pope

I once showed up to a small 2 day boogie event here in Dubai, and as I walked from the parking lot to the tent with a visiting friend, they commented on a goat that was tied on a short leash to a corner of a Bedouin tent. "What's the goat for? They must really love it to bring it to a boogie with them!" I offhandedly replied "...Oh--we don't have a refrigerator." ...I didn't realize how random that sounded to my guest until a few seconds later when I saw the totally puzzled look on their face. "That's our dinner tomorrow night." I said, connecting the dots for them. I would like to take a moment to honor this little goat for the sacrifice she made to feed a hungry tent full of skydivers, as well as a bunch of people who showed up seemingly out of nowhere. Sorry for the nostalgia. My only point is, the jam is the only thing that needs refrigeration. Get a cooler with a block of ice to keep your jam nice and cool. Make the sandwiches as you eat them. You could also exchange the jam altogether for my childhood fave: PB, banana & honey. :) Compliment with fresh fruit and veggies. Depending on the quality of local produce, peppers/carrots/cucumbers and hummus is delicious as well...Just don't freeze a PB&J unless you happen to like to eat them frozen. Good luck. I'm going to make lunch.

Sorry for the thread hijack from http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4489008#4489008, but my answer kind of diverged into a question... Hi Gary; FWIW, I'm fairly sure that wasn't the shutter closing but the "lens cover." Many Sony cameras that have this feature have a manual toggle switch that can be taped down. If I'm not mistaken, in the case of most BOSS cameras this can be completely eliminated with the use of a UV, Polarizing, or other filter (also a good idea in general with these cameras IMHO). *****MY question(s): I've done hundreds of jumps with both the HDR-PJ/CX760(E), with great results. My biggest criticisms are the crappy audio, which I think has been addressed in newer versions, the inability to use a wide angle lens with the stabilization feature (vignetting), and the need to pull out the viewfinder in order to get the camera working with a Hypeye. I've botched 2 videos this year because I failed to manage a slider keeper that managed to shut off PJ760 video mid free fall by pushing it back in (I don't like the idea of jumping with the LCD screen flipped outwards). My biggest questions at this point is regarding the PJ/CX430: Is there anyone jumping these on a day to day basis, using the Hypeye connected with the VMC-AVM1 adapter WITHOUT a wide angle lens? If so, what are your impressions, complaints, tips etc? I'm impressed with the BOSS in ff, and thinking of using these on more of an everyday basis - and like the fact that they are smaller than the 700 series cameras. Also: is anyone making a box for side mounting these yet? I personally run mine on top, but some of the camera flyers who I will be buying them for prefer a side mount (Various helmets). Any comments/feedback appreciated! cheers! pope

He does actually. He is the true "Farmer McNasty" of that DZ and is one of the most respected farmers in Longmont. He has owned property there probably since before the airport was built. He clearly has junk piled up in his yard that's older than the DZ. :) Not that his complaints are any more valid than the other lemmings, but he has a particularly bad attitude about it. I've been forced to land on his property due to changing Wx and had to run for fear of him doing physical harm to me and the 2 people I landed with. He was trying to have us arrested for trespassing. As far as the rest of this debate goes, it sucks wanting the world we live in to be one way ("the way it was") and it not living up to our dreams, but this is the overpopulated place we live. We can't choose the planet but we can choose the place. Society is going to grow and sprawl is a fact of life in Denver metro. We just have to learn to live with it. Why should one person have to spend $100k+ putting a "Quiet kit" on their plane (MHSC has taken measures for YEARS to try to accommodate local residents and noise abatement complaints BTW) just because another person's property taxes may raise? Are YOU willing to kick in $50k? Gibbs? Zweck? Palmer? Why don't you spend your efforts raising the money to HELP this business help you. Don't take your problems out on others by trying to get litigious--just suck it up and move West or shut up about it. too.much.energy.

That's because NOT an RW suit. That's like saying "This helicopter is different to fly than this airplane." Learn the suit, THEN fly with others, THEN fly with real tandems. Again, learn how to use the tools first. If you want to stay closer to the tandem on exit, using the wings to get you away from them will often times result in exactly what you described. Try getting small and collapsing the wings completely if your on your side or back underneath the tandem, or if you're doing the old school rear float exit, just try exiting with your palms facing upward, kind of tucked up under the bottom of your rig, and try to track back into the airplane. Also, A good rear-float tip is to exit a bit earlier, but exit pushing FORWARD instead of sliding off of the plane. Think of it as being 4 feet away from the plane but looking straight at the subject at the time they exit. Of course every aircraft is a bit different, and you're going to have to find what works for that aircraft. Don't be afraid to learn how to front float either. ...The best place to be depends on the shot you're trying to get. Again, please refer to comment #1. actually, I think learning to sitfly/freefly will only help your situation. Experience will only help you. If you have a tunnel available it's the quickest route to proficiency. But remember that "sitflying" with wings is different than typical sit-flying. One of the main purposes of wings is to give the camera flyer more range...so you will need to adapt your flying according to the speed of your subject. Be careful, have fun!

Clicky Damn... Blocked in the USA... Wow, that is real intelligent there. hey thanks! Couldn't possibly be YouTube's mistake could it? The fact is, that it IS YouTube's mistake, which is being corrected, at their pace. It seems that even though we've purchased all the necessary synchronization rights for the music, The YT algorithm says we haven't. Until then, you can take the nice folks' workarounds, or go to our Vimeo page at https://vimeo.com/60428470 where I also make no guarantees but should work better. (In the meantime wildcard451, perhaps you should rethink what's intelligent and what's not.)

http://youtu.be/rr8ZE0KlVQE

The T2i and T3i are both awesome cameras (pretty much the same save the flip screen), But the T4i (650D) is superior mainly because of it's construction. It is sealed more like a 5D than the other Rebel series. Ours aren't here yet but they've been ordered! pope

Curious what power YOUR dropzone runs on?

