nraines

Could you add some punctuation to that so I can understand what you are trying to say?

That is one of the few statements in this entire thread that makes sense. The more I read this the more surprised I became at the attitude of experienced skydivers as to not needing a simple pin check. I will agree that someone shouldn't do a pin check "behind your back." I also understand that some gear is rare and unique. In those rare instances, decline the check or, on the ground, be proactive and educate your jump buddies on how to look at your gear and identify problems. There is nothing wrong with the attitude of skydiving like people are trying to kill you. But thinking that you are so good that you do not need a second pair of eyes seems foolish. Also, if we are cultivating a generation of skydivers that is so unfamiliar with gear that they can not do pin checks, then there is something seriously flawed with our training system. If your rig is small enough the self checks do work for determining the position of the main pin but they do not let you see if you have color in the window. (Of course you should have looked at that before you got your butt on the plane.) I sit in front of a tandem student 99.9% of the time so I will usually flip the main flap down and have my TI look at the configuration of my pin and bridle, then i will put the flap back into position. Im sure as hell going to climb out after sitting in front a tandem student without getting a pin check. I have seen two instances where a jumper gets up to exit and their d-bag is left behind them. One was immediately noticed and rode the plane down, the other resulted in a premature out of the door of a Cessna. The d-bag come off and pulled the bridle and PC out and the canopy opened flawlessly. It could have been WAY worse. Im sure the number of stories like that FAR out way the ones where a pin check is somehow done incorrectly. That sounds exactly like the people who do not want to wear a seatbelt because they heard one story where someone died because they had one on. But whatever... This certainly isn't the place to get advice about skydiving anyway.

There is no doubt that the Baby Death is a big lens. However it seems to be the best quality wide angle lens available to us at the moment. Yes, the front lens element is very exposed and yes it is expensive. I promise the clouds wont hurt it. As far as the airplane goes. Just know that there is a $300.00 piece of glass sitting on the top of your head. DONT BANG IT INTO ANYTHING!! Bear in mind that you may have a high end still camera lens up there as well. In this day of HD video, lenses are going to cost more. Gone are the days of the $30.00 Kenko. I tell people, " If you cant afford to break it, you cant afford to jump it." As far as the issue of step up rings go, I strongly agree with DSE. Metal ones are better. Plastic becomes brittle and will fail. There will always be a chance that you can loose equipment. My opinion is that keeping my glass away from my risers will prevent the risers from knocking it off. i.e. don't watch your openings if you are shooting video.

I bought mine from Roberts Imaging about a month ago for $499. Roberts prices are frequently better than B&H, albiet thier website is not as good. I buy all of my camera equipment from them and their customer service is second to none. I always order from them by phone. If you talk to them before about 2 p.m. Your order will almost always be out that day. [url]http://www.robertsimaging.com/cmItemDetail.jsp?pid=16332 [url]

Are you talking about Hans from the Farm??? That is ridiculous. I would never wear him as a safety device. A weight belt for for shooting big tandems....maybe.

That is obviously fake. Where is her camera helmet?

I jump a D-200 with the 10.5mm. You are right. That lens is awesome. I will be honest with you though. It you think the D70s is heavy you will NOT enjoy the D700. The D70s weighs 679g while the D700 weighs 1,074g Also, the D700 is an FX format camera. Which means to get pictures that look like the ones from your D70s w/ the 10.5mm. You will have to buy the 16mm f2.8D. It currently sells for about $749.00. I think you would be better off and WAY cheaper with a used D200 or a D300 and use the 10.5mm that you already own. The D700 is an awesome camera. Where it shines in at hish ISO settings. Ranges that are usually beyond what you would need for skydiving.

LMFAO....Jeff, really? Are you kidding? "Evidence" In this internet forum? What do you do all day? I know you hate us and all but come on. It was pretty apparent to me that Chucks comment was a joke. As far as I know there is no jumping going on at russellville aka nashvilleskydiving.org. (You may need to correct your DECEPTIVE website. nashvilleskydiving.org is not the closest dropzone to Nashville.) If you have a problem with Ben and Cary that is fine. Personally, I jump in Clarksville every weekend. Im very sorry if it hurts your feelings that there is a busy turbine dropzone in your back yard that you and your buddy Matt Klein dont get to have your fingers in. If you are the holder of all moral righteousness why do you continue to support a DZ that blatantly endangers peoples lives? Quote from NTSB report for Cessna N299AA After releasing skydivers, the pilot was descending the airplane from 11,000 feet and returning to his home airport. He utilized carburetor heat while descending to 3,000 feet, and everything seemed normal during the approach to the 3,999-foot-long asphalt runway. The bounced upon landing and the pilot initiated a go-around; however, the airplane experienced a loss of engine power during the initial climb, about 50 to 75 feet above ground level (agl). The airplane then overran the remaining runway during the subsequent forced landing. The pilot owned and operated the airplane since he purchased it in 2003. The airplane had not received an annual or 100-hour inspection subsequent to the pilot purchasing it. In addition, the pilot did not hold an airframe or powerplant certificate; however, he performed all of the maintenance on his airplane. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the carburetor heat cable and fuel sump cable were disconnected, and most likely had been disconnected prior to impact. The examination of the wreckage did not reveal any other discrepancies. Ten gallons of fuel were recovered from the right fuel tank and 7 gallons of fuel were recovered from the left fuel tank. No contamination was observed in the fuel or oil. According to an FAA Carburetor Icing Probability Chart, no icing or light icing (at glide or cruise power) was possible for the prevailing temperature and dew point. You think that a DZ putting up signs in their market is deceptive yet you clearly support a dropzone that deceived and untold number of tandem students into thinking that their jump would begin with a ride in an "airworthy" aircraft. Jeff, your logic is amazing. I don't even want to discuss your comment about how fun jumpers don't contribute to the "Business" You are clearly not a Skydiver. How many jumps in 14 years? Despite all this nonsense you will always be welcome with open arms in Clarksville. I will even pay for your re-currency jump.

