DSE

I guess I missed your point about MB, Quade. MB is not, and never has been, a color correction tool. It's not marketed as such, and not used as such. It's a color alteration tool, used as an effect, and doesn't blanket affect anyone group of pixels, but rather responds to pixels in a given area with varying values. It's NOT a post-color correction tool. Maybe that's where I got lost, is now I understand you think of MB or Celluloid as a "color correction tool. Hence the reason I felt you were wanting to argue. BTW, I'm the author of Celluloid. We don't claim that as a color correction tool any more than Red Giant claims MB is color correction. Be patient with me, I'll get it figured out...folks here aren't interested in a complete answer, so I'll do my best to dumb it down from now on. Steve, point your camera at something that is white, and press the button. That's *all* you need to know. The camera will do the rest

If you'd like to post your system spec's, or PM with system/software/OS/hardware details, I might be able to help better.

DVD Workshop 2 is another great product, I don't know why it always slips my mind...Solid, easy to use, etc. The encoder leaves a fair amount to be desired, but it's easy to create great menus, playlists, etc. One of the most feature-rich tools out there, and I *believe* their demo includes the encoder.

Quote to "impress" people with their credentials while on the internet. It's usually irrelevant to the topic at hand anyway. Magic Bullet much? Quote Didn't know I was meaning it as establishing "credentials." I don't feel the need to do that at all. as far as MB...google my name combined with theirs. To say anything more would appear to be "impressing people with my credentials." Or you could contact Red Giant directly and ask the Sharp brothers if I "magic bullet much" Either way, I don't believe in withholding information when it's not necessary or harmful. However, you're the moderator. If you'd rather that I provide quarter-ass answers instead of complete information... I guess I can try to do that too.

Here is where our opinions will have to part company. I'd much rather give the information and have folks know that they can do more with what they've got, than feel I need to hold anything in reserve, but that's probably 12 years of moderating broadcast forums and seeing question "2" pop up a few days after question "1." Yes, you can mess up more, but doing so means you know more. Yes, you can *somewhat* approximate the looks of cooled or warmed frames in post, but it's better to do it in acquisition to avoid recompression when possible. Stills...not so important. Video? Exceptionally important. Either way...I'll probably stick with giving too much/more information than not enough/less info. Someone might stumble across a really valuable setting or tidbit of information in my usually meandering explanations. TMI has always been my affliction. Just ask LTDiver

RW=Relative Work CRW=Canopy Relative Work. Often pronounced as "Crew" or CReW. Don't feel dumb, everyone has to learn this stuff sometime. I think there is a glossary here on Dropzone.com somewheres? Glossary [edited to add clicky]

I called the three that were "big" dealers. One finally responded with "Gee, it's been really busy here, and sorry haven't responded. I promise a price quote to you by tomorrow close of business." Never heard a word back. Computers don't break in bigger businesses. Smaller, cottage resellers yes. Big businesses with toll-free's, many employees, etc...I'm not buying that as a reason. Bottom line...my money went to dealers that have responded quickly and capably. GravityGear Baddog Freaknsuit ...they all get my money

Pulling images from the stills will be "OK" but nothing great. Bear in mind you're getting a 1.9 MP image, or an image of 1920 x 1080. However, that's an interlaced image. You'll need to deinterlace, which will cost you around 30% of your gross resolution, so the images will soften a bit at equal size. You can pull a "reasonable" 5x7 from the camera, but that's as big as it gets. For web, it's great. Regarding settings, use the Beach setting. Set to infinity.

The video and still capabilities on the HC3 are completely separate. You can record 4MP stills on the cam while shooting 2.0MP video. Stills are stored on a card, vid is stored on the tape. For smaller, inkjet printed photos, the cam is fine. If you had a corporate client wanting very high res, enlargeable images, I don't think I'd consider any video cam source, that's what the better digital and 35mm cams are for. Would it work for most/average tandem needs? I believe so, but I'm sure that there are others who are as snobby about photos as I am about video, who would tell you "no."

iDVD and DVD Studio Pro are both better than Encore, IMO, but you've also got a learning curve. I'd recommend trying the trial of at least DVD Architect, and/or DVD Lab. Both are very easy, fast, and powerful. You've got a *decent* mpeg encoder in Premiere, powered by Main Concept's old codec. Nero is buggy at best, most of the time. That's where your real problem lies, IMO, Nero just isn't great for this sort of work.

Is Nero the ONLY authoring program you have? A VOB contains an MPEG file, and Premiere (All versions) can create the MPEG 2 file. If you have Encore, this is very easy to author with. You might want to try DVD Lab as well. Or, if you can simply output the MPEG file, try Sony DVD Architect trial. I've got a book on Encore that I wrote for both versions 1.0 and 1.5, I'm happy to give you a copy for the price of shipping.

A Raven 230. Haven't had to use it yet, so can't comment on how well it performs.

