Cajones

I use a few different filters, depending on the conditions. I often use a circular polarizer for stills set to vertical neutral. It has never "hosed" a shot, and I'm not sure how it could actually ruin a shot, but can definitely help. I have used a few differend "warming" filters for special shots, like sunsets, etc, but the CP is the most common. You have to sacrifice light when using any filter that changes the image. UV filters are just lens protectors, and as mentioned before - use it whenever you're not using anything else. Try a few enhancing and warming filters in various conditions, and you'll find what you like for your camera. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Yes, I am selling digital stills. There's a good article in Parachutist a few months ago you should dig up. It has a picture of my CoolPix 5000 setup, and some tips on getting started. I have taken a good look at the D100, and I think you should consider the D60. The first, and most pressing arguement against the D100 came this past weekend. One of the camera flyers at the DZ we went to had just purchased the D100, so it was nice to actually handle one and see it in the flesh. The big no-no that turned me off was the remote shutter release. It is a mechanical plunger (Ick!), not a switch type release! The final output of the D100 is nearly identical to the D60. The D60 has been used very sucessfully by other flyers, and you can get good advise from those of us flying the D60 and the D30. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

I'm seeing some good thoughts on some things here. I like the path of a helmet without snag points. The Sky Pimp helmet is the closest thing going right now. More useable than the factory diver. I've done some experimenting with the 2.4GHz micro-cameras (ala X10) including an enclosure to mount on the wing, looking back at the door. The resolution is sub-par for anything better than VHS. The claimed 380 lines of these cameras is not there, and the color is comparable to a picasso. I've also built a very successful air-to-ground camera setup. It was also based on 2.4GHz, but the results were very respectable. The transmitter was based on a military audio/video transmitter, so the power may have been a bit more than the FCC would like to see flying around above any cities. The key factors for wireless live cams most overlooked are the antennas and cabling/connectors. I lost my wireless rig when my house burned down, or I would have been using it during the Freefall Convention. I have considered solid-state recording for a few years now. The biggest attraction comes in the form of edits. Much of the time spent with non-linear edits (i.e. computer editing) is the actual capture of footage. With a solid-state recording, the process could become nearly automated. My vision is to land after filming a standard tandem video, walk over to the "video shack" where my footage is wirelessly transmitted in a matter of seconds to the editing computer. The computer breaks the footage apart, selecting scenes that I have recorded "script style" (recording follows a specific timeline such as student dressing, interview, walk to the plane, take off, student on ride to altitude/hooking up, skydive, landing, interview) and lays them on a timeline, adds music in the proper places, and encodes to a SVCD/DVD. This could potentially produce a final product in less time than it would take to watch the actual footage. Non-linear edits, that take less time than linear-edits! We've seen the video industry poking at this sort of technology. Sony did produce a mini disc based camcorder that never really took off. The image was a bit lower in quality than miniDV, and each minidisc was limited to about 12 minutes of video. Fine for skydiving video, but it didn't record in a format that could be fed into any existing editing software. The "built-in" non-linear editing was difficult to use and too time-consuming. With the introduction of the IP family of Sony cameras we are seeing a move to MPEG compressors integrated with the cameras and the potential for use of pre-compressed footage. The IP line, however, shares a difficult barrier with the minidisc camera. It still does not have a good way of sending the footage to a computer, where it can be edited. They have addressed the issues of "lossy" MPEG cmpression by introducing higher resolutions, so the final product is closer to miniDV quality, but still no easy way to go to non-linear. Development of tighter compression is an emerging science. Fractals have become so complex they only exist in computers. The goal of any compression is to produce the smallest file without stepping on the initial file. Realistically, we are still not producing the quality we want, at the bit rates we can store economically. We are seeing this as an issue with larger file sizes in digital still photography. This may be the caveat we need to make video solid state. There is much discussion of term costs with solid-state and emulsion film. If you take enough pictures with a $5000 camera that does not use film, the camera will pay for itself when compared to a camera that consumes $5 in film every 24 pictures. Sounds like a stretch with miniDV, since we can reuse the film (I don't, and I recommend that you don't reuse tapes, also), but the more devices that are hungry for huge amounts of solid-state memory, the cheaper it will become. We saw this with SDRAM, DDR, and especially RIMMS - higher demand = higher production = cheaper cost-per-unit. It can be done. It can be done with existing technology. It can be done with off-the-shelf components. If I had the financial resources, I'd have already done it. We will just have to wait until Sony or some other company takes the leap, or we'll have to do it ourselves. Anyone want to make a donation? The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Or drill a hole in the cover, which means even with the cover closed, your LANC is exposed. Did this with my PC1, and more recently my PC120. I used to cringe whenever I took a drill or dremel to a camera, now it's no big deal. Kind of funny to see the reaction of people when I start drilling or grinding on their new cameras... The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Wearing nothing? Now that sounds like a great way to get invited to lots of parties! The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Yea, it's cute, 'til you try to show your friends how cute it is, and the kitty has a dingleberry hangin'... "Oh, excuse me... How... Did... That... Get... There..." (Do I look confused or embarrased)... The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

