Trevor

Here is a collage with a bunch of views with the box attached. It looks like it sticks out far to the side but it is the _exact_ same distance my PC100 was with its neoprene condom. As you can see, the baby death lens does not protrude out past the Cookie Box. The Z Kulls came with a plastic cap that fits flush into the open hole if I don't want to jump camera.

I got the stabilizer glued and the imager remounted before bedtime; I'll finish putting it back together tonight and cross my fingers that it works right the first time. I used the 1W resistor from radio shack to drain the flash circuit, but I still treated like it was hot just in case. I agree that the mod isn't the best solution, but it's the easiest right now and once I had all those pieces in my hands, I wasn't in an experimenting mood! I just wanted to get it glued and put back together as soon as possible. I think the reason it is taking so long to boot up is because the stabilizer circuit is disconnected. I think the ideal mod would be to glue the stabilizer (best way to guarantee no shaking) then plug the stabilizer into a custom FPC connector that had some kind of loopback wire or circuit to trick the camera into thinking it was connected to a working stabilizer (Kinda like the loopback plug that plugs into the accessory port of the Hypeye Pro, but probably more complex). Definitely above my skill level and hard to experiment with. Thanks for the detailed instructions...I would have brick my camera in ten minutes if I just used the sony maintenance manual!

Right now my CX-7 is almost completely disassembled for tonight's stabilizer gluing party. As long as I haven't lost any pieces, I should be able to reassemble and post a pic tonight.

Here's what I did with my Cookie box for a sidemount. It's got a Z-kulls bracket so it's removeable and the Hypeye Pro is completely self contained inside the box. The indicator light sits alongside the Century Optic "baby death" .3 fisheye. The indicator light does not show up in the video, but is clearly visible in my field of vision (much better than when I tucked the indicator into my sunglasses). This whole setup does not protrude any further than my PC100 did in it's neoprene condom. I get much less torque on my neck with the side mount vs the top mount. The 'Baby death" does not protrude past the Cookie box so it is not going to catch a riser. My setup also allows you to access the video debrief port on the Hypeye, but I usually just open the box and plug in the mini HDMI.

Mark, Awesome job on those instructions- the photos are head and shoulders above the diagrams/cartoons in the service manual. I am glad I waited until this week to tackle this. In the interest of safety, I am attaching the capacitor discharge page of the service manual. I was able to buy a 1K ohm/1 Watt resistor at Radio Shack for about a buck... -Trevor

With most cameras migrating towards AVCHD, DV in/out and HDV in/out is going away for good. I miss the ease of firewiring footage back and forth, but the laptop technique is the only one I know of. On the plus side, the copying takes place much faster than real time.

I downloaded a pdf version of the Sony level 2 service manual for the CX-7. It has some great exploded diagrams and a nice section on avoiding being electrocuted by the flash capacitor. It is copyrighted so I can't distribute it myself. It cost me $19.50 from https://www.manualsparadise.com/ShowProductsForModel.do?model=M89642271

I did a jump this weekend with the CX-7 mounted upside down. I wanted to confirm that it is the airflow causing the shaking problem and not the orientation of the camera. Headdown (with the cam upright) was fine, sitflying (with the cam upside down) was terrible. This confirms what eveyone else thought about the airflow; I just wanted to be sure before unleashing the glue gun on my lens assembly.

I used to have my ring sight mounted like yours (vertically straight down/ flipping straight up). The way I wore my helmet, it just barely reached and I was never happy with it, but I had cut the post too short and was stuck with it. Once I got the Schumacher removeable base, I mounted it to the side so it rotates down from the side and I am very happy with it now. When I travel, I just remove the base and I don't have to worry about re-sighting later. My sight is so tight, I can support the weight of the helmet by holding the ringsight and it stays true (don't worry, the nylon screws will break off if it gets tangled). I used nothing more than the allen wrench that came with it and I torqued it down while someone else sighted me and held my head still. The only reason I could see for your looseness would be if the clamp wasn't lined up right, but that would jump out at you when you saw it. I have attached pix of my clamp if that helps...

I agree that gluing is the only method that works so far. I'm not totally convinced that the burble is the cause, though. This weekend I am going to do a jump with my camera mounted upside down. I will do a mix of head-down and sit and see how the footage looks. If the head down is screwy and the sit is fine, then the problem has to do with the orientation of the camera, not the burble. If that's the case, no baffle or neoprene is going to solve it- just the glue...

The max file size for FAT 32 is 4GB. NTFS is limited only by the size of the memory stick. That being said, I'm not sure how my 8GB stick is formatted (I'll check this afternoon) but I don't plug my stick into a card reader; I leave the stick on the camera and transfer the files over usb via the 'Handycam Motion Picture Browser Utility' that came with the cam. I know for a fact I can record 65 mins straight of HD XP in one file and transfer the whole file to WinXP.

I am jumping the CX-7 in a cookie box side mounted. The flutter in the head-up orientation is horrible whether I am in a sit or a stand. Two weeks ago I did some 20+ way head-down jumps and got an unacceptable amount of shake in some of those videos as well. It might be because of the much higher formation airspeed compared to an 'regular' undocked head-down jump. I don't know. I do believe that AVCHD on Flash storage w/ OIS may be on all of the quality cameras we want to jump in the future so I definitely want to find a fix. I don't think the CX-12 is going to fix it. I am going to try a two more aerial tests this weekend. If I don't make any progress, I am going to have to take apart the CX-7 and glue the stabilizer.