Wow! I must say, this has gotten really amusing. usually just skim over these "Discussions" and then go to one of the forum topics where I stand a slim chance of learning something. None the less. This has been just too funny today and I couldn't resist posting. Has anyone noticed how many times this thread has been viewed and how it seems that the same few Kinghts of Justice are the only ones that really post here? Basically, lots of people have wasted their time reading it and not many of them seem to care. I tried to read it and got bored by page three. Obviously there are people that love to hate Skyride. Thats cool with me. Having something to rant about is very fulfilling for some people. This sport is a very small community. As eluded to earlier by a poster, there is some very rich "history" in this sport. Some of that history involves the very ones that seem to be most offended by SkyRide. What is also funny to me is that several of the people on here that trash ASC and or SkyRide. Are hanging and partying it up with the ASC folks no sooner than the sun sets. (If you aren't one of them, don't bother posting to declare your righteousness.) Regardless, my intent in posting was to address this bogus TN dropzone scandal. I have been seriously douped by SkyRide. I have been going to this fake DZ in Clarkesville since March. It did seem real at first. There was a real looking airplane. Some weekends it even looked like an Otter. There were even real looking students. Sometimes, I even thought they left smiling. I have really been scammed. I have been driving four hours to work at this bogus Drop Zone only to realize that I was passing several other DZ's on my way. I guess I was having an "imaginary" good time. If there is any one local that would like to come out to this terrible place to help me figure out what is going on. That would be greatly appreciated. Seriously though, I may have to go to Russelville to jump if this isn't resolved soon. What kind of aircraft do they have?

I have jumped a D70s and now a D200. Making the switch was easy for both. The D70s and the D80 remote switch has only 3 wires to deal with. It has been a whie since I made the D70s switch so I dont remember the color combinations that went together. I will try to find it and post the directions. I jump a D200 with a 10.5mm Fisheye. The D200 uses a different plug. It has a metal threaded coupling that secures it to the camera. Very secure. Dont worry about damaging the Conceptus switch. Just cut it at the plug and you will have plenty of extra cable to use. Remember, you will have the length of the Conceptus switch cable plus the length of the Nikon plug cable added together. You will have more wire than you need. So experiment and if you get the connection wrong just cut it down. You will not hurt the camera by testing the splices. Lastly, I like the tongue switch way better. Good Luck!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/540091-REG/Sony_RM_AV2_REMOTE_COMMANDER_f_A_V_R.html I have been waiting for something like this to be released by Sony for the new cams. I know there has been chatter about someone working to incorporate this style connector into a new cam-eye type control/indicator. I know there are also many who dismiss the need for an indicator. I have jumped a CX7 many times without forgetting to turn it on. I still would enjoy the "insurance" of a light. Im hoping that i proper indicator is soon to be available. If not, it may be possible to hack one of these to get the desired results.

Here is a link to some pictures of my setup. It is a D200 mounted with a Cookie FlatLock. I previously jumped a D70s. I braced the plug with a rubber band contraption. The port on the D80 is more toward the bottom of the body. It would be pretty easy build a protector for it. I must say however, the D200 is way more camera. Its more durable. The metering system and autofocus are better. The threaded remote plug is as solid as anything out there. Now that the D300's are easier to find the D200 prices will fall a bit. As far as a Canon v Nikon argument, I tend not to go down that road. for me the Nikon is more intuitive. I can reach up and by feel, apply exposure and or flash compensation, ISO and shutter speed. Until Sigma recently released a 10mm Fisheye. There was no lens that could offer a 180 degree diagonal field of view on the non-full frame sensors on the Canon mount. The Nikkor 10.5mm has been out for years. http://gallery.mac.com/nickraines#100045

That style of release is really intended for mounting on the shoe of larger telephoto lenses. Like the lenses you see on the sidelines of major sporting events. My concern would be that with the base plate mounted on a helmet the locking lever would not be able to rotate enough because it would be striking either the top of the helmet or the bottom of the camera. Now if that lever is a push-pull type, I doubt it would matter at all.