Zlew

depending on the exit style...it will be hard to get. Few 4 way teams have inside (inside the 4 way) video that would show the video guy in position. Best bet would be a DZ that has a wing cam...but I can't think of any off hand. You can learn a lot by just watching 4 way video and trying to figure out where/how the video guys are climbing out. I watched tons of videos from Nationals/World meet from the top teams to see the ways that the best out there were exiting. That's how I came up with the technique I'm using now. Watch the videos and look to see what you like the best. What is the proximity, angle, view that you are comfortable with and also makes for the best and most judgeable video. Different exits have different pros/cons. Sometimes you might need to learn different exits for different formations. Things to watch for- IMO, the 3 most important things are- where you are after climb out. When you leave, and where you go/how you leave the airplane What type of exit are they using - Leading, trailing, or leaving at the same time. What does that timing look like (when are they going). Where are they? Hand in the door, Both hands on a handle, one hand on a handle? leaning back? leaning forward? Standing high on the step? Down lower? Exits really can be an art/science. There are a million ways to do them, and everyone has their own ideas about what the "best" way to do them is. And the best way for a rookie team might be very different than the best for a seasoned team. Watch lots of video. Watch for mistakes... use slow motion. Talk to people! Z

I'm using one of the PEN series Olympus cameras for skydiving, and so far so good. I have not tried the OM-D EM5 though.

uh oh...cold one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFgNcZ7nan0

There used to be some specific harnesses when I started jumping that were known to have the potential to put pressure in the front/inner leg, instead of under your butt (thus risking cutting off some circulation). Years ago, we used to have one out of a few hundred people on those rigs who would land sick/dizzy/out. Seemed like the combo of adrenaline, heat, and circulation didn't work well for some folks. Not sure if this is the same thing...but could be. I rode front side on several tandems on those rigs to help my friends get their ratings...and they were very uncomfortable in the way they hung you in the harness...and were very different than the way pro/sport gear supports you. I never passed out, but I bitched about it a lot :)

I got out for a few years and sold one rig...but kept my second and all my other gear. I was glad I did keep one rig when I got back in.... I was able to get back in pretty quickly (Cypres 8 year and bats, repack, and I was back in the air). Would have taken a lot longer if I had to save up $$$ to get another rig.

I am using one for my still mount on my FTP. The front plate is almost flat, but has a slight curve. I have it flush mounted (with the integration kit). Only jumped it maybe 20 jumps with the setup, but so far so good. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/8431039335/in/set-72157632651673165

Depends on what you are wanting to use it for. I am thinking of picking one up for my studio/event photography. The price of the 5d mk3 is coming down a bit too...making it more and more attractive also, but for now the 6D is in the lead. The lack of auto focus zones sucks a bit...but it's what I'm used to with the current cameras I am using. Other than that no huge drawbacks for the way I want to use it over the 5D mkiii I wouldn't ever pick one up for skydiving though; but that's just me.

People seem a bit upset by them, just saying that wasn't my experience with them today (or at deland last year or nationals this year).

Was on 3 or four loads with them today and didn't have any issues. They were nice in the plane and fine on climbout.

My pleasure. In eloy now and got some good pics with it today. You don't happen to have any 90 degree plugs?

Skydivers are known to not always follow the recommendations of the manufactures. Per PD, the RDS system is not approved for terminal openings, nor are the lightest hma lines (at last check anyway) but finding video of those is not difficult. edit-redneck grammar

OK, made 6 jumps or so with it this weekend, and have some early feedback and examples. Overall- I think it will work really well for stills, but not for video. The Bad- 1. Auto Focus Stills- The auto focus is REALLY fast and pretty accurate with 35 focus points. However, the lens is "fly by wire" so when you rotate the focus ring it doesn't move the glass directly....it tells teh camera to move the glass. Further, when you turn the camera off an on, it doesn't remember the focus point. Thus, if you are used to the old school way of manually setting the focus, and taping down the ring... you may be out of luck. There are ways you could get around this, but it seems impractical. If you insist on manual focus, this will be a deal breaker for you. 2. Auto Focus Video- This was the case on the ground as well... but as fast as the auto focus is in stills mode, it is 3 times that slow in video. It takes a REALLLY long time to focus. Because of this and the fly by wire focus, I think this camera would be limited to ground footage (with manual focus) or just 2ndary video for shits and grins. I also noticed some sort of rolling shutter or possibly image stabilization issues. You notice some odd wavy/fluid moment in some of the footage. The Good- Stills- I was really happy with how it performed in the air. Pictures were taken very quickly and the burst rate was high. No shutter delay or lag was noted. Auto focus seemed to work great about 90% of the time and the picture quality was pretty high. The camera is so light, I did not notice that it was there when I flew with it. Battery was strong (took about 300 pics with life to spare). Camera gave me lots of control over exposure/shooting mode, but seemed to work just fine on Program (P) mode. Final early impressions- So far I think I'd have a hard time finding a reason to strap my xs back on my head for the type of shooting I do. Picture quality was great, as was "skydive-ability". If I was hired for a big money shoot or something like that, I'd probably go with one of my DSLR's and an L lens.... but for shooting 4 way/8 way...fun jumps, big way... I think it is more than adequate and has a huge advantage in size/footprint. If I was shooting tandems I would probably use the kit lens or the 14mm pancake/prime. Capable of taking good video, but it seems to be a no go for freefall so far. Note- YMMV...and this is an early review after a single day of jumping. I'll keep you posted as the season progresses. These stills were taken in RAW, and posted hat high res (jpg). Click Action>View all sizes to see full res pics. I tried to put in a mix of pics you guys might want to see (ground, in the plane, freefall, canopy etc.). http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/sets/72157632692766218/ And this is the video shot in 720/60p. It's kinda long/boring but wanted you guys to see what the actual footage looks like and see how horrible the auto focus is for video. You can also see the IS/rolling shutter issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLeUSTNsp4&list=UUHNuDXLq-8UWPWNA1myLFJA&index=1