In my case... 3 weeks from one 2 weeks from another 2 days from another Two never answered my email. One of the two that never answered is arguably the biggest reseller of skydiving equipment out there. They've become last on my list of "go-to" vendors. In other words, I don't know that there is an average. In my case, it might have been a busy day, maybe they don't like long last names, or maybe the gear I wanted just wasn't something they wanted to sell to me. I was looking for a Sihouette 210, Wings container, and open to reserve suggestions even though I felt I wanted a Raven, and I wanted a Cypres2.

My error, I thought he was asking what white balance is, not which setting to use.

with the LANC control made for the HC3, you have a still option on the wired remote. I've forgotten the part number tho. As far as standard def vs high def... I'd recommend that you shoot in HDV and downconvert on the fly to DV. Put the cam in VCR mode, hit the menu icon, and set it up there. You'll get SD analog out the analog port, and DV out the Firewire port. You'll be stunned at the difference.

Thank you, god.

If you're asking what it does: White balance tells the camera that the object/subject it's pointed at when you engage the W/B, that it's seeing white. It balances/calculates color based on what you told it "White" looked like. You can create some very nice colors by pointing the cam at a slightly reddish object and telling the camera that the reddish color is white, and therefore the shots you take will be cooler/bluish in color. You can point the cam at blue and white balance, and end up with warmer/more reddish colors. In this list, you can choose colors on which to white balance, and end up with richer/deeper colors, or thinner/washed colors, all depending on your goal. 56k/daylight Dark Blue =brownish red tint. Powder/Light Blue= Deeper green tint Orange=Blue Tint (can be substituted for Night for Day if you under expose by a stop) Deep Red=Deeper green tints Dark Green= Desaturated/washed out colors. Light purple=Lighter green tint Pink=Deep green tint Lime Green=Desaturated/washed out. 32k/indoors Orange=Deep Blue Deep Red=Green Lime Green=Warmer skin tones Dark brown= Light blue Light purple= Light green Dark green= Warmer skin tones Dark purple==Deep Green Light Blue/Powder Blue=Skin tones not warm Dark Blue=Warm skin tints I'd recommend avoiding the more drastic colors for white balancing. Whatever your camera was aimed towards when you pressed the button is what caused the color balances (or off balances) you see in the resulting frames. HTH

Yes, I know how to make a clicky . And the original poster probably knows how to look 7 threads down from this one, but neither of us did what we both know how to do.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2318847;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread Has a bunch of info on NLE's.

Unfortunately, no one makes a "good" wide angle for this camera at this point in time. It's a 30mm mount, and no one builds an HD-resolved 30mm. I'm using a stepdown from 37 to 30mm, and I push my camera just slightly forward of full wide. Most of the time, I'm not using a wide on the HC3. Unless you're getting really close, at 5.1mm (if you conver the angle to a standard 35mm value) you don't *really* need it. But... If you have access to a test chart, you can adjust the cam fairly well, and using the 37mm stepdownring with an XDream .3 lens, you can get desaturate the reds so they're not too far off, and of course, you can correct for this in post as well. A cheapo lens like the Kenko 30mm or some of the no-name offshoots will give you some troubles. I keep meaning to post comparisons, the Xdream lenses have really impressed me for what they cost and what they offer.

I'm guessing you're shooting these in DV mode vs HDV mode and then downconverting?

LOL, that's a great story. For Hallowe'en this year, we were already talking about having some fun, having a friend wear a shirt with a big green dot on it, or a container with a big green "dot" on it, and having guts or something equally weird come out of belly or container. Did this with some kids for an elementary school project last year, and it was too much fun.

I'll second the Gravitygear.com site. Bonnie busts ass to take care of her customers. Even called me late one night while she was driving, calling from her cell.

I think the spiritual side entirely depends on where you're at in life and at what point you are in your personal growth. For me, skydiving is spiritual for reasons I'll never attempt to put into English. Suffice it to say, that it's the only thing in life that I know I have virtually absolute control over. Once the aircraft is at altitude, it's all me. It's my acceptance of my training, my experiences on previous jumps, my pack job, my decision process. Sunset dives are so incredible, I've been moved to tears more than once. For some, they're adrenaline junkies (as a motorcycle rider, former rodeo rider, scuba freak, and cliff jumper (water), I guess I am too) and they're looking for their next fix. Some folks just love the ground rush. Some want something different in their lives, some simply want to....jump with no other motivation behind it. It can be a balance in your life, it can be an addiction, it can become a way of living, it can be a social experience, it can be all or none of the above... It'll be whatever you make it to be. One thing for sure...once you get your knees in the breeze...you'll find an inner "you" that you maybe didn't know existed before. And for the rest of your life, you'll know you've gone up in more airplanes than you've come down in.

I usually pack myself, but sometimes you wanna be on that "one more" load, and end up being late for something else, so I'll pay a packer to pack/put away my rig. I also usually tip them. That said, I also enjoy testing various packing methods for one of my rigs, and so will have a packer show me how they do it differently, and I'll pay for that pack too. In other words, it's sometimes a learning experience and sometimes a convenience. [edit] ironically, just as I was posting this, a friend sent me a link to a story that I'd not read. Apologies if this is an old story, but I thought it's somewhat on-topic, and a good read. http://www.usnaweb.org/parachute.html