Fuzzy

Have just wired up the 20D using instructions from Peter Galli's web site. Although it's working, I'm running into some small problems. Wonder if I missed something or have doing something wrong. Set up using Conceptus tongue switch (had it for my Rebel with stereo switch, just cut end off it) & 80N3 end. A: When wired using instructions for AF AI Servo (red/red - white & ground / ground only on switch side). The camera starts focusing as soon as the plug is connected. The function switches will not work - Auto shutdown will not work. I can take pictures no problem, but it's like the shutter button is half depressed. B: When wired for Manual Focus (red /red - white/white - ground/ground) - The camera works fine including AI Servo feature and other function buttons, but - if camera shuts down, I have to physically switch camera off and on again to get it to work. At present it's set up as shown in B - and have just turned off the auto off function. Again, just wondering what I have missed, or if there could another problem with the wires. Thanks Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Appreciate the feed back. I'm using mainly the Sigma 15, but once in a while throw others on for the "play / creative times" so will give it a try on them as well. Thanks Fuzzy Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Hi lew Just curious if you have tried the 20D with the various auto focus modes i.e. AI Servo - AI Focus - One Shot etc. If so, do you have any preferences or noticed any differences? I haven't yet played with these in line with the Sigma lens, so am interested in hearing if anyone has. As for me and auto-focus, it's all I have used since switching from Pentax to Canon. The 2 (older model) Pentax cameras I used seemed to work best in manual, while my Canon(s) seem to give me better results in auto. I think the lens probably has more to do with this than the camera though. Fuzzy Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Would have to suggest the safest thing would be to convert to NTSC I recently had some friends visiting Canada from New Zealand. Their PAL DVD's (brought with them) would not play in our DVD player or computer. The DVD I did up for them from here of their trip was sent to them in both PAL and NTSC (both worked for them) Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

I'm going to agree with the people here who are saying to be cautious about docking on the tandems. Since most of our tadems are from 9,000', it doesn't leave lots of extra time for things over and above the standard "happy face" shots. I do it when we have the altitude (Otter visits etc) & then only if conditions are just "right" i.e. comfortable fall rate - 'cause they do vary considerably, a heads up passenger, & most importantly an "OK" from the TI. I also do tandems and know that there are times when I would prefer not to have someone else too close. When things aren't going quite right (flailing passenger etc) the last thing the TI needs is me trying to grab on. Also keep in mind that the passenger changing his/her body position can change the tandems fall rate in "mid grab" As for the editing equipment: We use an effects board, character generator, CD player, DVD recorder / VHS deck. We have found this to be the fastest most efficient way of getting the package to the cust (usually 20 min's or so after landing they are watching it). Keep in mind that this all probably all cost as much or more than a good PC Btw: Sony .6 lens works for me, not so wide that the exit looks miles away, yet wide enough to get in close and still catch the action Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

This sounds almost "exactly" like a guy who showed up at Skydive Gananoque a few years ago, right down to the capewells. The only difference was that he showed up with his gear. This guy also had a plastic reserve handle (may have been fiberglas or another material though, not that it makes much difference). God only knows how out of date the reserve was He was sent packing then too, but not before shooting a crap load of attitude and a few insults at Tom McCarthy (the owner). Both Tom and his brother John new this guy from the "old days". If you email Tom he will give you the guys name if you wanted to confirm it. It was so ridiculous that it still comes up in conversation even now so Tom will remember it well. I'm sure all the other operators out there would do the same thing and "shoo" this guy away, but it may not hurt to pass the word around about him - just in case. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

*** wow.. 5 steps for each handle.. hope you're not reciting all that in your head should you have a high speed. pull red, pull silver _______________________________________________ Hey Trevor What concerns me about the "pull red, pull silver" comment is that it doesn't mention "look at " &/or "identify" the handles. Gear shifts (handles move) when you're hanging under it vs sitting in the plane. There is also the possibility of a handle being knocked out of the pocket at some point on the skydive (as mentioned happened to you in one of your other posts) Bad & scary things have happened to people who groped too long because they didn't / couldn't find the handles. Whatever proceedure you use, or are telling someone about, (one hand on each handle - two hands on one handle etc.), I feel it should always include the words "look". *** Why is this taught as complicated as possible? It may look complicated in print, but in practice and reality, it's a simple & fluid motion (if your pulling on the right thing). Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

