Shivon

I had another look at the editing suite today. It does have AVID on it. It also has ULEAD v.6. The guys who operate it said that assuming a person is starting from scratch (no knowledge), that ULEAD was probably the best way to go, being a "95% solution with 5% pain". Of interest to me is that it is set up with a mini DV tape drive, and DVD burning facilities.

I love that effect.

I started a new job a few weeks back, and while getting 'the technical tour' today, I was shown a big-ass server with dual heads in the back room which was described as a 'professional editing suite for video / music compilation'. 'Suitable for T.V work' was the quote. I'll check out the name of it again tomorrow - but I think they said something like "Avida" (pronounced 'A-Veee-da'). Sound familiar to anyone? Maybe I heard wrong - I'll try and get another look tomorrow. I have just started using Premiere at home to compile my vids (and finding it a pain in the ass to learn all the in's and out's), but it sounds like I might be putting in some late nights at work in the future...

I am putting together a video for a competition at the moment, and it got me to thinking what my favourite skydiving tunes are. Here's what I like this five minutes. Adam Freeland - We want your soul Good Charlotte - Boys and Girls Benny Benassi - Satisfaction Cam Farrar - Wasted I am thinking that while excellent tunes, 'Wasted' and 'We want your soul' may not be the best for the comp due to lyrics content. It's a shame, becuase they are veeeeery cool. Do you have a fav tune that you always wanted to put to a video?

Dude, just wondering as a sidebar - is there any reason why you narrowed it down to those two rigs? For example, is there anything about Mirage which didn't make it viable?

I've had mine for about 4 months. The quality is very, very, nice. The tie-dye finish is fantastic. VERY comfy both in the plane and under canopy. I think my sizes are similar to you, as I have a Sabre2 170 as my main, and a 155 reserve. The DZ is jealous as hell. If there was anything I could change - and it is a very minor thing - it would be how the excess brake toggle line is stowed. It just looks a bit 'messy' to me. My rigger showed me a slightly different way of stowing them, and I am now happy with the result. I did a lot of shopping around before I chose the G4. One thing I had to overcome was a perception out there that Mirage has (or at least used to have) big customer service problems. I have had to deal with them once since getting the rig (to send out a replacement part that I had damaged on a bad landing), and they were excellent. Immediate reply, flexible to what I wanted, and I was jumping again in 2 weeks. Not bad considering I am on the other side of the world from Florida.

As with the DV camera, subjects are going to be 4-way RW teams and tandems. In the short term, the camera setup won't be for profit, but a little later down the track I want to be filming tandems and burning a DVD of their jump instead of the way my DZ currently does it - on a VCR tape. Now, how much the stills camera will be involved in that - I am not sure. At present, our DZ camera flyer uses a DV camera alone (with no stills capability) when putting the tandem videos together - and the result is quite polished. Certainly digital stills would be easier to include in the DVD, but how much it will be used? I don't know. Hope that complicates things sufficiently.

I have a TRV22 which I plan to mount in a bonehead box on a Batrak. I am now looking for a stills camera to complete the setup. Question is: if you were starting out (again), would you: a. Wait a little longer to save up for a suitable digital. My assumption is that a digital is going to be more expensive initially, or b. Buy a second hand conventional camera which will be less expensive, but will have ongoing costs like film / processing. I have been told that an option may be an EOS 500. Thoughts? For either option, suggestions on models would be appreciated.

I also have been looking at this helmet. One turned up at our DZ last weekend, and I was quite impressed with the 'finish'. They obviously put time into things like the edge of the shell and the liner. I also like the side-box - it has a nice setup for opening it (the button), and the one I saw was hinged quite nicely. I am in the market for a camera helmet at the moment. Unfortunately, the 'blade' does not allow for putting a TRV camera in the sidemount (PC type only). I think this will push me to something like the Batrak instead.

Alex, Thanks for the info - that certainly helps.

Thanks for the comments. I just got back from the DZ where we talked cameras all weekend. I think that I should incorporate a stills camera into my setup. Hence I will get a BatRak instead of the Optik, and mount both the bonehead TRV box and a stills camera on top. Now all I have to do is work out what would be a good second hand stills camera...

Has anyone tried mounting a bonehead TRV dBox on the top mount of an Optik? Any thoughts?

I think it can depend on what you pay for the unit, but the way it worked out for me was that the Cypres 2 was cheaper then the Cypres (1) when I added up all of the costs over the entire life of the AAD. Not paying for battery changes in Years 2, 6, and 10 meant the overall cost was cheaper than a Cypres 1. Not by much, but hey, it was a couple of free jumps.