Yup. I'll say it has! http://youtu.be/C4T_BKDlEjA

just a thought, but just in case your final output is meant to be to DVD...you don't need to BE on the highest setting.

Thought people might be interested in seeing this super high quality video that was put together for the Mondial World Parachuting Championships that begins next week in Dubai. In the bottom right hand corner of the YouTube Screen by clicking the icon that looks like a gear, you can change the resolution of the video all the way up past 1080 to "Original" which is 4k--and amazing! Definitely worth a watch! link to share: http://youtu.be/C4T_BKDlEjA Enjoy! pope

Is it different from the Canon Digital input on the MkII? I accidentally bought 10 of the Conceptus ones!

I've been a hardcore FCP fan for years until X with the exception of Vegas for Tandem workflows, But I'm re-learning Premiere again to give it a shot at being my NLE of choice.

What the hell are YOU talking about? The camera doesn't take the photos, the photographer does. ;)

Has anyone had any issues with centrifugal force sending the BOSS out wide when cartwheeling or transitioning from a headdown to head up position? I love what see with the BOSS, but I haven't seen any more aggressive flying with the system yet. Just curious. cheers. pope

ummmm...the settings of WHAT exactly? I could tell you what settings I use for my toaster oven but it might not help you too much ;)

What am I missing here? What are you asking exactly?

yes.

I disagree with many things you've said here. Having the drogue in the shot is *not* confusing, and *definitely* adds to the overall video, from both below *and* above the tandem. From below the tandem, the customer can see their whole body, with a bit of instructor behind them, as opposed to *anywhere* on level or above the tandem, where they're lucky to get a glimpse of their face at times! Showing this angle is focusing on the customer. As for the drogue in this shot, who cares if they have questions? Personally, I think the chance of bringing a customer from a tandem student to an AFF student is a lot greater if someone takes the time to answer these questions (if the TI didn't already). It's not like the drogue has somehow cheated them of their freefall experience! From above, seeing the overall picture; the view and the speed, not to mention the ever interesting shot that shows how puny and miniscule we are compared to our playground! If you can't get back to the tandem quickly enough, you're misusing your time and it's time to practice your craft a bit more, IMHO. A tandem videographer's job isn't to "feature [the customer] first and foremost" as you put it. As I see it, it's to DOCUMENT that customer's first jump experience, on that day, at that time, in that light, etc. This involves many techniques and angles, sometimes INCLUDING handcam! The consummate videographer is one who has taken the time to learn these techniques and angles and put them all together. I guess it's all about how much effort one wants to put into the job. Also, there's nothing wrong with 'cool' shots, as long as their done with the customer in mind, and are not done to excess. I couldn't agree more though that a tandem is not a fleshy skyball for the videographer to practice freeflying with if they're being paid as a professional to film it. Oh...and to answer the OP's question: IMHO, I think you're on the right track with brushing up on your ff skills...I think the best way to get that shot is somewhere between back/sit with (or without) wings. It just takes practice. And having a slightly convex lens will go a LONG way. $0.02 pope

About those blow holes... Last weekend I almost ended up cutting away perfectly good canopy, by snagging cutaway handle with inside of the wing. Wings are attached by quick release snaps to inside of legstraps. The wing jacket in pictures, I have it about season and a half and this problem never appeared until now. Belly-fly no problem. But, when I fly longer on my back it seems that in some body positions, inside seam of the wing can catch upper part of the cutaway handle. When I switch back to belly it peels of handle from it`s place. Talk about surprise on opening Read: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4063401#4063401. I think that is similar to what happened to me here...

Everyone at the drop zone where I work uses the T2i for the day to day shooting of tandems, etc. They take beautiful photos when operated properly, just like most other cameras. 18mp sensor is nice. If you plan on using it for video though, spend the extra couple of dollars and get the T3i the rotating screen makes a difference. cheers, pope

I have jumped Javs for awhile, some custom built for me and some not. I've never had a problem with them like you're speaking of, top mounted, side mounted, whatever. I currently have a custom Javelin AND a custom Infinity and they both rock. Does everyone there use the same rigger for their repacks by chance? Or does the same person measure them for their custom gear? Sunpath has been making awesome containers for years and there are WAAAAY more videographers in the world who love their Javelins for camera (and any other type of jumping) than there are people at your dropzone even! ;) I don't have the most camera jumps in the world to draw on, but this has been my experience. $0.02 pope

We use T2i's at our dropzone. It's essentially the same camera, the biggest difference being the 550 (T2i) doesn't have the flip out viewscreen like the 600D (T3i). I love the 550D for skydiving stills. It shoots decent video too.

ugh. I don't either. back to the drawing boards. cheers anyhow!

Thanks Lazlo...I wasn't aware of that! So following up to your trip to B+H: CX190 DOES or does not have filter threads? If so are they still 37mm? I'm not really interested in an internal memory, and could probably adapt to a non-touch screen. I'd love to buy a bunch of CX-100's (or whatever the PAL version is of that) and call it good but I can't find them anywhere. Do you see any downsides to the CX190 or it's touchscreen sister? cheers! pope