BMFin

1.If you have a 10-22, why did you buy this lens? 2.What were you expecting this lens to deliver that the 10-22 couldnt do? 3.Why were you disapointed with the 10-18 ? Also, I would recommend using AF on a lens like 10-22. Manual is going to be reasonably sharp, but not as sharp as AF. I have been shooting quite a bit on AF with 10-22, and the focus motor on that lens works excellent. No way I would use manual focus with that lens. From what I read from the review I mentioned in this thread, it seems the 10-18 also has a very good focus motor. Therefore I would assume AF is definetly the way to go.

A few years back when I was still active filming tandems I was using CX 115 + raynox HD-3032PRO combo. (nowadays I would consider such a setup totally obsolete) I later changed to a go pro2, which I found to outperform the CX series cameras in almost every way. IMO there seems to be an attitude among camera fliers that a go pro isnt a real video camera. Camera fliers somehow want to distinct themselves from the reagular jumper whos wearing a go pro style camera. Paid camera fliers seem to fear that they wont be taken seriously with a go pro. Personally I consider the go pro an excellent choice for something like tandem video. If you need longer focal lenght with narrower FOV for outside video for something else, then I might be looking towards a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera type of camera or an DSLR for video. It would depend on the purpose. Personally if it was just tandems, (or mostly tandems) then I would go with a setup like tonfly 2,5x + go pro3 + still camera with ultrawide

Im sorry but I dont understand the question. Are you asking advice for a helmet? What does the 2.5x or 3x mean?

Sick system you guys have there..

"Authorities seized $35,000 in equipment from the New Jersey business Sussex Skydive where Markovich is an instructor." WTF? What does skydive sussex have to do with this? Or was the aquipment owned by this Markovich fellow?

I have no experience on this lens, but it should be taken into account that ultrawide fisheye lenses have a high risk of getting fogged up.

http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/874-canon_1018_4556is?start=1 The review looks good.

Been done many times.

For the OP: You dont really need a 580 ex II for shooting at night. Many older strobes will do just fine. Only time you might need a 580 or similar is if you need to use TTL or fast speed sync etc. You dont need those at what you are doing. Basically you might need highspeed sync only when shooting in daylight and TTL isnt really good in skydiving at all. You can get used old strobes (flashguns) very cheap. Just make sure it recycles fast enough and has enough power. Direct flash coming from the direction of the camera always looks a bit amateurish. If you want good results, you need to give the strobe to another jumper and have it coming from different directions. In real life sunlight or artificial light almost always comes from different angle than your eyes. This is what creates shadows and good looking light. Remember photography is all about capturing light. I suggest you google "strobist" and search the subject. Its going to get a lot of time understanding even the basics, but its well worth it..

Im interested if this is common for skydivers: For many years now I have had my ears popping almost every time I swallow. The "popping" isnt the kind of pop that would suddenly allow you to hear better or worse. (obviously we all get those when pressure is changing) This popping is rather mild, but sometimes annoying. I cant help thinking this could have something to do with skydiving, since our sport definetly gives a lot of stress to our ears in terms of air pressure changing very fast. I know for a fact that after the first hundred jumps my ears were much more accustomed to pressure changes involved in skydiving. (also made scubadiving much easier to deal with in terms of pressure). Therefore I have come to think that maby skydiving has somehow changed the physiology of my ear canals in a way that they keep popping almost every time I swallow. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Dont forget a good display. I have a 13 inch macbook pro retina. I love it. The 2560x1600 retina display is just magnificent for editing photos or video. The 13 inch is very portable, but when you get home you can hook it up with 2 external 2,5k displays. I think this is the best laptop at the market right now.

And because they want to be treated as such.

Another detail that I cannot resist commenting on: I keep hearing this all the time. People seem to think that the more strength you have, the less you need to worry about riser pressure. However, the fact is that once you have pulled enough to lift your bodyweight, it doesnt really matter how much strenght you have. Obviously no one is able to pull down the risers more than their own bodyweight. Even a guy with bad physique is able to make one pull up and keep his body suspended for a while. Hell, most people are able to keep their body weight suspended with one arm relatively easy. It doesnt take more than that actually.

I have been using suunto core as my only visual alti for 2 years. I wouldnt recommend it for beginners, since its not refreshing fast enough for freefall. I only use visual alti under canopy anyways. Under canopy it does the job and is very small size, so I like it.

I wouldnt go as far as calling top gear as low budget. The budget is said to be somewhere around 500.000£/per edisode. I didnt think it was that well edited. Its obvious that they shot many takes to shoot this supposedly one stunt. When the guy exits, theres a cameraflier exiting with him on his back and filming him from below. There is also an air to air (shot from another aircraft) video of the exit, but there is no cameraflier. Obviously two different exits. The same happens also when the cameraflier is shooting from below and the cut to another camera that is above. Suddenly there is no camera flier. Also its kind of funny that this guy is trying to fly his ass off and cover distance as quick as he can, and at the same time the cameraflier is doing all kind of zooming around this guy. (flying past him very fast etc..)

Perhaps you ment to post this on the wingsuit forum?

The skydiving industry uses sqft since its mostly US dominated. However the paragliding industry seems to be using more square meters since I guess its more European dominated (or international?)

I have used CX 110 and 115 and go pro2. I think the gp pro2 beats those CX style cameras hands down in quality. The downside of go pro cameras is that the FOV fixed and it is very wide. So if I would want to shoot narrover FOV, I would choose a DSLR for video.

I just tried this with my cameras serial number and it didnt find any photos although there are lots of them in the interweb. Doesnt seem to work at all.

I heard they are testing a new canopy called chinook. Its gonna be the next generation from scirocco. Will be interesting to see what comes out of it !

WTF? I dont think he was going to do that. Besides, even if he was, why would that be a bad idea? Who ever gets tattooed on another persons skin, should consider it an honor.

Anytime I see such watermarks, I think that a) they are very unprofessional and "amateur like" b) they give a negative image of the person/company using them 2013, true pro photographers use watermarks quite seldom. Especially the kind that states "this photo was stolen" Personally I would rather just accept the fact that someone might take a photo of a display screen. Its gonna be almost useless anyways.

Did I understand you correct? There are two fatalities in the year 2012 due to riser strikes? Do tell please !

In every video shown here, the pilot always pulls down on the rears. Can anyone show us a video of this canpy actually onpening well without pulling rears?

I dont fly it anymore. I only tested one demo for a few jumps. In my opinion the openings were horrible since it was so prone to linetwists. I was initially told by a frined of mine that you need to pull down on the rears to have it open nicely. I didnt believe him, since I have always thought one shouldnt touch the rears during snivel. Friend of mine insisted that it even says so in the manual. I thought it was BS and didnt listen to him. After making a few jumps I had to admit he was right. It really seemed like the only option is to pull down on the rears during snivel and then try to steer the canopy. (you can read my experience I described earlier in this thread) BTW. Heres a few videos this friend of mine posted on youtube Heres the 93sqft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RmHjnvkZSE The 77sqft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtewDqbCvc8 Im scared shitless to watch the 77sqft video.