I would like to vote for Jesus Christ and James Bond. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

You could have a lot of quality loss if you export as an avi, and then import as an avi, and then try to export to tape. Tweaking 6.0/6.5 is, of course the best option, if you can make it work. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

I'm an animal lover. They taste great! The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Chin up, Bro. If you really are a nice guy, it will shine through. If she's worthy of a nice guy, then she's already been put through the wringer by at least one guy who wasn't worthy. It seems, to me, that a woman only truly appreciates a good man after she's been with a bad one. I was patient, and quit wasting my time with women who were not worthy. The time I could've spent with "she'll do for now," I invested looking for an equal. A partner I could share all of the important things in my life with. I paid off in the long run. There are a lot of fish in the sea, as they say. Not every person is "just right" for you. Someone who is not right for you is perfect for someone else. All you can do is keep living right, keep being yourself, keep your additude right, and be happy just being you. Don't depend on someone else to be happy. Just believe there is someone out there that will be "just right" for you and the happiness made from that will outshine anything you've ever had. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

It might be worth a try. You can try opening the ppj file in 5.0 and see what happens. Capture all of your footage in 6.0/6.5 first, of course. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Blue Sky Adventures (St. George, SC) has blue closing loops. People sit around on rainy days and chill out, making closing loops. They cost about a penny to make. They use blue fabric dye to make 'em blue. Every once in awhile you hear "Closing loops are free!" in the packing area. Someone being reminded to replace their frayed closing loop. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Very polite post, indeed, Brother. I wouldn't want to ruin any tequila, though. Let's just hope he gets it together (and keeps it together). The Harvest Moon is just recently past, and riding around strapped to the hood of a big, blue Kenworth for nearly a year would definitely have a deteriorative effect on a body. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

I think I'd be interested in the issues of other Regions. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

If he's trying to fit in - how about jumping out of an airplane? I could say something witty like "When in Rome..." but I'm not that smart, I don't think of witty things. How about: This is a Forum that uses the work "Skydiving" twice in the header. If you don't have an interest in skydiving WTF are you doing here? The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Dood! You could put an eye out with one of those! The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

But, two Wrights made an airplane! And airplanes are better than revenge! Edited 'cause I goofed. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

On my open faced/sidemount helmet, I don't have a ringsight. I put my cameye in the corner of my goggles. When I'm in low light, I put it further back, so the light isn't so bright. During brighter light, I put it into my goggles just a bit further. I doesn't take away from my field of view, and a glance out of the corner of my eye tells me what color it is (red/blue) as I'm pressing the button. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Just a quick add-in about the 24mm vs 28mm. Match the field of view of your still camera to that of your video camera. Once you build your sight discipline, you will always know what is in the field of view of your still and video. If you have a super-wide video view, you'll likewise want a super-wide 24mm lens. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Unless you go for a digital still... The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

You gotta' love the folks at PD... Thank him for such a direct professional response from many of us. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

"Shoes, helmet... rig... darn it does someone in the plane have an extra rig? I forgot my rig, again!" Sorry, had to throw that in, 'cause I've given my extra goggles and tandem passenger altimeter to jumpers so many times... The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

An RT card typically does one or two things. The first thing it does is reduce render times. This simply will allow crossfades/dissolves, without waiting for the computer to render those changes. Other transitions and 3-D effects may be included, also, but cuts and cross-dissolves are (or should be) about the only transitions you will use constantly. Some will allow RT titling (higher end) and others will encode MPEG as you are capturing. If you have captured with the DV CODEC and rendered a project to MPEG (for VCD/DVD), then you know this is a very time consuming process. These higher-priced cards are a must for professional types, but not for the casual user. Waiting for a render is usually a good opportunity for a beer run. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

It's a bit of a shame, really. That's a fairly good computer for edits. It sounds like it's time to move up to miniDV, so you can use those firewire ports. The difference in quality... The laws of physics are strictly enforced.

Yes, this is a common symptom of the 845 chipset. No one seems to know why. Another one that will pop us is sudden speed changes when using the preview window. My laptop does it, and I have to reboot to get it to go away. Speculation points at the chipset because it does have some variation. You can try going into your BIOS settings (if you don't know how to do this, you may not want to mess with it, anyhow - get a nerdy friend to help) and see if your computer has the ability to give certain functions and/or PCI slots priority. It fixed the "gray box" on export to tape issues with my old Pinnacle DV500 card. The laws of physics are strictly enforced.