Fordy

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Posts posted by Fordy

  1. Hi,

    Still using A7rii and love the results. I use various lens including Leica Loxia 21/50mm with nd filters and Sony G-master 85mm with variable nd filter.

    The worst problem I have had with the Sony is the weak remote connector which is essentially a slightly longer micro usb and terrible. I have been through 4 remote switches as they don’t like the wind (I made a dental putty mould for one which helped a little) and now the camera is with Sony for the internal remote/power adapter micro usb slot to be replaced.

    I only shoot full frame unless I want the 85mm to become 130mm approx

    Hope that helps.

    Fordy
    Fordy

  2. The Subject line pretty much says it all...

    Travelling to Florida next week for 10 days jumping, only bringing wingsuits this time so looking for the best DZ or the DZ with the most popular WS scene.

    Iv'e visited/jumped at Deland/Z-Hills/Titusville/Sebastian/Lake Wales over the years and enjoyed them all, just not sure what the current WS scene is like.

    Any info most welcome, thanks in advance

    Fordy
    Fordy

  3. Hi all,

    Just a bit if info for anyone who may be looking to purchase for jumping.

    I bought A7rii body with metabones adapter for canon lenses as I own a few and hoped to not have to go down the route of purchasing native e-mount lenses.

    Mounted on really right stuff mount with custom bite switch I made a few jumps to soon how it compared to Canon 5dmkiii.

    Jump 1 - 4 way which turned out to be a bit of a zoo but fun to snap away at, nice images, sharp with manual focus Canon 15mm 2.8 fisheye.

    Jump 2 - angle dive same lens, a couple of beautiful sharp images and a few with a strange black line half way or a third of the way across the frame.

    Jump 3 - Head up 2 way, same lens, same 1/2 black screen issue with some just an annoying shadow on one side.

    All images shot in portrait, no camera glove or silicone case.

    Jump 5 - British record warm up jumps, 28 way, took 2 shots on the hill and frozen on second image, no further images taken as it froze until battery removed and lens reseated post jump. Switched back to Canon 5dmkiii for the rest of the record weekend as I couldn't trust A7rii to get the shot.

    Jump 6 - HD/HU jjmp, had the idea it may be an issue of very old 15mm lens not communicatineed with adapter or body so switched to canon 24-105 f/4L USM lens manual focus. Same outcome as 15mm.

    E-mailed a couple of well known aerial photographers whom I heard or read used Sony A7rii and received a reply from one who sited same issue.

    I had worked out that the metabones adapter under load (think pressure created by high wind forces) stops the camera communicating with A7rii body and it freezes. The merest fraction of movement will do this and stop images from being taken, can only be recreated on the ground by putting a strain on the lens with your hand and twisting or 'jiggling' the lens to try and cause movement.

    Jump 7,8 - hired Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8 manual focus e- mount lens. Wingsuit flights, all speeds and angles with no issue. Stunningly sharp images.

    Hoping to get some FF/Angle jumps in over the weekend to test lens further.

    Also purchased fotodiox after market lens mount to replace Sony plastic/metal 2 piece combination, reportedly tighter fitting for all lens. (Not received yet) Ithe may cure communication issue under load being a tighter fit.

    Hopefully if anyone in the market for this stunning but expensive camera reads this they will have more information to go on than I had and maybe spend less or choose differently as I have a lot of canon glass that I most likely can't use with this camera whilst jumping.

    I will update and add a couple of image links to full frame, full size images so the quality can be seen, it really is hard to belive the depth, sharpness and dynamic range of this camera without seeing an image.

    Hope this has been helpful if a little convoluted.

    Regards

    Fordy

  4. ***
    I got a little mixed up when you said 'delaminated' as I interpreted that as meaning it was a coated cable, when I guess it wasn't.

    No, it wasn't coated.

    Delamination: a mode of failure for composite materials and steel. In laminated materials, repeated cyclic stresses, impact, and so on can cause layers to separate, forming a mica-like structure of separate layers, with significant loss of mechanical toughness. the closest word that came to mind when i typed the post.

    And yes, The BPA have decided that without identifying one particular manufacturer the practice of having non coated cables may not be the best idea for safety as the non coated cables are an older design and have been "updated" to clear coated but not been part of a PSB by a manufacturer.

    How many nasty incidents that could have been fatal do you need to ban outdated equipment when even the people making it have moved on to a different process. Not scaremongering by the BPA, common sense.

    If you have a system with these older style non coated cables then i for one would rather you were aware of the incident.

    regards

    Fordy
    Fordy

  5. A very experienced TMI had a very difficult situation to contend with after a tension knot malfunction on his main canopy.

    I am posting this for TMI'so to read and it maybe avert the same incident happening again. I am not naming manufacturer but from the detail in the description you may make your own deduction.

    TMI deployed main canopy after uneventful drogue fall at a normal altitude and had tension knots on one set of break lines, tried clearing but made the decision by 4000ft that it was not landable so initiated correct emergency procedure for this particular equipment.

    Upon cutting away, part of the cutaway cable delaminated and left a strand of wire in the 3 ring release stopping the 3 ring from doing its job and releasing the main completely. This resulted in the reserve opening and immediately flying forwards and during inflation looping completely around the TMI and student entanglingredients reserve lines with the TMI at the ankle and the student on one hand.

    The TMI worked the problem but could not see the issue with the 3 ring whilst being inverted under the mostly inflated reserve whilst the main spun behind on the single riser attached to the container. The TMI managed to pull the riser free without use of the knife on the student harness but said that it was incredibly difficult and disorientating with the reserve entanglement.

