the same.
I actually forgot my still camera that day and that was just a video grab.

That day was nothing but towers and tunnels.



Be safe.
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com