photognat

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Gear

  • Main Canopy Size
    120

Jump Profile

  • Licensing Organization
    USPA
  • Number of Jumps
    400
  • Years in Sport
    3
  1. I had a planned water landing with a can of smoke (3 minute marine smoke, photo included) attached to my foot that didn't release quickly enough and ended up getting a few fairly large orange stains on my canopy and a little bit on my MLW. Once submerged it bubbled up and quickly coated the surface of the water with orange residue. I washed everything well and it's mostly on the outer 2 cells on one side (top and bottom surface), you can only see the light orange discoloration because it's a white canopy. But does anyone know how bad the pyro chemicals/dye in these are for ZP/F-111/webbing?
  2. For video it's rubbish. 4k has really bad RS, 1080p is super soft. The a6000 has better 1080p, or get an RX10ii if you want sharp 1080/120 and excellent 4k/30.
  3. Their 1'' sensors are incredibly good but 720p just doesn't look good when you cut it with other 1080p/4k clips. I'd buy this in an instant if it could shoot the same super crisp 1080/120p as my RX10IV. A 1-2 minute thermal cutoff in normal use would be fine since cooling isn't a problem with skydiving. But here's a question: How would you rate the 1080/60p? In reviews I've seen it doesn't look as good as the RX10 2/3/4 or RX100 4/5, it looks about halfway between those and the A6000's 1080/60p. Sucks they didn't make it 50% bigger to include 1080/120 & 4k & internal ND. Basically a fixed lens RX100V. Shooting with two of these for stills & video would be a dream.
  4. Has anyone put a decent amount of jumps on any version of the Sony RX10? I'm looking to switch to the RX10 II but I'm curious how it holds up to hard openings or a bad landing or two. Thanks!
  5. Find a decent size swing, get yourself going a bit and then jump off it. You can vary the jump angle to have more vertical or horizontal speed. Then add some off axis rotation to practice not tripping over your feet.
  6. But when you nail the shot it's pretty cool :) 50mm on an a6300: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pwGeRnUTuw
  7. As an EE: Hardware is hard. Good luck. Assuming you're basing it on something like the Runcam Split? You could see if you can fit the PCB & battery in the shape of an audible. And pick your Lipo cells carefully :)
  8. Honestly the a6300 is a huge waste for stills for most people. The sensor is identical to the a6000 that you can pick up for half the price, the only thing it's better for (and what I use it for) is 4k/1080@120. That said, the one nice thing the a6300 has that the a6000 doesn't have is auto-ISO minimum shutter speed. You can set it to 1/1000 and then shoot in aperture priority at your preferred aperture. Shooting in shutter priority means your plane shots are super high ISO (bad) and your backlit shots are super high aperture (also bad, diffraction and dust bunnies).
  9. Can't find the photo right now but the other simpler/cheaper/lighter option is to get a box of Plastimorph and make a little plastic spacer that hugs the cable and is held in place with a rubber band around the camera so that the cable is pulled tight and doesn't wiggle at all. For belly it's not necessary IMO but for WS/FF it's a good idea. Also I've tried a few cables and some of them fit a bit loose inside the multi port. FWIW my Skyswitch fits the tightest by far. The cage adds a bit of weight but it does offer some protection and lets you do silly stuff like this if you happen to forget your camera helmet :)
  10. Couple shots from this morning with your switch :)
  11. The camera creates its own access point. Sony's wifi app is pretty good but I've only used it for photos, for videos I believe you can preview them but I don't think wifi is a good option for downloading the full video if you're shooting 4k or 1080/120p.
  12. Kris at Skyswitches.com sent me an updated tongue switch with a right angle instead of his original straight switch design that sticks out of your mouth a bit. After using it the last 2 months it's now my favorite switch over my Conceptus and Exit Equipment switches. I always used bite switches instead of tongue switches but this one feels really good and is very easy to get used to. It's unremarkable in use, the actual switch is always where you need it to be and it's not annoying like some other switches to make you want to spit it out as soon as you can. It stays right where it needs to be and works brilliantly when shooting tight FOV dual stills/video (50mm-85mm) when I need to be focused on smooth head/camera work and not about mashing the trigger. Highly recommended. Oh yeah, and you could buy like 4 of these for the cost of one Conceptus + Sony Multiswitch adapter ($50 + $80 from Chutingstar), except their adapter seems to have serious reliability issues. I've beat on my Skyswitch and left it on the bottom of a lake for two days (http://i.imgur.com/eFdaogm.jpg, don't ask) and it still works perfectly. Here are some stills and a video from yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7dHyUkwIK4
  13. Pro tips: Shoot 2.7K/60P so you have space to crop to 1080 for stabilization and can also slow it down Slow it down even more with something like Twixtor Use an ND filter to smoothen out the action Enable Protune, grade your video manually or with a LUT Lock your helmet & mount down tight so it doesn't vibrate Use Premiere or FCP Keep the sun to your back (don't shoot people back lit). Shooting into the sun is the worst for small sensor cameras. That should give you plenty to Google.
  14. Have you jumped it yet? It's fine for shooting jumpers landing but it's a terrible helmet camera lens. A 55mm has an effective FL of 82mm on a crop sensor. I use my 50mm f/1.8 OSS sometimes for shooting but only with a second camera with a ~20mm as well because you won't get nearly as many keepers with a 50. You'll need a ringsight and you'll have to be pretty far back from whatever formation you're shooting. It's also got a slow aperture and isn't particularly sharp. That's probably the worst lens you can use if you're new to shooting camera. I shoot all RAW and with my A6000 or A6300 I can crop a 19mm image down to an equivalent 50mm if I want and still have more than enough resolution for anything online or small prints. Hook your rig up and follow someone around on a bike and see how many keepers you get.
  15. Is that the 55-210? That's not a lens I'd want to jump. Have you tried it with something like the 18-55/16-50, 16mm/20mm pancakes, (Sigma) 19 or 30mm, or 35mm/50mm OSS? You should be fine with any of those, even with their hoods. Of all those I'd start with the Sigma 19mm, you can find them for $100 used. The 35mm/50mm are really good if you want a tight shot. Or a Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f/2 if you want a similar FOV to a Gopro, it's incredibly sharp for a $250 lens. If you want a zoom I'd get the 18-55, the 16-50 is much more fragile if you have a bad landing. The 16mm/20mm are pretty poor optically but of the 2 I'd prefer the 20mm since the 16mm doesn't support PDAF. I don't think re-drilling it is a good idea, you'll only gain 1/2'' and it'll probably weaken the helmet a bit.