PharmerPhil

Other people's jobs always seem so simple to those who don't do that sort of work. And while I don't build cameras, here's my take,... Engineering a camera (video or still) is a very complex process, using many, many engineers of different disciplines (optical engineers, lots of different EEs, mechanical engineers, software engineers, manufacturing engineers, etc.). They don't simply take "off the shelf parts" and arrange them in a box that seems to look like it will work for the average consumer. And while no one makes everything (ie., sensors, chips, lenses, etc.) making these products talk to one another, play well together, adjust for differences and short comings of each other etc., all while being reliable (not locking up, not breaking) is a huge task. Plus, many of these companies do make their own proprietary parts such as sensors, shutters, drives, etc. And no, they won't sell them to you. I used to work as a project manager for a couple different consumer electronics companies making products much less complicated than a digital video camera, and you have no idea how long the process takes and how many people are involved. My guess is these companies work off of a 3-5 year master product line plan, and each new camera model takes well over a year from when they start engineering to manufacturing (not counting a lot of pure R&D they do and from which they can draw). Here's an idea. A modern refrigerator is a much less technically complicated piece of equipment than a video or still camera. And there are all sorts of "off-the-shelf parts" available (compressors, condensers, gaskets, metal racks, etc.). Build a refrigerator that does what you want it to do in some new form factor and tell me how it works out. "Would that really be so hard...?"

Yes.

I use linear editing equipment for tandem vids too, and this is the reason I haven't gotten a CX100 yet. (Although I would love the reduced weight if nothing else.) I believe this info has been posted many times before on this forum.

You don't need to fill out so-called "warranty" cards in the U.S. to use your warranty. They actually have nothing to do with warranties, and are just used to collect bulk consumer data. All you need is your receipt.

Isn't the B&H Photo site required reading for videographers?

Use a 4-pin to 9-pin adapter.

I was thinking the same thing. It looks almost certain that the still lens will show up in the video at full wide.

Well there's just another reason to not like hand-cam. Ditto for 0.25 lenses...

Are you implying that the CX100 does have vignetting? If so I am sure it is because of the use of an incompatible wide-angle lens. Although I don't have a CX100, I have never seen (and can't imagine) a Sony camera having vignetting out of the box.

I agree with Mike. I have the Tony Suit C wings jacket and I love it. I have rings sewn into my rigs so the attachment point is always in the same place. Works great, but makes it tough (not impossible) to borrow another rig.

One disadvantage of P&S for night is small sensors which, all things being equal, equals noise—particularly at long exposures.

I think the point is that newer camera fliers may not have a good technique for safely getting this shot, and might be tempted to put themselves in a dangerous position thinking it will get them the winning picture. (besides, what are newer camera fliers doing shooting tandems anyway?)

Not for skydiving videography, "but whatever!!!!!" you knew that. P.S. I don't doubt that (or know whether) these are probably some good links regardless,....

I was able to view it on the skytu.be site. I hope you take what I say as constructive criticism but I woulda' cut a lot more. It is a short video about a skydive right? But there is no skydiving until over half way through the video. And most of that was just wasted, shaky, hand-held footage in the plane. I would have replaced that with showing the exit, landing, or some other memorable part of the dive twice, maybe once in slow-mo. I liked the split screen of the two views (ala Woodstock). I would have cleaned it up a bit by zooming and cropping the right hand video to match the two aspect ratios. (There isn't much on the extreme sides to see anyway.) Lastly, I would minimize the credits and titles for such a short video. When you do a feature movie or longer documentary I think that is appropriate. But for a very short video, the titles should be proportionately short (maybe none, or at most a simple title and a quick copyright). Good job though, and congrats on your 100th.

IMHO, most of these clips would have benefited from a less wide-angle lens (and better aiming of the camera). Just my too sense...

I used to jump a 20D (similar weight) with a Tokina 17mm (prime), and have since switched to an XTi with a Canon 15mm for most jumps. The weight is definitely noticeable, but more important is where you are wearing it on your head. I have become a big proponent (evangelist?) for getting everything mounted up top rather than front- or side-mounted. I would rather have a 20/30/40D mounted up top rather than an XT mounted in front. But regardless, every ounce counts. If you are not using any features on the 20-40 series that helps with the shots you are taking, why add the weight? Just my too sense...

OMG! SSD? OIS? HD? WTF? FYI, OIS is DOA for DZs.

FWIW, I went from front mounted stills to both on top, and I have found it much better on my neck. I hope to never go back to front or side mounted cams. Read the forums or do a search, and you will see several similar comments and the reasons why. I jump a SkySystems Vapor Wes Pro, and I believe it is a little lighter than the FTP, but I could never find a FTP that fit my head so I have never jumped one. One thing you could do would be to eliminate the big gap between the cameras and your helmet so the weight is closer to your neck. Would make is safer as well. Your current setup looks like the cams are at least 1/2-inch higher than they need to be. Plus all those steel bolts and nuts add weight.

Feels great, fits great, very balanced, and increased visibility vs. a front mounted camera.

Yes.

I used to be one of "those" guys until this year when I went to an all-on-top set up on my Vapor Wes Pro. I hope to never go back. Even given the fact that the majority of my jumps were using a relatively light film SLR (Rebel 2000/28mmf2.8), I still always ended up at this time of the year with a sore neck in dire need of a winter's rest. This December, for the first time, I feel fine.

QT Pro isn't an editing program, it is more of a utility for reading, converting and exporting files. Well worth it IMHO considering it's price and usefulness, but not a replacement for an editing program.

There isn't a difference in QT and QT Pro in their abilities to read files. Just in their ability to encode and export files. Edit to add: Oops. Beat me to the punch.

You do have Firewire 800 on that which is pretty damn fast.

Just a couple of thoughts: I would archive the original AVCHD clips. The AIC or Pro-Res files that Apple transcodes to are huge by comparison, and if you are just keeping the files for archive anyway... As far as hard drives go, think real hard about how important these archives are. If you can't stand to lose them, keep multiple hard drives (and preferably at least one set off site). I have personally had many more hard drive failures than tape failures. This is one argument against one huge hard drive for back-up unless it is backed-up itself somewhere. One product I really like for data back-up is the NewerTech Voyager hard drive dock from OWC. They are available with USB and SATA either with or without Firewire. The nice thing is when you need to use a new, bigger or different hard drive, you can just buy a raw drive and plug it in without having to purchase a new case and power supply. I keep a dock connected to my computer. I keep a set of raw hard drives off site, and a set at my editing station with regularly scheduled backup (SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket), and rotate them out. Also, the raw hard drives take up very little space, and can even fit in a small safe deposit box. If you want the files accessible by any computer, will need to format your hard drives such that Windows machines can reads them too. I believe that means FAT32 instead of HFS+ (and no files larger than 4gB), but I could be wrong about that these days. Haven't used a Windows machine in a while (thankfully).