PharmerPhil

Isn't Bluetooth kinda slow for live video?

Looks like they kept the media slot on the bottom too.

P.S. I use SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket to clone/mirror my entire drives for back-up purposes. If a drive crashes, I can just plug in the mirrored drive and I'm off and running without having to retrieve backed up files, use a restore function, reload software, etc.

I got one of these: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/FWU2ES2HDK/ Highly recommended and totally mac plug and play. I bought the SATA/usb one (might not still be available) but I wish I had gotten the one that included Firewire 800 though. For back up purposes, it would be nice to be able to hot-swap. Which Firewire can do and SATA can't. I rotate drives in and out for on-site and off-site back-ups, and just used it last week to clone my notebook drive before upgrading. Works like a charm

Usually networks. i.e., the software looks for another computer on the same network running the same software with the same serial number. I just ran in to that this week (I forgot) trying to capture a bunch of HDV to my tower and my notebook at the same time using one copy of FinalCutStudio on the same LAN (multicam shoot, trying to ingest all the footage as quickly as possible on two CPUs). Unplugging the Ethernet cable from my notebook allowed me to keep working on both computers non-stop. I don't know if Sony or others do it the same way. I think maybe Adobe requires you to register each copy within it's respective computer before you can even use it, but I am not sure about that.

FWIW, I had well over 500 jumps, and at least a couple of hundred camera jumps before I videod a tandem. Mostly 4-way and bigger RW. Just saying... BTW, I think that second tandem video example was very sub-par. The exit was good (and I didn't watch anything except the freefall portion), but most of the freefall was very shaky, frequently tilted horizon, and the flyer seemed like he was often either struggling to stay there, or just bored (or didn't care). HE was all over the sky and not for any cool creative shots. The TI certainly wasn't helping out much (I flat out tell any TI not to do that stupid reaching under the passenger's arms for thumbs up). The camera's exposure wasn't set well for a jump with the Sun that high in the sky (student's face was way too dark), and that grabbing the foot thing is silly and adds NOTHING to the student's video or experience. That is purely about a videographer (and sometimes the TI) doing what they like rather than keeping focused on the paying customer. Rant over...

+1. I totally agree. Planning to fly video for students before you've ever flown video at all is just silly (it's like learning to drive for the first time on an 18-wheeler, or a Indy car, or an ambulance, or... well,... you get the picture). I'm sure it is tempting to see paid slots and pay on top of it, but this is not the environment to learn in. Learn to fly first (believe everyone with way more jumps than you, there is still a lot to learn at 200 jumps). Then learn camera, s l o w l y. Then start a progression to get you and an instructor and a student in the danger zone together. I totally agree with learning on smaller RW dives, and progressing from there. A tandem pair is not the place to start, and any DZ or Instructor that lets you start there is just irresponsible. And as far as the teams not wanting a new camera flier, that isn't my experience. Sure, a good team won't let you "try it out" at a competition, but just be honest with your experience and everyone's expectations. And ask for permission to hit them. Once you have it, you can start flying closer and steeper, and feeling the burble. Sure you might hit them someday, but it usually isn't a big deal (remember, get big if your gonna hit them, don't ball up). If you don't have permission, then fly far enough away to ensure that. But they can't complain about you being far away if they haven't given you permission...

This is a skydiving camera? FWIW, I wouldn't consider ANY camera that had been jumped to be "gently used." (Nor would I ever buy one.) I would buy and have bought used, but I'd rather get one from some parent who thought it would be cool to take pics of their new baby, never took it out of the home, quickly lost interest and put it away after a couple of weeks. There are a lot of those on the market. And no. Older, pre-EOS Canon lenses will not fit this camera.

Of course, everyone is different, but personally I don't like booties for videoing tandems. It makes it harder to sit back on your wings and look up as mentioned and pictured above. Also, I no longer go on my back at deployment. I find that without booties, I can look up at the tandem throughout the deployment. I find it makes for smoother video, and quicker recovery afterward. Plus, while looking up, I can back slide creating horizontal separation. Your methods may vary... I do like booties for videoing belly fliers from above however, and that is one reason I use a modular system of jacket, shorts, and bootie pants for flying video.

I understand the hesitancy to rent when you already have three lenses, but everyone is telling you to get your hands on good, fast glass. Yes, your Tamron has the zoom range, but is very slow. Neither it nor the 10-22mm are that fast, which leaves you with only one focal range for fast glass (meaning you better be at the right distance for all of your shots). Yes, the Canon 50mm will be great, but the the Canon 70-200 will take over where your 50mm leaves off, and is very fast (good for both shallow depth of field during portraits and intimate shots, and quick focusing during "gotta get it quick" shots). It will be great when you have to reach across the room a little for something like the best man's toast (you never get much notice when this is about to happen). Besides, I'll bet you'll have a lot of fun with it! I slightly disagree with Lew on the usefulness 10-22mm, only because I have found that when shooting in function halls, and trying to get group/family shots in crowded quarters by dinner tables, sometimes it really helps to have a very, very wide lens (my 17-85mm "walk-around" lens often isn't wide enough for these shots). And in these cases, you have time for a slow lens and don't necessarily need a shallow DoF (which is very hard to achieve in a wide angle anyways). Besides, you already own it.

