CaTo

I am using the rfconcepts camara myself, and I am very pleased with it, so are the subjects of my video's: the technique used inside, the CCD, is the same as in normal Sony camera's.. I notice no difference in picture quality, the only 'problem' I have with it is that grabbing still from the video gives you lesser quality. But my neck is in better shape now ;-) regards Caren

Last week the 8th CF Spektakel event was held at the DZ of Teuge, the Netherlands. We had a very good week, in spite of the weather forecast. Over 40 different skydivers made over 700 jumps, building nice formations. And not only could we welcome some new CRW puppies, but there were also a number of old CReWdogs joining in the air. On the http://CaTo.makes.it website you can see a growing number of pictures taken at the event. You will see a biplane diamond (the first flying over Teuge in more than 20 years!) and a 12 way stack, build by the all-england club :-) Some more info: 3 wraps ended in a reserve ride, 2 wraps ended in a shoe being lost, 1 minor injury (a lip cut) caused by a line. Over 3 hours of video was shot, and 7 packs of slide film were used. At the end of each day, a video-of-the-day was shown Furthermore, countless cases of beer were consumed see you next year??? Caren

The camera needs a focus point to focus on in AF. A clear blue sky does not have any reference lines to focus on, and the object (the kydiver) can be too small. Also, focussig needs time, no matter what, so MF will always be quicker than AF the possible problem has nothing to do with exposure, but with being able to measure the distance to a subject. SO MF, set to almost infinity, whould be best regards Caren

I would first check if the manual focus option is OK for skydiving: my canon A70 has an MF option, but the camera goes to standby after 2 minutes, and the MF focus is reset to AF again... So I can not use it... far too slow or even not working since the blue sky is not helping the AF process.... After contacting canon (even in japan) they could not offer me a solution for that MF problem. The release problem I had solved by then, by opening the camera an put some extra wires in.... Caren

Hi saskia, I am using DVDlab which I found on the internet http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/ It is just authoring software, so especially for making menu's etc. It's the only SW I found so far that is doing what I want, and can also handle text-only menu structures (so in stead of using a screengrab all the time) I like it so much I even sponsered the maker I use TMPGEnc to encode, from Pegasys, (freeware version via http://www.pegasys-inc.com/e_main.html) And of course Nero to write Caren

Hi, After some unsuccessfull tests with a conon A70 on my helmet I am looking for an alternative yes, we did some DIY with the A70 and made a connector for the tongue switch, but no.... the AF focus is not working in the air, and MF is not working without display on, and the display is truned of automatically after 2 minutes.... so no luck So does anybody know of a digital compact camera (NO SLR, to heavy for my neck hernia...) that is able to keep the MF for the complete jump (CRW, so >15 minutes) ??? I can see for myself of the DIY will be possible, I first need that MF.... regads caren Caren

I also bought the cam this winter at rfconcepts.Great service (the first was not completely to my satisfaction, and they swapped without question). I personnaly prefer the 3.5 lens, the 2.9 lens was too wide-angle for my line of jumping (CRW). 3.5 is equal to a 28mm still-camera lens. see my website for more info (about pages) Caren

i have paid some 25 euro's for my bag. It originally is a bag for a small photo camera, and it fits perfectly around my trv33 and external batterypack for the bulletcam. Recently I have made a hole in the bottom, just at the place the IR window in the camera is, so I can use my remote without having to get the camera out of it's bag. The cable for the camera and cameye sport is comming out of the bag near the zipper (no need to adapt). There is a very handy 'net' at the side of the camera bag in which I can store the cameye sport and teh plugs of the camera cable. My rigger helped me to make a belt that is atached to the bag. The bag has a 'pallas' logo on it. see my website for picures Caren

lost mine 4 years ago most probably because one of the snaps was not closed properly. Was my first jump that year, had a JVC900 on top and had the intention to film a CRW team. I was a little nervous because it was my first jump that year, from a new plane (porter) and on a strnage DZ (Gap-france) Never found the camera nor helmet, some cow in france must be running around with that helmet Caren

Last year I was jumping a FTP, including one (or sometimes 2) TRV11 videocams and a Nikon 801. Together (one videocam) this weight somewhat more than 2 kilo's (5 pounds???) Today I've changed my setup to a FTP with bulletcam and canon rebel (non-digital) and I have now some 500 grams on top of my head. it sure does have a different feeling, and no more neck-pain By the way, it's funny to hear the comments when I board with only the bulletcam (it's inside the front of the FTP), and the comments people make inside the plain ('isn't she forgetting something??? where is the cam???'

the shop of my preference is foto starink. It is just a small shop, but with excellent support. I do not know if they ship orders, but you can always try. Their web-address is http://www.fotostarink.nl/ it is in dutch, but you can find a email address at the bottom. Caren

just at the regular photo-shop in the Netherlands... go and order. Normally they won't have it on stock, so it will take a week or so, but I had no problem ordering them. By the way, a very good lens. And why should you go even wider than the .45? I sometimes have to add some zoom to get the best pictures (well ... "had to" is better, I am using a bulletcam now) regards Caren

