chachi

Well if you were to ask me personally what I would buy to get me over the next few years for skydiving and general photography I would say buy the rebel digital. It is expensive but the performance is awesome. Unless you want a lot of custom funtions and a little more speed then you could go with the 10D. Canon has superior optics and the Nikon, Minolta, nor Pentax currently do not have a comparible model. If you already have a fisheye lens? it will be a great bonus as the 1.6 factor for wide angle makes it necessary to have a wider lens than normal film optics. ~Chachi

Well arguing on the internet is like being in the special olympics and I feel like I am about to win a gold medal. I think that there are merits for each argument I just am a big proponent of people doing in the air what is planned on the ground. Where people opening high inform pilots, and other people and exit right before the tandems. If you have jumped in so many locations with no outs anywhere I can understand why you would be biased toward your arguments. I have jumped in quite a few dz's and always believed that I had options. I'm going to bow out and take the silver on this one. ~Rob PS. Brian was right, talking and giving each others opinions makes us all safer.

Well, I whizzed by a canopy in freefall once, far but to close for me and I think the odds are probably quite large but still I would rather avoid the circumstance again. The problem of injuries is not one of a quick fix it is a matter of people being educated and prepared to land at another place close to their dropzone. If you landed in the same spot every time forever and ever you may have diffculty landing even on another dz and hurt yourself. You should educate as to safe landing outs in all compass directions around your dz preparing people to do this if necessary. The problem is that people have no clue and injure themselves when they panic, or have no clue of obstacles they must avoid. So do what you wish, I still believe it is safest and in everyones best interest to know what people are doing around you, and I also believe we should educate people like they are jumping in the biggest zoo on the planet so when they get there immediate reactions are not to go and do something not in the best interest of the jumpers around them. ~Chachi

Well, if you are now arguing that in a place with very few or no outs should I pull high or risk paralysis or a stick up the ass from landing in tree I would say make a safe decision but in 99% of the dropzones you go to there are outs on all sides of the compass. The way I perceived the thread to start and continue was should on an average dropzone where you are not going to make it back should you pull high, I would say no. If I was in the jungle or glades of Florida and it was hitting the swamp or the dz, sure I would pull high. Your arguing semantics now though and playing devils advocate. I don't believe we should teach poeple in the average situation to just change plans and pull high unless the circumstances of a possible fatal or seriously dangerous landing were the only other options presented to you. ~Chachi

Oh, and one more point, we should be teaching big drop zone habits, and potential dangers even if we are jumping at a small cessna dropzone in buttfuck, Whereeverville. That way when people go to big dropzones like Eloy, Perris, or to major boogies like WFFC and there is multiple airplane, jumping on an airport, or whatever people make smart decisions that have been engrained there little noggins and don't make dummy moves. So when you come to my dropzone I will show you all of the safe alternative landing areas but we are ona major flight line into Vancouver Int'l Airport and opening high causes a bunch of air traffic controllers asses to pucker. My dropzone is not the only place with air problems but multiple airplanes dropping loads have problems unless they know ahead of time what is going on. Keep it safe, PLAN THE DIVE AND DIVE THE PLAN. ~Chachi

Maybe they did, maybe someone flew off the wind line, maybe maybe maybe. I just don't understand the hate on to landing somewhere a little off to take some form of added danger out of the skydive. I mean, most dz's will even come get you if your more than a little walk away. Why add potential risk when it is not needed just to accomodate lazy legs. ~Chachi

Ever been on an Otter that shut off the green light and turned around and did a downwing jump run. Go to Eloy, it happens all the time. How would you know if you were out of the plane and then the pilot decided to do that. All I am saying is that increasing the possibility of an accident to save yourself a walk is in my opinion not what I want to see on my dz. ~Chachi

Ok, I guess I should dummy down my statement. Pulling high gives a higher chance of something happening then if you were to pull at the correct altitude where everyone expects you to be. It could be a potential collision, a potential hazard for aircraft if you are near a busy airport. I don't mean there would be inherent danger on every jump but in my opinion you should do what you plan to do on the skydive and not make changes mid flight unless of some worse potential danger. This keeps us all in a safer environment. If you don't have prepared safe outs that you can land the canopy you are jumping in you shouldn't be jumping that canopy or you should prepare better. ~Chachi

My opinion is this, PLAN the DIVE and DIVE the PLAN. This will keep everyone way more safe. I think if you are a beginner, to advanced, to expert skydiver you should be able to put the canopy that you are flying down into adverse landing, weather, and location differences. If you have a bad spot you should know all of the safe locations around your dropzone to land. Also, you should learn how to fly your canopy at max glide for the entire canopy flight. I have had some pretty brutal spots at my DZ and still manage to get somewhere safe to land. Pullig high sets us up for failure unless everyone on the load knows what is going on. ~Chachi

