prost

It felt like it flew slower because of the increased stability and the fact that is less twitchy. It is not slower ar the same wing loading, only perception. 1.9 is not to low to get good performance out of a cross-braced. Use this example. If you take a coener in a nice sports car at 50 miles an hour it may seem very easy and you don't think you went around the corner that fast. Take the same corner at 50 mph in a metro and the sensation is that you are going much faster because the car is sliding around and is less stable. The same perception happens under canopy. Don't be sucked in the the thought that you need to go to a highter wing loading to get the wing to perform.

Original crossfire, and before that a stiletto. I think the Crossfire was a good transitional canopy. At simular wing loadings it would dive almost as much as a crossbraced canopy.

Yes there are some people that use Canons with no problems. Some of the Canons have a lanc port but I do not know if it will work with the cam eye.

During my AFF cetification course I practiced accuracy with my fx. I landed in the peas so that I did not have to worry about getting a great flare but I was never slammed down hard even when flaring from half brakes. I think anyone with a crossbraced canopy whould practice this technique but I would recommend doing it over peas because there just isn't a lot of room for error.

One other option you might want to look at is the Minolta Dimage 7hi. It has a remote switch is 5 megapixels, has a lense that can go as wide as 28mm and can be had for a fairly good price now. There is a 7, 7h, and a 7hi. 7hi being the newest and fastest. Dbuys lists the 7hi for 668. William

I think this would be the major reason that no one will look into getting rid of the bag and pilot chute by using a static line. One other problem I did think of was that you could not stage opening hieghts.

I wouldn't wave a dead chicken over your canopy. Blood stains are not good for it.

Why not? Has anyone tried it?

Why isn't staying with the same size sabre2 in your first scenario an option? In your second assuming that staying in the plane would mean certain death I would put a novice out on any kind of chute. Most accidents start on the ground. I would not let a novice get in the plane with a parachute he could not safely jump on his back regardless if he were planning on jumping it or not. William

Why not just use a static line set up?

A same size and same loaded Stiletto will turn faster than an FX. The FX will dive a lot more causing it to build up more speed for landing but it will not turn as fast.

Would anyone care to discuss what type of external flash set-up they have?

Does anyone know anyone in Lodi?

Here is a review in english. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0401/04012904canoneos1dmkii.asp

One point of clarification. Any of these canopies will return to normal flight without input, they just take longer to do it.

I don't think anyone on a highly loaded cross braced canopy consistantly starts their swoops at an exact altitude but rather controls the dive as they go by sight to get the right plane out. You may consistantly be within 50 feet but that still requires some adjustment so why would it be so important to know the altitude you started your turn? While I like to start my turn at ~ 850 feet I sometimes start my 270 turns from 600 to 1000 feet and adjust the type of turn by sight. Why would it be so imortant for me to know the exact altitude I started my turn. Untill I got my neptune I never looked at the altimeter below about 1500 ft because it was not very accurate.

I have only Pro packed those rigs. When I have Pro packed them for people I was told that the openings were great. I must admit that I do not even know how to flat pack so that was never really an option.

If you are going to look at something in the more expensive range look at pinnacle edition. If you just want to make basic videos I would go with Pinacle studio DV deluxe. It is easier when making shot videos and works very well.

I would suggest wearing a pair of tennis shoes instead. Contrary to what most people believe, boots do not add much stability to your ankles. The extra weight will make it harder to run out landings.

I like slinks a lot also but they are not as easy to put on.

Unlike what others have experienced, I have had god results from JVC. I sold one of my old JVC cameras to a videograper just getting started about 2 years ago and it is still going strong with no problems. I would recommend Sony though and that is what I jump now. Sony has much better slo motion and other effects along with the ability to use a Cam eye. As far as photography goes I am still using film so I will speak about it. The best SLR camera I have used is the Minolta Maxxum 5. It is the lightest 35mm SLR out there and faster than the comparable canons and nikons. The only negative is that it has a special plug for the remote shutter release. I take there plug and modify it for my uses. That being said if all you want to do is shoot student photos and hand the roll to them when you are done, I recommend using one of the little Canon Elph LT cameras modified to a remote shutter release. They will take better pictures than you would think, and the APS system is very easy to load when you are in a hurry.

Does anyone know if the canopies that are being used by the sponsored pro swoopers are in any way different from any other off the shelf canopy of the same model? I am just wondering if they are tweeked to get some extra performance out of them or maybe manufactured with closer tolerances.

We use 200 speed film for all the student video at my drop zone with good results. It is a low enough speed not to be grainy when enlarged but is also fast enough for cloudy days. 400 is just not quite as sharp and is not needed for skydiving pics.

Aubry, do you think they are sore about you going somewhere else for AFF even though they could not accommodate you there and that is why you are getting so many problems?

Ok a thought here. When the FX and velocity were both new on the market it did not seem that the velocity had an advantage over the FX. As time went on the major advancement in swooping has been the pilots skill level. When the VX came out everyone at the top end of competition switch over to it if they jumped Icarus canopies. Jumpers using the velocity have been able to improve their performance on the velocity to keep up with the performance of the VX. Do you think most of the performance gain of the VX is canopy pilots improving their skill as well? Maybe if the top Icarus pilots still jumped FXs their performance would still be in the same range as it is with the VX. I am not saying this is true but I do think it may have something to do with the "performance difference" between the FX and the Velocity. What do you guys think?