+1 Or have never spent much time flying a wing suit/jacket.

One major benefit of the Vapor is that is allows you to put everything up top much easier (it is wider than the BH). This is more than just a convenience. Cameras that aren't centered over your noggin (i.e., front mounted) act as a lever and amplify bad openings. (Plus, the are less likely to obstruct your vision.) I switched from front-mounted stills, top-mounted vid, to everything up top when I got my new SkySystems' Vapor two years ago, and my neck has been MUCH healthier ever since. Not changes in cameras, canopies or packers, just putting it all up top. This has been discussed on this forum before.

A couple of random points to add. (I have only done one wedding, and it was similarly by request of the couple). Renting lenses is cheap. I would get something longer than the 50mm that is fast also. I wouldn't think your Tamron will be fast enough. The Canon 70-200/2.8 is a beautiful (if expensive) lens and can be rented almost anywhere that rents lenses (including Adorama I think). Your 10-22mm will be great for getting shots of groups of people around dinner tables. If you don't own an external flash now, I would practice A LOT before hand. And bring lots of flash batteries. You will likely burn through those quicker than the camera batteries. The gazebo could be tough lighting-wise if it is sunny out and they are in heavy shade. I would work out your camera/flash settings ahead of time. You mentioned your friend (a guy) asked you to shoot this. You know he isn't your primary client right? In most weddings your primary job is to keep the mother of the bride happy. Even if that means pissing some other people off. No excuse will be good enough for a missed shot. Make sure you know what their expectations are ahead of time including all the classic shots (vows, ring, toast, cutting the cake, bride dancing with father, posed shots of the wedding party, place settings, etc.).

I don't know about the camera hands on, but it looks like it will work fine. Just a clarification though, it is not 720P. 720P IS a high-def format, and refers to a video that is 720 horizontal, but 1280 vertical lines of resolution, and progressively scanned. This is 720 (V) x 480 (H), and probably is an interlaced video. This is the SD format that most DVDs are recorded at. Also, I can't tell what connector it has. If it has the D-connector (which is what I suspect), it may work with a Hypeye D. But is it has the old style AV connector, you may have a hard time rigging some sort of visual indicator. But again, I am not sure which connector it has. Should be easy to find out though. The other thing to look for is if it has a threaded lens (I couldn't tell from the pics). You will need this to put on a wide-angle lens.

Do you mean "composite?"

A lot depends on how much stuff you have, and what you want to do with it. The simplest way for a lot of video that you simply want to archive in a more modern format is to use an all-in-one consumer DVD burner and burn a disk per tape. Later if you want you can rip the DVD's fairly easily if you need the footage in a computer. However, if you know you want to edit the footage, you will probably want to avoid the mpeg compression that is part of the DVD encoding process. I don't think a CX110 has analog input. However, you can probably find an old Sony TRV-series camcorder (your VHS tapes are SD anyway) with analog inputs and either use that to transfer the videos to MiniDV, or just use it as a pass through device and capture to the computer using Firewire (or do both). There are also simple analog to Firewire converters you could use. I have an old "Hollywood Dazzle" that serves my webcam to my computer that I have used occasionally. But good chance someone at your DZ already has an old Sony they might let you use for cheap.

Same scenes? It's maybe not that skydive related for most people, but try a scene where you want to get a shallow depth of field. Or where you want off-camera flash, or bounced flash (or God forbid multiple flashes). Or, for a more skydiving-like scene, try timing your shot for that brief instant when a fast 4-way team closes a point. Or when you want a burst of shots as a group exits a plane or a big-way completes a formation. Just saying,...

Wouldn't the whole helmet just be jettisoned in case of entanglement?

Personally I don't give a damn about the step. As long as I can find it and put a toe on it, I'm fine. Now handles are another problem. I hate the small, "drawer-pull" handles on some planes. Especially with organizers who like putting 8 people outside (one of whom is 6'6," 250 lbs., and shares my step and handle). I don't care if they step on my toes (lots of rear floats leave early anyway), but having my cold fingers crushed by somebody else on a higher-than-normal-speed, formation jump run ain't my favorite place to be. Give me one of those big, fat, 2" diameter bars that is two feet long, and I'm good. Even if it is only my big toe on the step. [rant over]

