jimoke

hey dude, your progression on motorcycles seems to span 22+ years. your progression in canopies = when I was 7yo. I was on a suzuki Hyabusa. you "only" have 600 jumps.....yeah yeah, I know , I have heard it before, people learn at different speeds. your margin for error is very small and the ground is just as hard as it ever was. Hopefully you will find some satisfaction in your present canopy, before you downsize yourself into the incidents forum. The ground always, remembers where you are!

nice job.......looks like a cool DZ stay safe, Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

hey man, I use an old panasonic wj-ave5 mixer aprox.$300.-$400. wj-ave 7 was its replacement. panasonic has replaced both of these long ago 5+ years or more, with it's WJ series. it is a solid mixer for tandem editing, the effects are somewhat lame but with some practice you can get nice results. videonics has their line of mx1 and mx-pro, products we have 2 at my dz. they are nice but quite a bit more complicated, takes a lot more practice. the effects are outstanding, but it has some limitations as well. sound mixing is a little tricky without an additional sound mixer. videonics titlemaker 2000 is pretty much the standard, the newer model is quite nice as well. If you are making tandem videos these are the most cost effective ways to edit. for everything else I use a MAC. ebay seems to be a great place to shop for these items. peace out The ground always, remembers where you are!

if you buy a copy of team extremes "out of the blue" you will not be disapointed. it has some very cool canopy flying from the best swoopers in the world The ground always, remembers where you are!

stiletto loaded 1.7 spectre loaded 1.5 The ground always, remembers where you are!

[ There is a very good friend of mine that has a broken neck from someone trying to fly up to him. Until you can fly good enough to be anywhere you want to be, and do exactly what you want to do in the air, I would definitely not recomend you shoot freefly video. Are you refering to Chris colwell? hows he doing? I saw him in tampa in early june. any updates? thanks in advance Jim oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

whats up man? recently at my DZ i was faced with assessing two different guys who wanted to start shooting video. the first guy decided he wanted to shoot video because he has been in the sport for 6 years with about 300 jumps he averages about 50 jumps a season......the second guy, was in his first year with about 250 jumps, he was a much more qualified flyer. I guess my point is, it is an individual choice and going by numbers can be misleading, just be honest with yourself when you are evaluating your skills. listen to the experienced video guys around your DZ, always ask for advice. It could just save your life. Stay Safe, Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

whats up bro, I am also a top-mount video guy.......riser strikes are a serious hazard. It looks by all the photos that you have made some progress. 3.5" is about the max it should stick out from the helmet. when your parachute starts its linestretch the risers are not going to give much clearance. line twist is going to give you less. when you wear a side mount the weight tends to lean your head in that direction as well. I know that side mounts probably out-number top-mounted cameras, especially with freeflyers. but, I have seen many freeflyers flying top mounts as well. welcome to the world of camera flying......It is not a typical jump. Have fun , stay safe Jim Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

Tony, I have admired your work for a long time. thanks for taking the time to post to this group. I have the same type of swoop cords. you made me more aware of potential snag hazards. I switched from the small loop half hitched around itself, because one time stowing my slider one cord half-hitched the other cord effectively handcuffing my swoop cords together. a one in a million chance but it happened. I was lucky enough to have altitude to fix the problem and now part of my sequence after opening is to tuck my swoop cords in my sleeve. thanks again for the post and picture. this is why you are world class. JimOke The ground always, remembers where you are!

