PharmerPhil

A screw (1/4-20) is all most anyone uses. Usually it is the screw in the quick release plate. I do have a little bungee cord that goes over the lens as a (very) slight back-up in case the quick release lets go. But I wouldn't even bother with that if I didn't use a quick release.

And therein lies just ONE problem. You can't fly such that you are within a logical distance to the subject (there is no artistic reason to be 50 feet away IMHO). To not have these flying skills is bad enough. Adding a camera is worse, and adding a student is negligent. You have been given the "howto (sic) advice." And you have chosen to not listen to it. You have heard from others with vast experience (even some who made the same mistake you are making, and now have more experience) and you have chosen to ignore the advice. WTF? What are you really looking for? Others with lot more skill and knowledge to tell you that they are wrong and you are right, and you should continue on your chosen path? I can understand people not looking for advice (hell, we're skydivers, who can tell us...). But YOU asked a question of the forum, and you have chosen to not accept the answers you have been given (until they are what you already want to hear). If you really want to be this selective in the advice that YOU have asked for, why don't you just select to not waste people's time and don't ask for advice in the first place. FWIW, I am not usually one of those who immediately attacks someone for starting camera too early. I let others do that, and usually the questioner is at least open to the suggestion (and at worse proceeds with caution). But with less than 100 jumps, jumping not only camera but with students too, and then not having the sense to pay any heed to the advice of those with more experience, is just moronic. Peace out.

No. With tape, it will always be real time, and the best you can do is have your computer capture footage while you are doing something else. In the old analog audio tape days, high-speed duplication facilities often copied cassettes at faster speeds (with less quality). But as far as I know, no hardware like that exists for digital video tape.

Not yet,... But obviously an external flash is far preferable. (P.S. Hackish: You have no business flying with a camera at all this stage much less an external flash too. But no, you don't mount external flashes directly to the shoe of the camera.)

In the past I have used the built-in flash in my old Rebel 2000 film camera. I can't imagine it is any better than the XT flash. Worse in fact because I believe the maximum flash sync speed was 1/160th (shutter speed). But an advantage when it is dark out is that the flash is actually much faster than the shutter and freezes some action. Here's a shot way past sunset: http://www.philroberson.com/Image%20Pages%20Folder/J1432b.htm If you click the "BACK" button you can see another shot of the exit. Way better than nothing...

My HC-5 shut off on a Casa this weekend. Never had that problem on the Otter, and never happened on my A1U (HC-1) on the Casa before because it's switch wasn't right on the top. I was stooping down as I walked towards the door, but when I walked under the wing, the ceiling is lower and it turned my HC-5 switch off. Fortunately my Hypeye let me know and I got it back on in time, but I missed the exit of the tandem before mine. Might have to add a little block to the body to keep that from happening again. FYI, my port door is always open (and always was open on my A1U), but it never happened on other planes. So for me at least, this was purely a mechanical turn-off.

FWIW, I had a very respected I/E, S&TA and Course Director dispute this second reason. He claims that there has never been a documented case of a spinning-mal/RSL combination getting a jumper hurt or causing a reserve malfunction (causing reserve line twists yes, but these have never resulted in an injury). Of course, he also pointed out how many injuries and fatalities have been caused by late reserve deployments. His point was to challenge those who don't use an RSL (this was pre-Skyhook). When I told him my reasons for not using an RSL (the need to clear a possible helmet entanglement before reserve deployment), he thought that was the only legit reason.

Wow that's a good question. I'm surprised no one has asked it before...

I have this lens that I use on a film camera and I love it (unfortunately, being film, I don't have anything I can quickly post). Have you tried to see if the lens is focusing accurately on the ground? A simple test is to shoot with your aperture wide open against and down the length of a wall with siding or bricks on it (or something similar), and let the camera auto-focus on a specific point on the wall like a window sill. Then see where along the length the image is sharpest. This will tell you if it the lens is possibly back- or front-focusing.

It's not quite a fair comparison. Keep in mind that the w/a lens on its own will reduce the shakiness of the camera (in this case the advantage goes to the CX12). In general, longer focal lengths amplify shakes on lenses. I like your methodology, but you would really need to shoot the test with similar fields of view for it to be a fair test.

Exactly.

Blow switch. As others have said, they last forever. Ask people with a bite or blow switch how many times they have replaced them (several have already mentioned reliability). The only downside I see is that the blow switches are definitely bulkier. This may or may not be an issue depending on your helmet. With larger flat-top helmets it shouldn't be a problem. And contrary to a previous post, you don't have to have your helmet on to take pictures, you just push the shutter release on the camera.

I think the more correct explanation is that it isn't as much of a fisheye on the small sensor (APS-sized) Cameras. But it is still most definitely fisheye, and makes for annoying horizons if they are anywhere but centered. Personally I think using fisheye all the time is like using too much reverb on every song. But I do have the Canon 15mm fisheye and like it for RW stuff where the horizon and straight lines aren't in view as often, and you don't usually have people's noses right up close to the lens. A nice lens if you can still find it is the Tokina 17mm aspherical (it was offered for either Canon or Nikon). It is a little larger and heavier than the 15mm, but not outrageously so.