"Did he buy beer" Yep - and not that cheap stuff either. He got the good stuff with alcohol in it. To be honest after the jump he offered us the option. He would either pay for the load, or buy beer. We all opted for the beer. That may sound dumb to some, but he is a real good guy, and lets face it "Free Beer" - There are some traditions you just don't mess with Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

The funny thing is that after all these years and all those jumps - he still hits his head on the wing when getting in the plane. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Just wanted to pass on a "Congratulations" to Tom McCarthy owner/operator of Skydive Gananoque who did his 10,000th jump on June 26, with a nice 8-way out of a 206 & a 182 In typical "Tom Fashion" the experience level on the jump included people in the low 100's up to the 10,000, 'cause he just wanted to have fun. Tom's son Will, & brother John were also on the skydive with him. He was presented with a T-shirt that said "Just Another 10,000 Jump Wonder" Tom also marked his 40th anniversary in the sport a few weeks ago. He has been working in the sport for the majority of that time and spent many years competing on the Canadian Style & Accuracy Team. Btw: Jump 10,001 --- a hop & pop Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

The Twin Otter is coming back to Skydive Gananoque for the weekends of * May 22 - 24 * July 1 - 4 * Sept 4 - 6 If you're going to be in or around the Thousand Islands region (or wanted to plan a trip), definitely plan to stop by for a visit and some fun skydives. For more info: www.skydivegan.com or Email [email protected] Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

I jumped an older Pentax ME, then PZ series for many years, both handled the abuse real well. As for the release: If your camera uses Pentax "F" as mine does - I simply spliced into it, and connected it to a Conceptus switch ordered with bare ends. Also made a hand switch the same way using actual Pentax "trigger". Biggest problem was with the part of the wire that plugs into the camera. After plugging / unplugging a bunch of times, the connection would get worn down and stop working, requiring purchasing a new cable. Solved this by adding another connector between the camera and the helmet, allowing the wire to stay connected to the camera even when off the helmet (when changing film etc). Also used tape to help hold the connection on the camera as the plug does not seem to be held overly securely on its own. Hope this is somewhat helpful Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

If you are able to find out the model they have, it would be appreciated. It sounds interesting. How are you able add to the disc? I thought once finalized or closed you could not add to the disc anymore? Also have you heard of any problems with customers not being able to play the dvd on their own machines? Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Our preference is DVD Recorder, as at present (and if they work they way we have been told they do), anyone doing tandem video's will still be able to do the editing themselves without re-learning the whole process. I'm hoping to get to play with one this weekend. That may tell me if we are going in the right direction or not. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

As long as the quality is not worse than VHS, and the process is as fast, or not much longer, than doing it takes on a VCR we will be happy. We are also hoping that the DVD Recorders operate just like or close to that of a VCR, in that you can pause and continue recording at the touch of a button during the editing process. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Thanks to John and "skydivejersey" for the link. I checked it out, but not had time to read it all yet (and there is a lot to read). I've been burning DVD's at home on the computer with a +RW burner and not had any compatibility problems yet, but only a couple of those have been tandem customers. We were hoping that using a DVD Recorder would be as simple / fast as when working on the VCR, but it's sounding more like the answer to that is "probably not". Anyways - got some more reading to do now

The "finalizing" time was something I had forgotten to consider "thanks". Surprising that there is such a spread in time to do this, guess that has some relation to the price spread on these things as well, will have to look closely at the specs and hope it's listed. Do you know if the machines with built in memory have any distinct advantages in this respect? Thanks again Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Our Dz is considering purchasing a DVD recorder as means to offer DVD's to tandem customers vs dumping to a computer etc. The most common units seem to be Panasonic, Sony, & HP, but we haven't had a chance to play with any yet. We would be interested in hearing what other Dz's are using (if anything), and if there are any compatibility or quality issues we should be concerned with. Any help or info is appreciated. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Pinnacle DV8 (or any version of 8) seems to have a number of bugs. Ended up returning my new Deluxe 8, and went back to 7. For what ever reason ver8 seems slower to render /harder on the systems / and has a number of isues relating to sending back to DV. Making SVHS, SVCD, AVI were no problem, only going back directly to DV caused headaches. The Pinnacle help section web site may offer some solutions depending on the specifics of your problem(s). The best solution for me was returning the product. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

