Zlew

Correct. For quite a while now the 1D series has been the hardcore sports photog camera of choice. Before the 7D and 7D2 came around, nothing could touch the frame rates of the 1D series camera. The new one is 14 or 16 frames a second right? 5D is a fantastic camera, but the faster frame rates and more robust auto focus of the 7D series and 1D series make them the choice for many "sports" photogs. Having said that... I can't see many skydiving photogs shooting the 1dx-II unless it was for some serious paying work. I can't see it being a daily jumper for many of us. For most of what we do, the size/weight/cost to benefit ratio isn't there unless someone is paying well beyond the going rate for a tandem video/stills.

I think you are over-thinking it. Nobody tells the pilot about their slider stows, riser covers, magnetic bags, or zipper covers, and I've never heard of an issue with them causing any issues.

I can't think it would be an issue. Some loads have dozens of neodymium magnets on them. Jumpsuit zipper covers have them... Riser covers have them.... Some stowless bags have them... edit to add- slider keepers.... the things are everywhere... As far as I know they have never created any issues, and I can't imagine this little camera having one would cause a problem if it was on someone's helmet.

https://gopro.com/news/gopro-goes-live-with-periscope In theory, if your phone gets a good signal at altitude...live streaming jumps could be pretty simple.

concerning wings- IMO this is one of the most common misconceptions. Wings can be AWESOME for extra drag/fallrate when you need it, but for many that isn't the primary reason camera guys wear them. One of the big things wings do is allow you to fly at different angles/positions and use your head as a tripod. Tandem video is an easy example- if you want to get low and pitch up so that you are featuring the student's face/body, you can "hang" on your wings pitch head up, legs low and not speed up or backslide away from them. For 4 way, it allows me to fly very flat from hip to head and use my wings to adjust fallrate instead of arch/head position. Not to be slow enough...just to slow me to change my body position and fall rate in ways that might not be as easy without wings. For much of my 4 way, I fly with my wings collaped and just use them when needed instead of using my head/body. If I need to speed up or slow down for an instant to stay where I need to, I use the wings and don't risk moving my head or fucking up the shot. drives me a little crazy when the small guys (and i'm not big... at all) say they don't need wings because they can fall so slow.... then you see their video and it is less than idea because they don't have the right tools for the job to get them in the right place for the right shot. Bottom line is wings give you more options with your body position at a given fall rate, and let use your head to focus on the shot, instead of fallrate/proximity collapsed wings https://www.facebook.com/RandySwallowsPhotography/photos/t.622434219/751880014859962/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205803785752545&set=t.622434219&type=3&theater

I use 150's with the flatlock. I have them both in bonehead boxes, and it makes it easy to get to the bottom of the camera quickly and easily without having to remove the flatlock.

isnt' the IS in the lens, not the body? pretty sure my kit lens has it, and my prime lens does not on my nex3N

There was a kickstarter for one recently...can't remember what they called it. I didn't follow it to the end, but it wasn't off to a good start, and I would be surprised if it funded. They were asking for quite a bit.. and IMO the product was still way too big for skydiving (and needed a subscription as I remember).

pic is worth 1000 words!

One big thing is the vibration/shake. I actually did some testing with the gopro on Medium this weekend, and it looked pretty good. (need to see it on a bigger screen tonight). THe more you zoom in, the more shake becomes a problem, and without image stabilization, just walking around with a gopro on Narrow can show the issue. I've seen some competition gopro footage on either medium or narrow that while judgable.... was REALLY shaky. Could also have had to do with the helmets they were using...but IMO it wasn't video you could sell. My dream camera- GoPro... with a Turend On...that has Image Stabilization and a medium fileld of view.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3894693;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn2BCmnDUUM http://www.skydivemag.com/article/20130828-c-is-for-camera-and-common-sense

My understanding is the term came from "Coffin's Corner" used in aviation. I"m sure some more complex/accurate answers are to come, but the Cliff's notes- When a canopy dives, it takes time to recover from that dive. There is a point in that recovery where it is difficult or even impossible to recover before a given altitude. That is "the corner". Exaggerated Example- On my canopy if I point it at the ground with a hard turn at 100 feet... i'm going to break into little bits. No amount of rears or toggles will save me. I'm "deep in the corner" and i'm going to hit the ground. In canopy flight, when you see people turn too low, and dig out with brakes, they are "in the corner" and saving their ass with toggle input (and killing their speed/swoop at the same time). THat's what the article is referring to.

