bdazel

"[E]xtremists in the anti-Obama group" is the key phrase. They are out there, and I imagine some can be described as you mentioned. So often Obama supporters classify any non-Obama supporter as the above, presumably in order to discredit them. You jumped to that characterization in response to non-related anti-Obama responses in this thread. Where is the connection between the posts on this thread and the "group of people" you described? Slurs? It is unfortunate indeed that Obama's beliefs and actions are disparaging to his character. But if you know of another term that is more politically correct, I'm happy to give it a try.

Which is why there have been so many British, German, Japanese, and Italian terrorist attacks on Americans recently? And as bill pointed out, does this mean that you want to kill all of those people as well? After all, it's part of your breeding. Huh? Are you serious? You are foolish to keep implying that thing are so black and white. i.e. because there have been no recent British, German, Japanese, or Italian terrorist attacks on Americans recently, there can be no hate or desire to kill, because all people act on their desires all of the time. No, I don't want to kill those people. And no it was not part of my breeding, because I grew up in a nation and a family that valued objective thinking and free speech.

I think it is naive to think there aren't portions of those populations who still want to kill us.

It would be nice if it were that easy, wouldn't it? Being liked and getting help accomplishing foreign goals aren't necessarily linked. Money and power motivate decision-makers. People who want to kill us will always want to kill us - it is in their breeding. There is no changing that.

Popularity with the world's population should be the absolute last concern. O's job is to keep US, the people who elected him, safe and secure, not to win a popularity contest with the rest of the world.

Socialist: Of course. Communist: Of course. Using the phrase "Run! Buy guns and ammo! Head for the hills or Obama will come and getcha and GRAB YOUR GUNS!" to characterize people who are very concerned (with good reason) about the damage that this man and his party are doing to our country: just silly and a gross mischaracterization. I could just as easily say "Quick! Vote for Obama! Otherwise you might have to get off your fat, lazy ass and work for a living! Your free handouts might go away! Your robbing of hard-working people's income to support your future fat, lazy, offspring might go away! You might have to learn what responsibility means! The horror!" Blah, blah, and on and on. But I won't say that, because it would also be a gross mischaracterization.

There must be a better solution than having to use a swivel clamp just for the nylon screws. I'm going to look into it... Btw, a good computer store will have nylon screws also. Like Fry's etc.

Quadcore is better than dual core. Basically it can do twice the work because it has twice the processing power. Theoretically I guess this means you can render twice as fast on the quadcore as on the dual core. However, that doesn't mean a dualcore machine can't get the job done. More Ram is better. I've maxed out a 32bit system rendering HD footage. 3.5 gb may not be enough. Keep in mind that you need a 64 bit processor and board to run a 64 bit OS. If you don't care to watch your HD footage on your PC, or get a good preview or your edited footage, the video card doesn't matter too much (I think). However, this might make editing difficult. Once the footage is edited, the video card is negligible, as the processor is doing the work. I use both a quadcore (at the dz) and a Core i7 (at home) with loads of RAM. I use both Premiere and Vegas. The i7 is a much better machine, but it comes with a steeper price. My recommendation: I think you will spend as much money trying to update an old computer (especially if it is a single core) as you will buying a low-end quad core. I recently purchased a decent 64bit quadcore machine from Gateway for $509. There are at least 2 reasons why I agree with your desire to shoot HD footage (if you doing skydiving student videos, that is): 1. You get a higher quality SD product from HD footage. 2. You get the chance to upsell HD product to the student. Hope this helps. Good luck!

There's a cutout in the plastic above the left ear. I gaff-taped the back of that so the audible stays put. It's not easy to hear, as it sits higher than my ear. I find that I can't hear it at all if I don't wear earplugs. Not the best for audibles, but I'd be happy to hear about a better solution.

Bill, I use a XSI. I use a couple different user defined profiles that I choose based on the current atmospheric conditions. For good, bright sunny days, I like to bump up the settings 1 notch (maybe 2 on the sharpness, I can't remember). Keep in mind, these are for students, when I know I won't spend much time post-processing. I concur that RAW is best when you really want that great shot. But in my experience, shooting RAW is far too time-consuming and generally unappreciated by the average student.

I have jumped with the flash mounted both ways. I noticed a difference in the light spread. But it was far less obvious when the flash was set on the wider zooms (such as for close up shots with tandems). Now I jump with the flash mounted horizontally, and I like the results a bit more.

I think you're wrong. SD output quality can be benefit from an HD source.

Plug it in via the component cables and go. You can still play the footage in real time so that a linear editing station will work. However, the final product will be worse than with MiniDV. But it's doable without having to add equipment if you can accept the limitations.

Any of the PC style cameras (1-9 or 101+) will work. You should be able to find one used for ~$100 or so. As a student, I would recommend packing to pay the bills. Packing is how I paid for my first degree. There is generally more money to be made on the mat, especially if you become efficient. Camera flying is expensive, and while you can make money, it takes a while to get there, as vdschool said.

A monoplug switch (as opposed to a stereo) switch will constantly focus. At least that's the way conceptus sets it up. I find that focusing is better overall (especially exit shots) with the monoplug. The downside is that you cannot access your camera's menu with the monoplug plugged in, as you can with a stereo plug.

Perfect. Thank you.

Thanks. So then is rendering and burning an AVC file the best way to make an HD DVD playable on a Blue Ray player? Can you still add multiple scenes and menus and such to the DVD? I don't have a Blue Ray player, or I would just test all this out w/o having to ask the questions.

How exactly do you burn the HD content to a DVD? Won't DVD Architect encode the file to an SD mpeg before creating the DVD?

If you shoot tape (HC5 etc), shoot HD and edit in SD, if you shoot memory card (CX series), just shoot HQ mpg, not AVCHD, if speed is important and/or you have a low-spec editing system. Of course there's always a give and take between performance/speed and quality. I'm simply offering a reason why one would want to shoot in HD even when outputing in SD.

SD output quality from HD can be better than SD output from SD. At least that's what I've read.

Copyright is fixed the moment you create the work. Registration with the copyright office is not required, unless you want to litigate the copyright. Fixing your name or logo also is not required, although it is a good idea. If you do get into a litigation situation, notice of the infringed copyright can result in willful infringement, meaning triple damages.

Just ran across this little gem from last year.

No, only that student nostrils are typically the center of attention. Not only is the nose closest to the lens and usually near the center, but the wide fisheye lenses distort the image in such a way that the nostrils are pulled even farther out of the face. i.e. handcam = nostril cam.

Exactly.

Success! Thanks for the tips everyone. I used a large pipe wrench thing (sorry, don't know real name) and a towel, and it came off. Couple scratches on the lens body and ring, but I couldn't care less about a the cosmetics - as long as it still works.