skydance1954

Yup, that's me. Guilty as charged, and thanks! Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

I live in Calgary. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Said unnamed DZ must be causing you some serious problems if you have to sink to resorting to slander to show what your operation has to offer vs theirs. I'll go with the others here. You got proof? Please, post it. And what "talent", precisely, would you have to offer this DZ if you could? Spreading bad vibes and poison? The numbers of jumpers/tandems/loads are easy to count. The manifest is posted on the web live. Anyone can see them. So, tell you what - why don't you count them up next weekend and compare it to the published numbers? Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Said FS jumper was also a cameraman. Felt real bad about that...... Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

All right, fellow vidiots, has anyone else come up against this one. Sony CX100, power it up and you get an internal memory error, with a flashing E:94:01 on the screen. Camera operates just fine with a memory card, but I can't format the internal memory. Haven't found this in the forums or the Sony web sight as yet. Suggestions? Comments? We looking at half a camera here? Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

If you are jumping at a DZ where the temperature is near or below freezing on the ground prior to take-off - wear gloves. Period. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

I have two. They were both raised on the DZ from day one. And you can see where they ended up. Couldn't possibly be a prouder papa. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

That is badass as all hell! Fantastic! That has to be the bestest birthday present I've ever heard of. You lucky SOB. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

What Stratostar said is quite right. If you have concerns about the wisdom and the safety of this jumper with the gopro, then you should bring it up to the DZO and the S&TA. It is their responsibility to address the situation and limit the jumper's ability to hurt himself and others. They also have the authority to prevent him from getting on the plane. If they won't, then you could try two other options. 1. Change DZs so you don't reside in a place that condones/enables what you determine to be dangerous behavior, and 2. (I don't take credit for this one, but it's a great idea) Fill out an incident report with the guy's name & personal details, leave the dates blank, and give it to him. Since he's going down that road, you'll have some of the paperwork done ahead of time. You just need to eventually fill in the date. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

A few folks at our DZ have CX100s, and I've yet to see any vigenetting on any of them. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Does the GoPro have a firewire hookup? Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

In all activities there are always those who think " the rules don't apply to me" at some point in their careers. Take such observations into account when absorbing advice. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

It is possible to move your hand into your vision to look at the altimeter without moving your head. But that takes a LOT of practice, and if you're looking at your dial, then the chance of the subject moving out of frame while your head is "frozen" is pretty good. I make it a point to never jump a camera without a working beeper of some flavor. My personal one is an older dytter that only has one setting, and it's set to the breakoff (or in the case of tandems/AFF, the hard deck for those jumps) altitude, at which point, I'll either pull, or leave the area, whichever is best for the situation in front of me. If the subject matter wants to go to the basement, they're doing it without me. If you have one of the newer ones, I suggest that you set it ABOVE breakoff altitude, so you know it's coming. Then set the second beep at breakoff. If the subject is still skydiving, oblivious of the altitude, see above. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

I concur with Phree. No remote release, then useless for skydiving. Additionally, this particular camera does 13FPS for 30 seconds, but only at 3megapixels. So what's the point of having a 10mp camera? If you want really cheap, go with a film-based camera. But that will provide you with all kinds of limitations due to the digital reality of today. Don't skimp on your camera equipment. If you do, the results will be noticeably inferior to your peers. The customers and the jumpers will notice, and you'll get less work over time. Then, when you do upgrade, it'll be difficult to overcome the bad rep. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Icon is quite right - this is a marathon. And the learning NEVER stops. The guidelines posted by USPA are pretty solid, and you can't beat the advice of "do only one new thing at a time". Unfortunately, the act of simply putting on a camera is not just "one new thing". It's a dozen. You're trying to get the shot, perhaps jumping a new suit, you've got an entirely new gear up & aircraft routine. Climbout & exit have changed. Every experienced vidiot here can go on about the dangers. Ultimately, it's taking a critical look at yourself and your capabilities, hopefully without too much ego, and making a choice. And if it's not now - it can be later. Impatience is sometimes the worst enemy. Back in the '70s we had a saying: "First you get good, THEN you get fast". It mainly applied to 4-way. Still applies in that aspect. For video you can amend it to say: "First you get good, THEN you fly camera." Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Been there, done that. Coldest I jumped in, was -20F on the ground. Freefall and spotting the plane was damn cold. They are right, it's a mind over matter thing, and dressing properly. But frankly, I'm done. Give me warm days. I won't fight the cold anymore. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Now THAT is definitely true. A great deal of the trouble is caused by the carbon based unit running the system. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

I have my feet firmly in both worlds. PC at work, and for the wife at home, MAC for myself. I've used it for video and photo processing for over 20 years, and so far, been very happy with its much easier use, the fact that everything works - all the time, no virus's and it never crashes. I only have had to upgrade when the hardware won't drive the new levels of software anymore. On the PC side - I'm always fixing or tweaking something. Too much time spent in daily/weekly maintenance IMHO. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

You haven't noticed any increase in the size, scope and commitment of men and material? No increase in lives lost (on all sides)? No? Nothing at all? Dude, face it. Win or lose, Afghanistan is Obushma's war. Let's go, third term! Of course I noticed. Everyone has noticed. You send in the troops to deal with a situation, then ignore the endgame for 7 years while they regroup, rearm and bring in a whole new generation of soldiers of their own, then, yeah, you're gonna have a problem. And that's where we are. This isn't Obama's war - this is unfinished business. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Well said! Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Ah - 'scuse me, both of you - the Afgan conflict has been going on since 2002. It's a legacy conflict, which was started to find the criminals of 9/11, and then ignored for a number of years. During that time, the situation deteriorated and the bad guys started to both gain ground and strength. So just how, pray tell, did the present administration "start" this conflict? Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

I think that Cicero said some 2,000 years ago in the Roman Senate that the "world was going to the dogs". Been a Looooooong journey. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

Agreed. That seems to be a better approach. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

You're proving my point here. Instead of adressing the specific issue as listed, you're attacking the left with examples of bad behavior. It may be true, it may not - I'd have to research your examples before I can give a reasoned answer to them. Doesn't matter. Your comments boil down to "They do it too!!!" Of course they do. I'm trying to lift the discussion above that. You're not helping. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666

You're changing the subject. This isn't about gun control. It's about the ability to hold constructive discussion about issues in general and how people can work together without labels, insults, or distractions into areas not part of the discussion. Mike Ashley D-18460 Canadian A-666