[reply BTW Cato's a girl too Apologies to Cato. no problem by the way, I did have a look at the helmetcamera.com page, an although I could not find the exact dimensions of the camera, it surely looks the same size as mine. So that should fit. But notice that I had to remove some of the inner shell to make it fit, and it is not easy to drill the hole at the exact place :-) you can only do that from the outside, and you can not mark the spot exactly.... hold your breath and drill by the way, my page has now some pictures made with the bullet cam on it, look at the NL-page and follow the links at the left. bye Caren

I ordered by bullet cam wit three lenses: the 2.9 already on the camera, and the 3.6 and 4.3 After some testing, it turned out that the 2.9 is far too much wide-angle for my purpose (mainly CRW) The 3.6 turned out to be almost equal to my 28mm lens on my still-cam, so I decided to switch. Note that you need some special appliance to un-screw the lens and put the new one on the camera with regards to your other question: I bought a rather standard (digital-)camera bag in which the TRV33 fitted almost perfectly. To this bag, my friend-the-rigger (thanks Kees) sowed a belt (2 inch wide) with a snap. I wear the belt below the harnas, so first put on the belt, then put on the harnas. it fits very well, I do not feel it when jmping, or sitting in the plane. The weight is minimal (compared o the weight I had on my head before ) if you need more info, just ask. Caren

yep, and I am enyoing it (the bulletcam I mean , no more neck-stress :-) I am also jumping the 21CWSHR with Sony ccd in it, bought at rfconcepts.co.uk Since I already had a flat top pro which fitted very very well, I used that helmet again for the bulletcam. see pictures. The camera is attached via a wire with a trv33 closely strapped on my belly, using a cameye sport to start and stop. see more on my webpage, the about sections tells you more about the setup Caren

i guess you mean tuesday???that's the 28th I will see what is possible at work, but can not give any promisses today. Will also wait for some more detail

hey you all, My favorite shopowner is trying to sell me the expensive original canon remote for my new canon 300v (rebel) .... he is saying that it is 'special' and no normal plug will fit. I can hardly believe him, and do not want to spend 25 euro's if not really necessary. Can somebody confirm that a normal plug bought in a radioshack or some other store will also work??? Caren

until now, very good, but i only made 4 jumps with it, in very cold circumstances (some fogyness, after removing he protected glass that disappeaed) hope o make some more jumps next weekend, I will keep posting jump reports and camera-shots on my site. if you want to know specifics, just ask. Caren

no neck problems? see my web page, under the about-section.... Neck hernia, arhitis, i've got it all. but you can jump with it, if you are carefull and use the right equipment and do some excersises in the gym (and its helps to be a little crazy Caren

interesting

photos on my site, see the about section Caren

very easy to setup, just do some DIY: I cut the wire just long enough to have the wire coming out of the helme, their a plug (male) will be put. I made a wire that will be installed and stiched into my jumpsuit, female at the neck part, male at the belly-part. The plug below comes out a hole made in my jumpsuit. I have bought a cameracase that is just large enough to hold the trv33 and a seperate batterypack (rechargable). That is strapped seperatly around my belly, so under my rig. Both trv33 and battery are connected with the other end of the original wire (which I cut before, see above) and a female plug at the end that was cut, coming out of the bag. (note that themale-female setup is important, since there is voltage on the wire...) I use a cam-eye sport, that is attached on the bag. This evening I will try to make some pictures and attach them here. By the way, for my first jump, the seperate wire through my suit was not yet ready, so I had a direct connection between the camera (helmet) and the trv33, through the jumpsuit. So, at the moment I have my 10 minutes call, I strap on my cameracase, put the camera on VHS, put on my rig, connect the plug between my cameracase and jumpsuit, grab my helmet and board the plain (oh wait, a pin check :-) As soon as i put on my helmet, I can connect the plugs between helmet and jumpsuit. thats all, no problems. Caren

couple of weeks ago I bought the 21cwshr (so no X) at www.rfconcepts.co.uk , 125 pound=235 dollar. This is the normal lux version of the X-version. I first used the 2.9 mm lens, butthat proved to be too much fisheye, I now use the 3.6 lens, which is almost equal to the 28mm lens on my still camera. Just yesterday I have made my first 4 jumps with it, doing CF/CRW and the pictures were great. Note that your really do not need the X-version, since there is quite enough light in the sky and the camera even performs very well in the hangar with less light. You will have to have a camcorder that accepts analogue-in, like the Sony trv22, trv33 or PC105 can. Furthermore: After the first two jumps I had to make some adjustments, since it was very very cold yesterday (like -10C on 7000) and the camera did fog-up at altitude. After I removed the protective glas at the front, this 'david hamilton effect' disapperaed and the pictures are great. I will post some tonight at my website, see the what's new page for a link Caren

then you are completely right. I am still considering a lightweight analogue camera too, but then again... the nikon is still my favorite, and with the video cam no in my helmet, really small (bullet size) i can put my nikon on top, which helps a lot in weight acceptance.. nope or you must have a real nice price in mind Caren

well...lightweight... think again: three weeks ago I almost bought the canon 300D, to replace my nikon 8008 (since i am suffering from a bad neck, i thought also: going lightweight...) but I canceled the order after looking at the complete setup: the canon 300d, together with the sigma 15mm fisheye is about the same weight as my NIKON! and twice as big! Especially the latter is an issue if you plan to put the camera not on top of your helmet, but at your forehead.... So for me it's back to the good old Nikon.... (by the way, i am using slides, no negatives: cheaper and better quality, and make them digital using a canon 4000us scanner ) Caren