I personally don't like the idea of having my head back and sticking all my gear any closer to my reserve PC/lines/Bag and such when you chop/pop. I don't really think it will be much of an issue though since most people look down when they chop (to look at their handles). I don't have an RSL, so I have a moment or two to get back belly to earth (edit- if I choose to not instantly deploy my reserve), and I don't think looking up or down would matter as much since in theory the deployment would be at more of a 90 degree angle to your head, compared to flying right by it if you deploy closer to a standing (or tumbling through space....) position right after you chop.. I might be more conservative than some on this...but I don't want my helmet gear any closer to the last parachute I have than I have to.

If I was shooting tandems or inside video I would say yes. There are some 14mm and smaller pancakes for about the same size/cost that would be a better fit. 90% + of what I will be shooting/jumping this year will be 4 way and outside video. The field of view of this 20mm matches up very closely with the .8 lens that I use for my primary on video.

Bonus pic removed to make to make worksafe

I will get some pics posted soon from the camera, but here are some pics of the camera, and how I have it mounted on my helmet.... and a bonus pic in there that has nothing to do with the camera...but...um.... titties. Because...well.... do titties need justification? http://www.flickr.com/photos/zlew/sets/72157632651673165/detail/ Edit- Most of the pics are with the pancake/prime 20mm lens. There is one pic in there that also has the kit lens in the picture to see the size difference. Further, the DSLR for comparison is a EOS XS with the kit lens.

Recent thread talking about RSL and SKyhook for video. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4408973;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

The M mount is different, but they do have an adapter for about 200 bucks that allows you to put EF and EFS lens onto it. Adds about an inch onto the length of any lens, but will let you add your other Canon glass.

I'll be jumping the EPM1 Olympus this weekend. Has a hard wired port and an adapter from Trunk. So far it looks really promising on the ground; we'll see how she does in the air. Are you only looking for a canon, or open to other mirror less options?

Conceptus tongue switch connected via a hypoxic connector.

Some truth here, but also some things people need to make sure they understand if reading that literally. In the case of the 10-22mm, I would agree that it has "L" quality glass and image quality (I would argue against the build quality being comparable though). This is not the case for all EF-S lenses though. EF and EF-S are mounting types and don't really note quality at all. The EF mount was designed for film cameras in the late 80's, and has been carried over to the "full frame" cameras. The EF-S came out in the early 2000's and was designed for the APS-C (smaller) sensor cameras. You can put EF lenses on the smaller sensor cameras (and get your 1..6x crop), but not the other way around. If you plan on ever getting a full frame canon, this would be a good idea to keep that in mind if buying a 10-22. So EF/EF-S are just mounting types that note what type of sensor they were designed for (full frame or "cropped" APS-C). So the kit lens is a EF-S, as is the nifty 50 etc. The good news is that in general, the current lenses from the major manufactures like canon are pretty good. Not many real lemons out there anymore; the "nifty fifty" tests at near L quality resolution once you stop it down to around 4.0 and costs about 100 bucks. The "kit" lens that comes with the cameras now has had some reviews that show image quality of glass that costs 5 times as much. Not trying to get too off topic here, but there is a lot to what goes into a "good" lens (picture quality, speed, focus speed/accuracy, weight, build quality etc.), and the mount type doesn't really dictate quality. In general you get what you pay for, so yes, the $650 10-22 is all around a fantastic lens, and has many "L" qualities. In some ways it's better...in other ways it lags behind. Just depends on what you need the lens to do for you.

Will do. I have everything built out, wired and mounted. I will be jumping it this weekend and should have more info. Some interesting numbers so far. With the 20mm pancake lens, the weight is coming in at about .8lbs (with battery/card/lens/body). My Rebel XS with the Kit Lens weighs about double. Footprint is significantly smaller. Burst rate is faster (even in RAW) than the XS (probably similar to the t3i-t4i now), and seems to have all of the manual controls you would use for skydiving photography. Images (ground) with the kit lens and with the 20mm prime are really good so far. If it does as well in the air as on the ground, it might be another way to get great pics in the air with a much smaller/lighter package.

I have a 17-40L that I use as my main lens for photoshoots with studio lighting. It is an excellent lens. It compared to the 10-22 17MM is significantly more zoomed in (esp on a crop camera) than 10mm. It's wide..but 10mm is significantly wider. The 17-40 is built like a tank, and the 10-22 (IMO) feels cheaply built. Plastic vs metal. As you might expect, the 17-40 is heavy in comparison (about 100grams more, and total of over a lb). The 17-40 is slow (4.0). The 10-22 is only slightly faster at 3.5. I think the biggest difference will be in how wide you need the lens to be. If you need near fisheye with really wide field of view at close distances... the 10-22 would be much better. If you don't need it to be that wide and want durability and L series glass/quality and don't care about the extra weight, the 17-40 would be excellent also.

Different wing setups might be different, but I usually don't unclip my wings. Undoing the hand/thumb loops give me all the mobility I need to fly and land. I usually jump med wings, so the drag they create under canopy really isn't a big deal. My old jumpsuit that had fastex clips attaching the wings to my upper leg were real easy to unclip. Now I use the RSL shackles that attache the wing by wrapping it arond my legstrap. They are not hard to release, but not as mindless as the clips on my leg.

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666517927#features I could just find t hat it had Image Stabilization, but didn't see if it was EIS or OIS. 250 bucks MSRP.... might be a good choice if it is EIS. The CX190's are down to 200 bucks on amazon right now.