Vlad

Thanx, guys !You've been really helpful. I've made my mind - already ordered the CX-7

Search has returned no entries for "HF". So, I'm confused. Have to make a decision - Canon vs.Sony - in 24 hours.

Has anyone used the new Canon HF-10 for skydiving ? How is it compared to Sony Hdr-cx7 ?

THank for replying. CX-7 is memory stick only cam as far as I understand. How much video in its best quality can fit on a 8gb card ? Quality wise, are there any critical differences between 11 and 7?

DSE, if that is not too much of a hassle, could you please explain, what "parks the head and shuts down the platter " means ? I've actually never used a camcorder either for skydiving or for anything else in my life. But since I need one now, I would like to get a decent one, suitable both in the air and on the ground.

Could you advise me whether there is a mount for this camera ?

the most important reason to get a cam is that we have a child on the way... and every summer I go to very long expeditions to Siberia. So, I prefer to have both harddrive and memory stick. BTW, are there mounts for this type of cameras ?

Hi folks, I've heard that harddrive cams do not work for skydiving. What about this one ? It can record to memory stick instead of hard drive.http://www.amazon.com/Sony-HDR-SR11-Definition-Camcorder-Stabilized/dp/B00123XZNI/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=photo&qid=1206035699&sr=1-18#moreAboutThisProduct

Thanks, everyone for your replys. It'll probably take me some time to convince myself. Still there are DZs, where it is the other way around. Sure, they have some point as well.

Just as I told before - jumpers in big groups (both freefly and RW) track. THe bigger is the group, the longer they track. They can track from 6000 to 3000. They track in ALL directions, including such which will bring one of them under a solo freeflyist. THe corrected question would be : why does a big way (RW or FF) goes before a solo freefly ???

vs. Let's decide on whether the freeflyers drift more or less...

The also can slide under the free flyers, especially while tracking. The chances of that are much higher than of a premature deployment. The horizontal separation does not help. Evern if I give the RW group 12 seconds, they can easily slide under me.

this is something i never understood. So many times it has happenned to me: I exited last to freefly, and have beaten rw jumpers to the opening height. This is really unsafe. A couple more reasons for freefly jumpers to exit first: when a big RW formation breaks away, there will be tracking jumpers everywhere, including under everyone who has jumped after them. A big formation looks like a frezbee. It can slide. A freeflyer is usually falling straight down. What do you think ?

In Russia we can and do jump through the clouds. there is one requirement: the bottom of clouds must be higher than the opening point. Jumping through clouds is much fun !! Everyone who says he will never jump through clouds is plain stup,,, I mean narrominded !

Well, it is not a tandem as we are used to it. Most of Russian DZ's are pretty poor. Lots of skydivers are still jumping rounds. The planes are mostly AN-2 - that means jump altitudes are not higher than 6000 feet. You must understand that a cost of a tandem rig is unreachable for those DZ's. Just as an example : my first AFF jump was at Russian DZ in Alfer'evo. Instead of a regular ram-air canopy I was jumping a round military surplus canopy

It is the city of Vologda. another photo from that DZ: http://www.dropzone.ru/cgi-bin/image.pl?vologda/4.jpg DZ's home site: http://www.dropzone.ru/vologda.shtml (sorry, in Russian only). BTW in Russia you can make solo skydive when you reach 15. At Kolomna DZ I know of a girl who is 10 years old. SHe has 100 tandem jumps.

No, no photoshop. It is a small RUssian dropzone... NO gogles because it is a hop-n-pop

They are using a regular rig !!!

Yeah, it is cheap. Well - you get what you paid for. Quality professional skydiving instruction is expensive for a reason.

Did I see their jumps ? Yes I did. At least one- my father's(he is one of many who were thrown off this DZ, and successfully finished AFF at other dropzones) Did I pass my class - yes, as I told in my previous post. I finished it in 10 jumps. Do I think that Lodi is a great DZ for experience jumpers - you bet ! However, I would not recommend anyone to start learning skydiving there, at least not by the static line method.

Really ? I do not know what I'm talking about. Well, how is this: I did finish SL at Lodi(successfully). On jump number 9 (15 sec. delay) I got an uncontrolable spin. Bill Dause still transferred me to tenth level (60 secs). Fortunately,that jump went good. How come do I know several people who were thrown off Lodi as students, but finished AFF in Hollister, Marina and other DZs ? How come does Bill charge full price at the beginning of the course, but make a mistake, get thrown out, and he still keeps the money ?

Let me guess, the instructor's name is Bill Dause, You jumped at Lodi, CA ? Well that explains a lot. His SL is so cheap, because he makes you finish it in 10 jumps. If you do a mistake, he sends you off his DZ and does not return your money.

is there a way to do that ? I know that this helmet does not have a flat top, but may be there is a way?

I'm starting to put my first camera-helmet setup together. Never jumped with a camera before. Here is the question : WOuld I be better off using a cheap kit lense on the dRebel ? I am afraid to use my 17-40L, since in the event of cutting away the helmet, I'll be sorry to lose this lense.

How about Samuel Smith pale ale ?