hodges

There's loads of CX115 on eBay in the UK and there's a good selection of boxes. Most CX camera have a weak spot near the lens which can cause vibrations of the lens adaptor. I wrap foam around the lens adaptor tightly with electrical tape. When the box closes, it "wedges" the lens in and stops it from moving. A cage won't give you that option.

If you're selling SLR photos, using a GoPro is a copout. GoPros are OK for video if your still camera lens is wide enough to match but but the microphones are rubbish, you can't zoom (landing, passenger miles away in the plane etc), no viewfinder for interviews etc and the micro SD cards are a pain in the ass. GoPros are also more expensive. The cheapest (and still best in the tandem environment) setup in my opinion is a CX-series with a lens adaptor that can be zoomed through (Raynox 3032PRO) with any SLR and a kit lens (upgrade the lens if you're feeling flush). Use a GoPro for backup. The "HERO" is super cheap and worth adding for the peace of mind.

There's thousands and thousands of jumps ahead of you yet on Sabre2's, Katanas, Velos etc. I don't think the lack of any recently refined designs in these performance ranges is going to hold you back :). P.S. What is the "destination"? Just stay on the path and enjoy every step.

Whatever you're jumping now...with coaching.

Fall rate range (95-150 covers most tandems) and belly skills. I found that doing coach jumps with a variety of students really helped due to the random fall rates and unpredictability. Be realistic with your expectations. Look at the average jump numbers of most tandem camera flyers and don't try to rush into it. When a DZ gives you a shot, you want to be sure you don't f*ck it up - it's not worth the stress :).

What's the thinking behind the turn?

I heard about this the other day. Didn't have much luck trying to find anyone who had actually made use of it. I'd love to take a year out and bang some jumps out at some point. You'd make money if you did at least 6 jumps a week all year. Sounds pretty good to me. I wonder if you get treated the same as any other jumper in terms of priority for manifest etc?

Don't pick a "primary" discipline to focus on just yet. How could you possibly know what you'll want to be doing in 1000 jumps time? Focus on a variety of skills for your first few hundred jumps. Do some 4-way (enter some comps), some big way, some freefly (enter some comps), fun jumps, accuracy events etc and put "working" out of your mind for now. When it comes to realizing your long term goal of working in the sport, your skill set will be considerably more robust than if you did 1000 freefly jumps, for example. (Also, what keeps me in the sport is knowing I still have things I haven't done. Doing it all in your first year might be like playing The Sims with the unlimited money cheat. Once you've "unlocked" everything, what's the point in playing?) Just my opinion...!

Put wings as a high priority on your list and then practice flying closer. Camera flyers are called "external camera" but really, try to think of your slot as "in" the 4-way and slightly backed off. I often get people telling me that they saw me out of the corner of their eye when they were turning points and were surprised at how close I was. If you can't see the expressions on the faces of the team when they're laughing at how shite they are, you need to be closer :-).

As the previous guys have said... Sight your ringsight in to a point on the horizon. The further the target is, the closer to parallel it will be. You absolutely cannot do it in your front room because, at that distance, the line of your eye sight and your camera will converge on a single point. With this method, your target will be center of ringsight at any distance past about 6 foot. If your target is closer than 6 foot, you'll need to move your head down a bit to compensate. You'll get used to how much you need to adjust your head at what distance over time. It helps to walk around your house naming the things you are looking at and moving closer/further away from them. I did this in my underpants (optional). When you watch the video back, you'll get an idea of how off you are. For me though, I put my subject dead center in the sight for 4-way (apart from the exit) and top quadrant for tandems. If your not convinced by this and think you might prefer having it sighted in at a certain point (so your eye sight and camera sight converge), go and zoom your camera in a bit and try and film someone under canopy. At that distance, if your sight isn't parallel with your camera, you won't film shit.

As good as you practically need it to be. I've got one that I use for fun jumping and debriefing my landings. It's perfect for that kind of use. Looks nice at 720@30fps and has a few options for higher resolution and higher fps. It doesn't come out of the plastic housing which hasn't bothered me yet. I can't see why it would ever, really. It's probably useful in the skydiving environment as it stops you losing the camera if the clip comes undone. My only gripe is that, when you connect it via USB, browse the files and play one, it copies the entire file over to your machine's temporary files before playing it. Quite annoying when you want to jump between videos on a quick debrief. I'm pretty anti-gopro for proper camera flying because interviewing a tandem student with a tiny plastic gopro in their face looks unprofessional and the "is it flashing" question as people climb out kills me (as well as other practical reasons). However, this does exactly what it's designed to do. It's cheap and it films stuff. I actually asked someone if mine was flashing the other day. Ahhh. It's happening...

Complete aside (sorry) but you might want to consider raising your final alarm altitude. It went off on most of those openings. If you get used to hearing it and ignoring it, you might not act on it when you actually need to.

I recently started jumping a VE103 @ 1.98 and didn't like the openings compared to my KA120. They either searched all over the place or spanked open, it seemed. I stuck a PD RDS (slider only) on it last weekend and the openings are _considerably_ nicer from both sub-terminal and terminal.

GoPros are insanely expensive. I think my CX115, lens, box and hypeye worked out cheaper than a GoPro with the required accessories. If you're a fun jumper who does a bit of 4-way camera, use your GoPro. If you're doing a lot of camera, use the best tool for the job. :-)

I don't think anyone is adverse to giving advice on video editing software. IIRC there's loads of threads on here about it already. Depends what you want to do. Windows Movie Maker might serve you well for basic videos. I like Sony Vegas. :)

Who is this then? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21785976

Are these Javelin risers or are they from a rigger?

We were over on Sentosa island during a recent trip to Singapore and thought we'd go do 5-10 minutes between two of us so we could say we'd flown there. After some confusion over the pricing structure we eventually realised that it was going to cost us a fortune to do a few indoor 'skydives' and saved our money to do 4-5 times more in the UK.

I'm assuming you mean in-air stuff? If so, join the 'APA Netheravon' group on Facebook and drop us a message closer to the time. There's coaches available every weekend who can help you towards your FS1/FF1. Peter.

Why would you need the chin cup and the strap?

I've never heard of this website. What is it? A fundraising type thing?

I'd be interested to hear why...

I wouldn't say it's a money thing. Our British University Club offers the RAPS course and first jump for £150, and further jumps for £15. We train between 60-80 new members each year and only a handful ever gain their A cert. Some people want to do it, most just want to have done it.

Twists after less than aggressive wingsuit pilotchute throw. Spinny spinny!

2008: 6 x Static Line 12 x Dummy Pull (PRCP's) 2 x 3 sec 3 x 10 sec 2 x 15 5 from the top