Correct- For things like 16 way, the climbout takes a long time, and the person giving the count can be 2-3 rows in front of the last people to get in position. some sort of shake or bump to let the person giving the count know everyone is ready is common. Edit to add- As a camera guy, I like the shake also on smaller formations (4way) with the count coming from inside. On some exits, I can't see the count at all because of how they are lined up in the door. Many times I can pick up the shake. I may still have to just go when they go...but at least I have a heads up that the count has started.

There are some cool stories on how some of the exit counts came to be (like moving the count to the inside for 4 Way). As a camera guy who shoots lots of teams... counts are far from standardized. Some are inside, some our outside. Some are a 3 part count (ready steady go) some are 4 part (shake and some variation of ready steady go). Some have a leg count... some don't. The pace and cadence is always different.. For me- Leg counts are the best and u can usually figure them out without having lots of practice with that individual count. For fun jumping (or team) do your practice exits at the mockup, and do them right! Do the count just like you would and have everyone move just like they would (not ready set go...everyone kinda slowly walks away from the mockup). When you do your count in the airplane... do it at the same pace/cadence you will do it for real (my team right now does it significantly faster in the plane than on the exit...grrrr. :) ).

N3 menus are simple compared to the Viso.

I got my hands on the 5100 and the 6000 today. Both are really sweet cameras. Compared to my NEX3n, the 5100 seems better built, but other wise same form factor. The burst rate and auto focus were pretty awesome. The 6000...man... that thing is crazy fast! on the medium setting it sounded the same as the 5100, but the full 11FPS is insanely fast. I really do think it would be too fast for things like tandem video. I think from door to opening you could blow through 200 pics no problem. Even 300 would be possible if you weren't being careful (that's only about half of the freefall with the shutter down...if the buffer allows it). The focus was really fast and seemed to deal well with panning/movement. With the overkill speed on the 6000, and bottom door... I think I'll probably pick up a 5100 for next season.

Yes. NEX3N (older version of the 5100). Autofocus.

a few tandem shots with the 20mm. not full res "docked" gives you an idea of filed of view while docked on the tandem.

I like the kit lens for general shooting. The downside is it is fly by wire (assuming the 5100 is the same as the Nex3N). When you turn the camera off, you lose your focal length (that is, if you set it to 30mm, turn the camera off and back on, it will turn back on at 16mm). I can tell pretty closely without even having to look at it...so I use it most of the time for shooting team stuff. It would work ok for tandems too. For tandems I shoot the 20mm. It's crisp, fast, and really small. 20mm is a good focal length for me and you don't have to worry about setting the zoom. I think the 16 would be fine too if you fly really close.

One of the most fun, exciting...and slightly dumb jumps of my life was a night, no moon, cross country out in the middle of nowhere. As we climbed to altitude and looked over the cotton fields (no lights...no ground reference...not black...just nothingness) I remember thinking- what the fuck am I doing? I have nothing to prove...and this shit is dumb! We got out about 9 miles away (from 9k). We could see 2 big cities, one about 10 miles away, and the other 40. But from where we got out to the airport...there was nothing but the beacon and runway lights on the horizon. I knew that if I had a mal- my stuff was gone forever I knew if I landed off, I had to just hope not to hit a fence/power line. *edit to add- also knew if i landed off it would be a half -3/4brakes from 100 feet and PLF landing. The most sobering thing was knowing if I got hurt and landed off, it could be hours before anyone found me. We had radios...but still, was truly out in the middle of nowhere. Seeing other canopies was pretty impossible, even with strobes. It was fun! Risky, but fun. Made it back without much altitude to spare.

Keep us posted. I think there are several of us looking to move past the 5-6 year old CXs to the newer models and have a visual indicator. I think the 430 (already like 3 years old?) is the last one to work with the hypeye.

I'll check when I get home. I have a Nex3N which is the predecessor to the 5100. I have it on an L bracket font mounted, but i have an empty flatlock on top i can test my current screw with.

Smaller, less expensive, and side load card vs bottom load. The 11fps on the 6000 is cool..but I think overkill for what we do.

+1 for me on that. When I first got the VK, figuring out how to slow the rotation to keep it from starting to recover before I wanted it to made it feel like a shorter recovery. The VE seemed to be more simple to "tune" the dive by adjusting the rotation rate compared to the VK. I've since figured it out. Now I turn same sized VK and VE at the same altitude.

I'm kinda sad to hear this. I have the nex 3N and really like it. Battery lasts for ever and is really easy to use. Was thinking of moving to upgrade to the 6000 soon.