Hi Guys, I am JimOke, 290lbs out the door. I have always been a victim of gravity. I am an AFF instructor for two years. I use a wingsuit for AFF with any student under 220lbs. I can also fly with girls 110lbs. One of the most valuable assets of flying camera? wingsuits is range. make a few solos with a pro track and see how fast you can go on your belly but more importanly how slow you can go. I recently designed my new wingsuit and friends of mine in Deland built it for me. I only have 50 or so jumps on it so far. I made a solo in a slowfall straight down.....no tracking, it doesn't help filming a tandem. I recorded 100 mph. I was more than amazed! Saturday I shot a tandem with Walt at my DZ. Walt weighs 135lbs. and is 6'4" tall similar to a string bean. the student was a girl 5'5" 120 with a sigma rig 50lbs they were a total of 305lbs out the door I am 290lbs believe me when I tell you I was concerned. he threw the drouge about 7 sec. I was on level and 50' away I approached slowly on level so I could get a nice face shot in case I was going low. to my amazement I was able to sink down into the sweet spot and stay there. so I backed up a few feet and rose up about 10' for a sweet carve in a 20' radius flying back to the sweet spot. holy shit this was no problem. with my previous suit I am not sure if I would have had the same results. my last suit was a dakine rags suit , chuck priest said it was the most fabric he ever used to make one jumpsuit. I designed the zero-P wings for that suit and he installed them. just remember with big wings come many saftey issues with all your handles. after 1000 or so jumps with that suit, somebody said Z-P wings for lift why not Z-P for the rest of the suit instead of cotton or another slow fabric for increased drag........how about increased lift? the birdman suit is all z-p nylon, it would not be good for tandems or much other then it's designed use tracking. so why not try z-p nylon for a camera suit? My suit was very expensive, and completely custom. $650. US. Know what? it was worth every penny for me. the down side is it is a very warm suit, it has a cool max fabric throughout the inside which helps a lot. I would be suffering in FLA or AZ but then again I probably would end up losing some weight. I think I now have an anti-gravity suit. there is hope, JimOke The ground always, remembers where you are!

when I started flying wingsuits I had about 160 jumps. many wingsuits later I still feel this is a valid tip, pay for a professional cameraflyer to follow you on a video dive. just as video helps an AFF student, it will help you. you will be able to see what your issues are. if it is a wingsuit you are flying maybe your swoop cords are not exact, causing a bit of orbiting. it could be you need booties or not? but a third person perspective with a camera tight on you might be more valuable then paying a guys slot/and or case of beer. Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

I agree with you, mostly because I seem to be in the situation you describe. I have bought all the equipment, paid the price to learn how, but, I jump for a club, so no one is actually a dzo. I have been one of three guys doing "freelance" tandem video. I seem to be in charge, I guess quality control, if you will. my foundation lies with the student should get a great product. every one here edits themselves on their personal equipment, buys tapes,film and mailing $3.85per video. we charge $60.for video $90. with stills. the video guys pay for their slot, -$20. so I try to shoot stills as often as possible for the extra $30. although I have worked in Hawaii where it is much different. they charge up to $100. for video $175.with stills and the cameraman gets $22.50 for the jump minus taxes was $17.50 per jump. paradise seems to have a price. it is all about the customer! dzo's should see that, video is their best form of advertising. but alas, a dzo needs to make something. it is their DZ. interesting thread though Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

well quade let me say I have learned at lot from your posts as well as many others so far. there is a wide array of opinons and personalities here. that said, I have been full time video/tandem/aff for 3 years. I have been treking back and forth from Conn. to monterey Ca. every six months. this is getting old. I hope to find a full year(s) location soon. the problem is my home dz is connecticut and I am running the video concesion. and make a few decent $$. I love shooting tandem videos, somewhere in the area of 1500+ I have shot and edited. I try to make each one better than the last one. I have always struggled through out my carreer because of my exit weight 290 lbs. " I am not fat, I'm big-boned" so anyway. I just had a custom wingsuit made from a friend in Deland, Ouragan freeflysuits. I was able to fall 100mph. this was an amazing change in my range. I am not sure if there are any other fat bastards flying video with the same problem in this group. if there are gimme a holler. JimOke ps my icon is my last wingsuit Da'Kine rags. was a nice suit. The ground always, remembers where you are!

nice stuff with the choppers video. I was checking out the swoop-n-hawaii video and started having my mac crash over and over.....this is unusual. I have a cable connection and never crash on web sites? anyways is that your vans ted was chewing on? I spent winter of 02 at skydive hawaii slutting for clarence. keep up the good work jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

to Paul Quade, I am a new member to this group, although I have dropped by from time to time to read and learn about photography. you do a great job in this forum. damn glad to meet ya. Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!