You shouldn't give it up, but I wouldn't tell anyone about it. There is like 0 risk of transmitting to someone during a tandem. Fight the good fight. ~Chachi

It is called Adobe products, get used to it. THey are like crack. I sit down to edit a fashion or glam phot I shot and then 5 hours and blurry eyed later I force myself to get up because I could spend forever fixing things. Don't even mention what I do in Premiere Pro. ~Chachi

I say get em dude. Sign him up for every porn site imaginable. Anything you can find with email verification. ~Chachi

Just a nice point to keep those videos coming, offer a beer or a couple dollars to the camera man when they do a dub for you, keeps em feeling appreciated. Anyway, as a camera man, I show some of my best around but not to much. ~Chachi

I understand curiosity but this thread seems as likely to get honest responses of oh yeah I get baked b4 every jump like I have of being elected President of the USA, although if some dope like Bush can get elected ........ ~Chachi

Could any of you going to Elsinore ask any of the staff if they need an altimeter, it's free but it's pink. Anyway just want to help out a little. They can send me a PM and I will send it to them ASAP. I guess a marker would make it black. ~Rob

I may be able to help you out. ~Chachi

I agree with the people that say 200 is a good starting number. Notice we all say starting number. If you think that when you strap a camera on your head you will simply be doing the exact same thing as everyone else on the skydive you are wrong. The first factor is the inflight crap you have to deal with. Getting camera on, sighting it, turning it on and hitting record. Doesn't seem like much yet. Climbout, need to be awarre of the camera at all times, exit, oohh gotta get the exit shot, oh look, Billy's geeking the camera, I better get a good shot of him. Oh ok focus, fly to slot, keep them in frame, oh forgot about flying, how do I side slide again, oh yeah, breakoffs, always look cool on video, ooops I forgot to track, pull, oh gotta watch some stuff around pull time like head position or something???? oops real camera guy to the centre now we are dumping on top of each other. This is not to say that you would make a habit of doing anything I just mentioned. Lets think of it this way though. Better to be skilled at simply piloting your body, before you add other potential dangers. Listen to the experience of literally hundreds and hundreds of camera flyers that will tell you their experiences and say that just having a camera on your head will be a major distraction. Or don't, and risk maybe mroe than you think. Hey, maybe you will give us a current statistic to point out to the next guy. You will become a better skydiver without it at the start, making you a way better camera man later in your career, after you have the basics nailed. Just an FYI from guys around you that care even though we don't know you. ~Rob (Chachi)

Well, most use a digital SLR for a few reason. The most common are: ~Resolution: My 10D is 6.3MP, so is the rebel, the other common one. 3.0MP is decent but not really for anything over 8 X 10, depending on the compression. ~Remote: Most consumer digital don't have one. ~Speed: I can take 9 pictures in 3 seconds with 10D before it needs to even think about delaying for a buffer. ~Settings: Automatic settings suck. ~Versatility: I use my camera on the ground also, I can go from 10mm - 500mm or anywhere in between just by changing lenses. All in all the latest digital SLR's are far superior to a regular digital camera. ~Chachi Edited for spelling, come on Sangiro, we need a spell check option like my email.

Well, truth is this is why guys shouldn't have online affairs as it's guys like this posing as 21yr old girls. ~Chachi

Liar, why just last week you tried to....... ~Chachi

i think that the General Talk Back Forum is for people to discuss anything that they feel like discussing. If they choose to mention that they are bi, straight, gay, tri, or whatever tI think that they are showing their personality. I think our personality is what makes us who we are. Kat, go ahead and mention it 1000 times, and not just because your hot and it gives me good mental images and at least 3 kittens have died because of it, (lol , just kidding), but mention it because it is who you are and everyone here is welcome. Your not a troll in my eyes. ~Chachi

I guess the ladies are the only one to get an ego boosting thread. Pity really. Come on ladies, PLAY. ~Chachi

Wow, Kat is touchable. For sure a hottie. ~Chachi

I am going to go with Skycutie(Jess) followed very closely by MyOwnWay(Ashley). However there is a huge list of Hot Skychicks especially from DZ.com I would love to meet. ~Chachi

Remember one of the benefits to having a digital camera is that you can change ISO speed for every shot if you wanted. It helps. Sunset at ISO 100 is still tricky. Many skydiving photographers use flash, I definately wouldn't be afraid to. In fact consider using flash dusring the day also, help liven up harsh daytime shadows. Try ta be as close as you can to the landers, in fact if you are going to shoot them tell the plane load befroehand and then they will all shoot accuracy on you. -Rob