    Once the main was freed the TMI was able to release the line group from around his ankle and then cut a line free on the student to allow a full inflation of the reserve at approximately 900ft, reserve landing was uneventful and apart from some small line burns both TMI and student were unhurt.

    The BPA have issued a safety notice 1-16 stating that all cutaway cables used in sport parachuting must be coated. (This is a UK only safety notice not a manufacturer product bulletin)

    The manufacturer was very helpful and communicated directly with the TMI about the issue.

    The equipment had a cutaway cable that has no teflon coating on the cables although newer models come with a transparent coating.

    The equipment was thoroughly checked at the servicing and has regular 100 jump checks as in accordance with the BPA regulation with no issues with the cables.

    This post is not meant to invite or incite any form of scaremongering but to be informative to TMI'so that may jump equipment with bare cutaway cables and hopefully prevent an issue like this from happening again.

    The TMI in the incident has over 12,000 tandems and did very well to avoid further injury to either himself or his student.

    Stay safe

    Regards

    Fordy

    [/url]http://www.bpa.org.uk/assets/Stay-safe/Safety-Notices/82.-Notice-1-16-29-07-16-SportParachuteEquipmentCutawayCables.pdf
    Fordy

  7. My buddy went to Cuba a few weeks ago and jumped at Varadero.

    He hired kit which he was happy with and although a lower experience jumper with 350-400 jumps he made a couple of jumps over a few days.

    I believe they only operate to 10,000ft AGL (same as ASL at this dz) and only when they have tandems book in so sporadic.

    No aerial photo, they didn't care where he landed and they went to pick him up when he intentionally made a beach landing on jump 2 after sensibly landing on dz on jump one.

    I can put you in contact with him if you wish?

    contact me on [email protected]
    Fordy

  8. It's an easy modification for any decent rigger. I moded mine (CV79 & V79)so I didn't have to mess about after AFF jumps and no issue when using RDS or as a collapsible slider.

    Regards

    Fordy
    Fordy

  13. Flew my apache with a buddy last week and fitted my Scala G9 motorcycle communication system to both our cookie G-3's. I think we both agreed after a couple of jumps it was the most sociable skydiving we had ever done. Crystal clear with voice activation (vox) we have each other heads up where we were heading and when we were going to make direction changes without any interference or misunderstanding.

    Would be a superb asset to a WS course for first flights Tex to help with body position and basic navigation.

    Lots of fun, thought I'd share

    Regards

    Fordy

  18. hi to everyone over the pond, a few of us europeans have gotten together to do some bigway VFS with the focus of beating the 2007 40 way set here in Empuriabrava. Organized by the Babylon freefly team the attempts will carry on until Wednesday afternoon or until we run out of flyers through success.

    So far we have 105 flyers here and are putting up 51 way attempts.

    i have a blog updated with images and video as often as possible throughout the day..

    hope you enjoy it and maybe see you in chicago for the W/R attempts

    Fordy

    http://infiniteskydiving.wordpress.com/
    Fordy

  20. This last week in Empuriabrava on the sunny southern coast of Spain the Babylon team lead by Stephan Fardel hosted the European H/down record attempt, the goal to beat the existing 28 way set here in 2005.

    With participants turning up to train from monday morning in groups of 16+ then day two onto 23+ it was quickly apparent the record could be beaten..

    1st attempt on wednesday with FAI judges onsite a sweet benchmark was set with a 30 way held for 4 seconds, followed within 3 jumps by a smooth 36 way held for 6 seconds...

    40 way was now the focus. With some minor alterations to the formation we finished a 4 jump day with the 3rd new European Record of the week, a 40 way head down formation held for 2 seconds...

    Three aircraft, twin otter, twin beech 99 and a pilatus porter from 16´500ft.

    let´s see what the last day brings tomorrow...

    Fordy
    (1 of 10 Brit participants)
    Fordy

  21. a guy who i do tandems with has a funny line during his pre jump brief, we have two parachutes, a main and a reserve, if something is wrong with the main, we pull one handle and its gone and we can use the reserve, however there are no guarantees, if you want a guarantee buy a toaster... always cracks me up
    Fordy

  23. Just thought it would be nice to big up Rusty and Alec Cotton for a great 2 day Freefly camp at Airkix MK.

    Very good esprit de corp with the 6 campers with levels ranging from 1st back fly to head down flying and transitions.

    everyone had a great time and goals were reached and exceeded.

    Awesome to see Dr John Carter (the BPA Dr) getting off the net unassisted in a sweet daffy and grinning as it all became crystal clear ;-)

    Good Briefing and concise video de-briefs made progression swift.

    I now Ache in places i didn't know i had places.

    If you want a relaxed and very well run course then these guy's are all over it.

    Watching Rusty fly is an eye opener too

    Cheers

    Fordy
    Fordy

  24. Hey gus b, check your pilot chute isn't completely shot 350 jumps is going to make an F-111 p.c pretty tired causing less drag and a less dynamic line stretch.

    Bungees all the same type and in good condition holding the lines at about 12lb per stow

    18-22 inches of spare line from the last stow with the line following on from the riser along the edge of the pack tray to the bottom corner then across to the centre as opposed to following the corner of the reserve tray which can cause a snag and subsequent spin point on deployment...

    hope you get it sorted, can't be a body position problem mate, your a legend ;-)

    fordy