bdazel

Looks nice. Could you mention what lens you used?

I'm pretty sure all cx100s are electrically stabilized.

I don't know anything about TandemVids, but we used Peregrine last season and plan to continue with it. You're right that it does give you much flexibility to break out of the routine script. However, Peregrine does require Vegas Pro.

That is seriously intense.

CX100. No seeking, even when panning to the sky or to the ground and back to the subject or when placing the subject off-center. The camera really does the job well otherwise I would change it.

Theoretically there is only one focus point, and any object closer or farther than that point is some amount out of focus. In practice the difference may be negligible and not readily noticeable if at all, especially with a wide depth of field. In my mind close isn't good enough if I can be more precise than that. I have seen noticeably out-of-focus video captured with manually focused cameras. But I'm glad and it's good that that works for you. I think the takeaway here is that sometimes things can be done in more than just one way and I hope newer camera jumpers keep that in mind.

I've used the opteka .3 (or maybe century .3, can't remember which - the more expensive one) but it isn't my regular lens. I use a Raynox .3 90% of the time. What I gain is video that is always in focus regardless of where the subject is and I guess one less setting to worry about at the start of the day. So I avoid the downsides of manual focus and I see no downside for autofocus.

Just re-read that post and it was a bit more pointed than necessary. Sorry about that.

I video student jumps, freefly, belly formations, different miscellaneous fun jumps, etc. Focus has never been an issue. Perhaps newer technology isn't a factor in this case. I don't know. Frankly it really doesn't matter and I don't much care. I'm not going to change the way I do things and I don't expect anyone else to change the way they do things. But my own experience is proof enough to me that at least in some cases this reliance on manual focus is somewhat misplaced and newer camera flyers should understand that sometimes there are more ways to do things than simply what everyone's always done because that's the way it's always been done.

I'll stick with what has worked flawlessly for thousands of jumps. Sometimes people hold on to old notions even after technology advances to a point where the old notion is no longer relevant. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here, but it does happen. For example, people I work with insist that manual focus and aperture priority mode are the only settings that will work for freefall photos. I use autofocus and either manual or shutter priority and get great results. My pictures are sharper when compared to others which are slightly out of focus due to manual focus or blurred due to a slow shutter speed. Not a huge deal, but it makes a difference. The same can be said for video in some circumstances regarding the focus.

I agree. This is the setting I use for freefall. I set it back to auto focus for ground and plane shots. Auto focus can ruin ff footage if you get drops on your lens, or if you have dust/crud on your front element and the Sunlight hitting the same (i.e., flying into the Sun on exit). The camera will try to focus on the drops or the crud, and you will get unusable footage. Plus sometimes auto focus can hunt if you aren't really close and/or centered. I've heard others mention these types of problems. My experience with thousands of jumps using autofocus indicates otherwise, so I'm not sure what the difference is. I've seen a couple videos where some crud landed on the lens and threw off the focus, but I've never personally had that problem. Even when jumping in the rain the focus point stays true. I do keep my glass spotless and clean it between every jump, so that might have an impact, but who knows.

Autofocus works fine.

Nope. To me the convenience of working with digital files vs tapes far outweighs any other minor (imho) inconveniences.

Websters defines fear: a : an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger b (1) : an instance of this emotion (2) : a state marked by this emotion If I felt that during every skydive I would quit jumping.

Reminds me of this guy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0mwT3DkG4w

Nicely done.

Yeah, it was fun. Definitely one of those "don't screw this up" moments. We've had several proposals at the dz and in the airplane as I'm sure most dzs do. We even had a couple marriages (one was in the airplane!), but none was as publicized as this.