On the flashes I have used. It is an actual motor that moves the flash closer to or farther from the flash lens, and you can even hear it (and sometimes see it displayed on the flash). Connect the flash normally (i.e., no bounce) to the camera body with a Canon wide-angle lens mounted on it. When you flip the head up to a bounce position, you will hear the zoom motor move the head. Again, some models (specifically the 430EX, 550EX, and 580EX and maybe others) will allow you to manually override this automatic setting. As far as the image you posted, I don't see any evidence of the flash hitting your leg. You leg is getting a lot of direct sunlight however, so any flash would be very hard to see. It also doesn't look like it is hitting the side of the rig of the guy who is outside float. BTW, there is a very comprehensive review/manual on Canon flashes technology found here. Well worth spending a night with if you want to do a lot of work with flashes. It is three very long, text-filled web pages, but full of useful info. That thing is called a catchlight reflector. It is used when in bounce mode to reflect a little of the flash directly at the subject, and helps to get that "twinkle in the eye" of your subject. Related to an earlier post, this is one of the reasons I am thinking of getting an LED light for my video. Just to add a little light in the eyes of an interview subject who is lit with ambient light, or a standard 3-light set up.

No experience, but I am considering this week buying a Lowel Blender. I read a comparison review (just one guy's opinion) and the reviewer seemed to think Lite-Panels has been passed in this new arena (his favorite was the Zylite, but i have had good experiences with Lowel products before, and I like the idea of the mixed lighting controls). I'm not intending the light for skydiving work, but lots of stuff I bought for non-skydiving activities has ended up on my head at some point. P.S. I like that I can power it with Sony Camcorder batteries that I already own too!

Not even close. A WAY bigger sensor is first and foremost the big attraction. Sounds like the first salvo in the camcorder manufacturer's response to the DSLR +video market. And a pro version is coming up next. I'm actually curious what Canon has planned for this market. This could get interesting in the coming year.

If you are only using a sync (pc) cord, then you can't shoot ETTL. However, when when you do shoot ETTL, the flash doesn't automatically "hit" harder to bounce. Instead it actually fires a very fast pre-flash and measures the light coming off of the subject before setting the appropriate flash level; all of this happens when you press the shutter fully. (This obviously happens extremely fast, it is amazing when you think of it how fast they have to fire, measure, adjust, and fire for effect, but that's what they do.) The only thing that changes automatically when you "flatten" or straighten the flash bounce head, is it disables the auto-zoom feature, and its coverage angle narrows to the equivalent of what is needed for a 50mm lens (on a full-frame sensor). This would normally be too narrow for the wide-angle lenses typically used for skydiving. However, you can override this on newer flashes like the 580X, and manually set the flash coverage.

I disagree. The 15mm is most definitely fish-eye, and it is very noticeable even on a cropped sensor. Yes, much of the worst distortion is cropped out on a APC-C sensor, but it is still there and noticeable on any straight line that isn't centered in the frame. A horizon located in one of the "rule of thirds" horizontal lines will have a definite (and in my mind distasteful) arch to it. However, I still use this lens despite this because its many other attributes make it desirable (and when shooting from under or over RW jumpers, there is often nothing in the frame to draw attention to the fish-eye effect). I used to jump a Tokina 17m ayspherical lens that was beautiful and wasn't fish-eye. However, it was quite heavy, and I preferred a slightly wider field of view.

FWIW, the Canon 10-22mm is almost as light as the Sigma 15mm, and the Canon 15mm (which I personally use for tandem work) is lighter and smaller than any of these. A couple of nice things about either of these zooms though is the ability to use a front filter, and the absence of extreme fish-eye effect. I worked this chart up a couple of years ago. It may be helpful: Brand Focal Length Weight (oz.) Weight (lb) Weight (grams) Length Diameter Filter Diam. Notes Canon 15mm 11.7oz. 0.73lb. 347g 2.4" 2.4" none Fish-eye Canon 10-22mm 13.6oz. 0.85lb. 385g 3.5" 3.3" 77mm Zoom Canon 17-85mm 16.1oz. 1.00lb 475g 3.6" 3.1" 67mm Zoom Canon 18-55mm 6.7oz. 0.42lb. 190g 2.6" 2.7" 58mm Zoom Sigma 15mm 13.0oz. .81lb. 370g 2.5" 2.9" none Fish-eye Sigma 24-70mm 25.6oz. 1.6lb. 715g 4.5" 3.5" 77mm Zoom Sigma 14mm 23.04oz. 1.44lb. 3.3" 3.2" none Ayspherical Sigma 10-20mm 16.6oz. 1.038lb. 470g 3.2" 3.3" 77mm Ayspherical Sigma 17-40mm 14.1oz. 0.88lb. 3.3" 3.5" 82mm Ayspherical Tamron 11-18mm 13.2oz. 0.83lb. 375g 3.1" 3.3" 77mm Zoom Tokina 17mm 15.4oz. 0.96lb. 456g 2.3" 3.3" 77mm Ayspherical Tokina 12-24mm 19.2oz. 1.20lb. 570g 3.5" 3.3" 77mm Zoom Tokina 10-17mm 12.3oz. 0.77lb. 350g 2.8" 2.7" none Fisheye