For me the most best / most favorite /most fun - of all video, is Tandem. It doesn't get much better then getting to look someone in the eye, give them a wink or grin, & shake their hand as they experience their first jump. Between getting video tadems and do them as well, life is good. Getting pics published in newspapers and magazines is pretty cool too. Yeah, there are risks involved, but the benefits out weight them big time Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Hope it works for you, but you may still have problems with going direct to DV without saving as AVI first. Let me know how it goes, I'm curious. Thanks Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Just curious what peoples experiences / thoughts are on getting extended warranties for their camera's (Video or Still) base on what we are doing with them. Who has been gotten one, has it been worth while, mainly - were you able to use it when the need came up? Was it used for normal wear and tear or other wise? My own experience/s were not good so stopped spending the money, but am open to change. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

Hey Glenn Your not alone in your woes, there are a number of horror stories floating around, including my own, but there are also some "feel good stories". Manufactures can be like this on warranty issues (Sony, Cannon, Panosonic, JVC....). I asked the distributor who was best with warranty issues, and was told they are pretty much all the same. Why? because they can. Complaining to Cust Svc Mgr's etc may make you feel better after venting, but it will seldom produce the results desired. That said, it's still important to let them know - Do it in writing. Going through the distributor, may get better results vs direct to Sony, especially if you have spent a bunch of dollars and plan to spend more, but even they may just wish you luck. Also it should be noted that when you do send something in, mfg's can apparantly test to see if the problem was caused by "misuse" ie. sudden impacts, jarring, improper storage etc. This will usually nulify most warranties regardless. As a side note I'm on camera #5, all but one from the same store (they look after me). Have never bought extended warranty (because of just this situation). Most important, the words skydiving have never entered the conversation when purchasing or getting service, it can tend to scare them. Lastly, "everything" gets followed up in writing now, incl names & dates. Verbal conversations will get you nowhere, it's a pain, but pays in the long run. Sorry about your problems. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

I had problems with Pinnacle 8 as well (Studio Deluxe Ver 8). The following may not be of much help but take it for what it's worth. Used Pinnacle DV7 for quite a while with no probs at all, version 8 was another thing altogether. There appear to be a number of bugs with it, connected to output. You can also try web support http://www.pinnaclesys.com/support/studio The output problems seem affect users of Windows 98se, 2000, & XP alike. Here is what support had me try, keep in mind I am not a "techie". The Bios changes/tweeks shown on their site were not in the picture for me. The basic fixes that did seem to help somewhat. 1. After rendering, instead of project going directly back to DV or tape, try saving as AVI file, then output that to DV (this seemed to be the easiest fix & and worked best). And / or 2. Although your project is done, re-do it, or do a smaller one as a test, but do not use preview quality, dump the video onto computer in full dv. Again you may have to save as an AVI prior to going back to camera. 3. If possible, ensure there are no other programs running prior to starting Ver 8 for output, other then Systray, and Explorer. 4. Ensure your card does not show to be sharing with any other devises (if using a pinnacle card) - this may include unplugging any usb scanners, printers etc. prior to booting up, and may require moving the card it to another PCI slot. Hope some of this is of use, would be interested in hearing what others have to say, especially if having the same probs. Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

As for my answer & being honest with myself cause it only takes a split second to miss something. 1. I sure hope so 2. I sure hope so, and would like to say yes - especially since A: it's a low time 4-way & I should be even more prepared. B: plan "A" obviously isn't working, so what's next On a different note: I like this question, as one that could/should be posed to new or potential camera flyers when explaining some of the hazards of floating above others, and possibly blind to what may be behind you on any size jump. I too have have dodged debris (and/or winced as it went by)- glasses, strings, a bandana is real eyecatching. Someone just starting out can get pretty focused on keeping the angle or being centred etc, to the point the "smaller" but still very important things can get missed. Thanks Fuzzy Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.