I videoed Kyle during freefall. ABC planned this out weeks in advance, and kept it mostly a secret (minus a few of us who were helping with logistics). The ABC crew was on the ground pretending to film a promotional video for the dz and just 'happened' to use the couple as random subjects for the video. They were pretty good to film a lot of unnecessary footage of other people and things around the hangar so that it wasn't so obvious that Kyle and Liz were the stars of the show. We took care of all the footage from when they boarded until after the proposal. Liz didn't seem to catch on that all the cameras were there just for her until after she landed and he popped the question. The friends who also jumped unbeknownst to Liz and on the same load showed up early and boarded the plane before the couple even arrived at the dropzone. They sat in front and faced the pilot. When the plane pulled up a few fun jumpers who were in the know boarded and blocked the view so that Liz couldn't see them. Kyle and his fiance boarded last. We did two passes. Everything went well, aside from a handcam screw-up which was supposed to capture her reaction under canopy upon seeing the sign in the landing area. I thought they might mention the dropzone a little more or at least something about how a tornado destroyed the hangar within the week. Anyway, it was a good time.

We just switched to using Terminal Concepts (http://www.terminalconcepts.com/skydive/) for video edits. It's based on Vegas Pro, but reduces your editing time by automating much of the process. Basically just import the video clips, make a few quick mouse clicks, hit go and you're done. The student gets a customized DVD with customized menu and an email with a Youtube link. If you're going for fast, I recommend a product like that, and I think there are other similar products available. Of course it costs a bit to set up and operate, and only you can decide whether the time savings is worth the monetary cost.

That's like asking what is the best container or what is the best canopy. There are as many answers as there are people who edit videos. I don't know about the best, but Vegas Movie Studio is a solid affordable option at

Yeah, that's productive.

Not the best pics, but here you go.

Well said. Not to beat a dead horse, but the video is ALL about the student. So many tandem videographers forget that in their quests for glory.

Perhaps because dropzone.com is not a partisan in skydiving industry politics (aside from the obvious bias of a some moderators); a trait which I think directly relates to the success of dropzone.com. I don't at all agree with skyride's scruples and marketing methods. However, there are many perfectly legitimate dropzones that use skyride. Personally, my view of dropzone.com would be diminished greatly if it decided to go on a witch hunt and put up a page attempting to besmirch dropzones that use skyride.

These deals seem too good to be true. They certainly appear to be unsustainable in the long run. There is something that vendors using Groupons need to know. This is explained on Groupons website Terms Para 3 at bottom Applicable law includes and is not limited to 2009 Credit Card Act that says this about gift cards (and Groupons are gift cards) "Prohibits retailers from setting expiration dates less than 5 years after the card is purchased." Say you or a customer buys a Groupon and pays $125 for a $250 tandem with an expiration date 1 year from the deal date. The customer comes in after the expiration date. The vendor MUST honor the amount paid by the customer, in cash if he wants it, for a time period up to 5 years from date of purchase. The vendor must honor the 'deal' up until the expiration date. IOW, you might be paying a Groupon customer the cash value of what he paid for it 5 years after the purchase. That means the vendor loses. Cash value - Groupon take - 3rd party take =~ 60-70% of the cash value (if that). You'd be paying out $125 when you only took in ~$85. . Although I don't know any details of these Groupon promotions, I think Groupon could feasibly construct this promotion to avoid the 2009 Credit Card Act. For example, one exclusionary clause in the Act is the following: (D) Exclusions The terms “general-use prepaid card”, “gift certificate”, and “store gift card” do not include an electronic promise, plastic card, or payment code or device that is-- ... (v) issued in paper form only (including for tickets and events); ... 15 U.S.C.A. § 1693l-1 I don't know the details, but if Groupon requires that a certificate be printed and taken to the dropzone in order to take advantage of the deal, perhaps such a requirement satisfies "issued in paper form only." This presumes that "paper form" is not otherwise defined somewhere in the statute, and that the online purchase does not count as an "other" form of issuance so that printing the certificate is not the "only" form of issuance. This also presumes that the Groupon deal is a "general use prepaid card," "gift certificate," or "store gift card" as defined in the statute - a point which I think is debatable.