lewmonst

good question. i've used Apple's Final Cut Pro, and it was awesome. very intuitive, easy to learn and capable program. I've also attempting to use Premiere... which i had to get help with. I'd say Premiere is like Photoshop, and Final Cut is like Paint. if you can learn premiere it's probably better, but it's so difficult to get good at. either way, you definately need a big machine, lots and lots and lots of memory.

i've got a pc5 which i put a 42 wide angle on, and i noticed a little wobble in it yesterday between the wide angle mount and the camera... i've made about 30 jumps with it. i haven't noticed any problems with the footage, yet... but i also use a dbox which keeps it pretty stable. it has been dropped though... whoops.

i'd definately agree that you should NOT start by videoing student and tandems. the 2 most dangerous skydives are a tandem and a video. start in situations where you put yourself and others in the least amount of danger, that is, be in the sky with people who know how to fly. I have 257 jumps, which i think is still very very low, and i started flying a pc5 in a dbox on a bonehead about 30 jumps ago. So far everything has been going well. I talked to probably 10 different camera flyers at 3 different dz's before i got started though. That's where you'll learn the most, pick up tips about disconnecting your RSL, getting a helmet cutaway, extra importance of stable deployment, opening shock, riser interference, always jumping with an accessible strong hook knife and knowing how to use it, pulling high and awareness of other opening altitudes... Talk to experienced camera flyers. The thing about skydiving, is at 50 jumps, you starting to actually fly into formations and feel confidence that you can do what you want in the air, but there's just SOOOOO much more to learn. as with anything, the more you learn about it, the more you realize how little you know. can you truly fly youself anywhere anytime relative to anyone in the air? and are your emergency procedures instinctive for every possible scenario? have you thought carefully about every possible malfunction and added that to the complexity of the gear on your head? jsut some things to think about. i also know that at my dz, if you jumped a camera helmet at 50 jumps, you would lose a lot of respect from other jumpers. safety is number one, and when skydivers think you're doing something naive, they won't want to jump with you. I don't know what your dz is like, and how well you can fly, but i suggest you take that into consideration as well. some people will tell you no, don't jump camera until you have 500 jumps... some people will tell you if you're comfortable at 50 jumps, try it... you can see that in march 2 camera flyers died due to entaglements with their gear. one had a few hundred jumps, the other several thousand jumps. anything can happen. all you can do, is get as much information and advice that you can to minimize the added risks. and decide when you're ready to take that risk and responsibility for yourself and anyone you might jump with. blue skies, pull high, good luck lew

another day at work, i'm sitting here thinking about jumping... and probably won't be able to until saturday... so i'm wasting my time on dz.com :( so here's a question for you: Quincy Or Chicago? I'm torn, i had such a blast at quincy last year, but i don't want to miss my freefly friends who think chicago is the place to be. why can't we all just get along.

If you haven't been to the richmond boogie, you don't even know how good it can get... It's a great drop zone with great people and a great safety record...