I agree with the first part, but don't think you should ever "track" if that wasn't the original plan. All you need is a little horizontal separation to provide a lot of safety. I also think that turning and tracking not only isn't necessary, but is much slower than simply backing up. The fastest way to gain immediate separation is to pull your legs on your butt, and stick your arms out. It is way faster than turning first. This is not a classic track where there are lots of people and lots of separation needed, this is two people trying to get an immediate horizontal offset (kinda like a tandem). BTW, if you pull your legs up and stick your arms out, you will go backwards very fast. But you may also start sinking fast. To counter this, stick your arms out and push them down and you will maintain most of your altitude above the team/formation/whatever. Try it! We used this during the 139-way sequential record last November at Z-hills when we had five videographers in the air. (It is also cool looking on video...)

Absolutely. But your back-up doesn't have to be the same kind of camera, why not keep one of your old PCs for your back-up? I have backup video cameras, stills, helmet, rig, and jump suits (even had to use my old camera suit this past weekend). Ya just never know...

We use linear editing, but our DZO requires us to keep original footage for one year in case a customer wants/needs a copy. (One advantage we have is we have only long-time video flyers.) Personally I keep all (ALL) original footage of everything I shoot...ever (I'm OCD that way). I had only one tandem customer request a copy from last year, and none the two years before or this year. Obviously it's your DZO's gig, and he/she calls the shots. But for the limited requests we get, it really isn't a big deal to re-edit in the rare case someone wants/needs a new disc. IMHO, way less of a big deal than keeping and maintaining hard drive copies of finished edits.

This should work: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/205082-REG/Libec_861568_861568_1_4_20_Screw.html BTW, almost all camera screws are a 1/4-20 thread. Easy to find in the U.S.,maybe not elsewhere. The only difference with most tripod screws is a very short length, and a narrow waist under the head.

Don't be so sure. The fact that you made no money on it doesn't mean you didn't illegally distribute copyrighted works to others. Let's say I go to the hardware store and steal a lamp and give it to a friend for free. Do you really think that the fact that I didn't make any money on it is a defense against stealing? While you may not be the ideal candidate for an example lawsuit, if the RIAA wants to sick their lawyers on you, I severely doubt it will be "thrown out" because the people you distribute the illegal copies to were your friends, or that it was your baby in the image, or that you didn't make any money off of it, or that you were foolish enough to not hire a lawyer.

Well here's my two cents... It does look well made. But it looks like the camera sticks out way further than it has to on the side. And I never understood why you need a quick release for the video camera, especially when it is in a box. If you need the camera for ground work or whatever, you still need to take it out of the box. Why not just take it out of the box in the first place? The quick release seems like an unnecessary step, that makes the helmet bigger and heavier in the process.

I have had the opposite experience, and have been amazed at how sturdy mini-DV transports are. I have had scads of DV and mini-DV cameras (all Sony), with untold thousands of hours on them (including lots of freefall). Never have I had a tape transport problem. Not one. It is particularly amazing when you consider how precise the tape/head contact has to be, and how we punish these cameras in skydiving. While I thnk the handwriting is on the wall for the death of tape-based cams (and I can appreciate getting the weight of the transport and battery off of my neck), I personally will miss the simplicity, archivability (real word), and reliability of these cameras.

Amen!

That'd be pretty tough. The last G5 PowerMac was introduced in 2005. Sounds like a 3-year old (at least) computer to me...

I don't know about the CX7, but the HDV cameras I have used all have an "i.LINK CONV" option in the menu that let you export SD on your Firewire (which Sony calls "i.Link"). HD is always 16:9 (widescreen), so there is another option called "Down Convert" that lets you choose between exporting using Edge Crop, Squeeze, or Letter box to get your 16:9 video to a 4:3 SD video stream. Using these options you can just go camera to camera using a 4-pin Firewire cable. I customized my menus on my HDV cams so that these options are on the first page of my menu when in VCR mode.

??? For 3K you can get a dual quad core MacPro (i.e. 8 cores) with 2gig RAM, bundled software, and all the stuff listed above. Plus you can still buy another hard drive to use one for capture only and still be under 3K (plus still have two empty hard drive slots, Firewire 800, SP-DIF digital audio in/out, three open PCI slots, etc.). For even less, you can buy a Mac with the measly single quad core recommended above, and Final Cut Express and still have money left over!!! Don't let the anti-Mac crowd tell you you can't get a great Mac for the money.

Yes this is correct. i.e. to get the same field of view that a 24mm lens has on a 35mm film camera on your DSLR, you would buy a 15-16mm lens. And no, the manufacturers do not include the conversion on the lens. 15mm is 15mm whether it is on a small DSLR, a 35mm film camera, or a medium format camera. It is just your field of view that varies. BTW, the crop factor for Canon's lower end DSLRs is 1.6. For Nikon it is 1.5x.