I started jumping camera on my 187th jump. I was current, well trained, and wasn't jumping a ring-sight. Wearing that camera made that skydive much more fun. Our 3-way jumped out of a UH-1 Huey over cosmopolitan Fort Polk, Louisiana. We did some great RW for the camera, all within frame. As I set up for landing I thought the video would really be better with a few spirals at altitude- nothing crazy- but part of my attention was on my video, and I turned too low and had to save my life with my toggles. I pounded into the ground and rolled my ankle pretty badly. I was lucky I only got to limp around for a week instead of worse- and that happened more than a few times on the road to 500 jumps. Cameras, Wingsuits, Spaceballs, Skyboards, and other objects add distraction to jumps. Cameras in particular can really steal you attention when one is fiddling with it before exit instead of dirt diving or rehearsing emergency procedures. I always told myself that wearing a camera and getting feedback as a newbie jumper would make me a better skydiver sooner...in reality I needed to become a better skydiver to wear a camera sooner.

I'll be out there friday afternoon to help/jump...see you all there...

looks like a huge difference; as long as the zoom and focus still work, I'd like to do the same to mine...just worried about bricking my camera...

Mark, I am side-mounting my CX7 now and agree that sitfly footage is much worse. Mine is unwatchable. I am assuming that's your stabilization/lens element in the picture... are you going to glue it, or are you examining other options first? When you say option #1 is complicated and prone to ruining the cam, are you talking about the glueing/disabling or the extensive disassembly necessary to get to the unit? On a side note, thanks for the Hypeye D Pro; it has taken a lot of hassle out of flying camera. -Trevor

I have no problem with the CX7 flying belly or head-down, but when sitflying the video is as horrible as a Canon HV-10. I jump the camera in a nice, tight cookie box and the steadyshot turned off, but I suspect the steadyshot mechanism still has fragile, movable parts attached to the lens element that can't take the vibration. I don't know if it's the burble of sitflying or if it's because the mechanism is more vulnerable when the camera is right side up. When I have time, I'd like to do a jump with the camera mounted upside down and see what happens when sitting or head down. I'd like to just crazy glue the element in place since I can live without steadyshot, but I am worried I might wreck the ability to zoom or focus.

You shouldn't go bigger than what I've got; a century optic .3 Ultra Fisheye MKII. It doesn't extend outward past the cookie box, so the riser cannot hit it. I did have a problem when I jumped with a runny nose and got some 'foreign matter' crawling across the lens...ruined a beautiful shot of a demo into a ESPN Lacrosse game. As you can see in the pics, it is no wider than my PC100 w/bracket.

I have jumped the CX-7 in a sidemount cookie box for about 10 jumps now and it's been working. with the box, it is exactly the same width as my old PC100 was with its carbon fiber L-bracket, neoprene condom and the bracket's fastex buckle. (I measured both on the helmet before mounting). It feels lighter but I did not weigh both systems. I made about 1500 jumps with the PC100 sidemounted. I have not had any problems with the risers hitting the CX-7 and my neck ligaments really like the low center of gravity on opening vs topmount. When my Hypeye D Pro ships, my system will be just how I want it. I have experienced severe, unacceptable flutter with the CX-7 when I sitfly- even when it is snugly in the box...trying to figure out how to remedy that... I'll post a picture of the sidemount tomorrow...

might be talking about the less sexy PC-7; Sony would not discontinue the CX-7 before naming and marketing a viable successor. The CX-7 is the sole flash-only cam in sony's line right now. And it's still for sale on sonystyle.com for $1100. I got a new one off ebay for $700. http://www.kamera-lehti.fi/kamera-lehti_4_97/videot/sony_dcr-pc7.gif

One consideration: with the 8GB stick, I get about 65 min in XP quality. That means I can hit record, walk into the wind tunnel and I get the whole session even with the minute or so before and after the doors open/close....

Since I am really only concerned whether or not I'm recording (on a LANCless CX-7), I might just go with the Skylite solution Mike has posted. I don't need the extra frills that the A/V port may provide. I will probably wait to compare the prices when the A/V solution is released. If the SkyLite ($50) is much cheaper than the A/V solution, that will probably be enough for me.

I really love the concept of this but the math is bothering me. It looks like you have to copy the entire memory stick at once (pushing the 'copy button'). I think 8GB is 8192MB. The transfer rate of this device is 2 to 2.5MB per second meaning it will take 55 to 68 minutes; not much of an improvement over realtime and taking a bite out of the 2 hour usable battery life. This beast from sony gets released tomorrow, but it doesn't support video. Hopefully the next version of it will....sony is going to have to figure out a way for non-computer savvy people to archive video from memory stick cameras and this would be a start: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=101551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665248017 It would be great to have a device like the Mapower that would eliminate the need for a laptop at the DZ for swapping footage, but we need some faster transfer speeds. I am sold on a side-mount CX-7 for my next camera and I am eager to see how we can make it easier for skydiving use.

This has both a power indicator light and a record indicator light, but I think it might be a little too big to mount on the old ringsight. It is a step in the right direction, though and with a little soldering, might be able to drive an led on a cable. http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665304384&tab=Features Remote Commander for Camcorder RM-AV2 $49.99 Remotely control primary functions of your compatible Handycam® camcorder with this convenient remote commander for tripods. Take control. The RM-AV2 provides remote control over the basic functions of your Handycam camcorder, including Record Start/Stop, variable-speed Zoom, Power, and Photo Capture. Clips directly onto your tripod's handle for easy access. "A/R Remote" connection type for controlling Handycam camcorders Clips directly to a tripod handle Controls the basic functions of Handycam camcorders: Record Start/Stop, Zoom Tele/Wide (variable speeds), Power On/Off, Photo Capture Porch attachment for storing 1.5m A/V remote connector cable(Band attachment for unity) A cam is ON/OFF of the power supply at the mode of the standby state

That's too bad about the file transfer. I wonder if you could dump the files to an ipod via usb? As far as the 10-pin to 10 pin connection...couldn't you use a female-to-female RCA jack between the two cameras cables?