Cookie

In Australia we have approximately 4000-5000 liscenced jumpers. Every year a few leave the sport and are replaced with the new but it seems to remain around 4-5k. We have a population of 20 million How many jumpers are there in the U.S.A What is the biggest all American formation ever built? In Australia I would say a 80way but Dave Rucket was on the load. Cookie Capture the Blue Room Experience. www.cookiecomposites.com

I believe that that the Cameye will not work to it's full potential in these camera's. The cameye will indicate the mode the camera is in but will not start the camera with out the camera being first place into the appropiate mode. For example You switch the camera to VTR, you use the cameye to start recording, you stop recording and after a period the camera goes into sleep mode. By pressing the Cameye again it will not start the recording or wake the camera from this sleep mode. You will have to turn the camera on manually again. Cameye are working on this problems. It has to do with the new style on/off is a software switch not the 3 position swicth as seen on previuos models Cookie Composite are currently working on fitting them into our TRV style boxes, If the box is to large we will certainly look at manufacturing a Black Box. Cheers Cookie

Nice Average. All valid points. I certainly don't want to get into a slinging match over different view's refering to body position. Yes the top team's with 20 + averages have 1.1 sec radoms, they also have to flash between each random. So I think fast reaction times for dramtic body postion change is feasable. I also pride myself on being a good relworker with PB's of 15.8avg 4way and 14.7avg 8way at the 1999 World Meet. My team mate from the 1997 World Meet is Airspeeds Todd Hawkins. That is enough of my Bios. Iam also a big dude 6'2 and 190lbs for me to fly fast I have to get small, regarding fall rates, I believe if you can see your opposite there is a good chance of moving fast with dramatic body position changes and remaining on level or at least finishing a move on level. Nice skydive for a 19 Ron. Check out the different body positions your OC flys compared to the Point. I would compare my body position to your OC guys The Mantis position has many extensions. Compare a good mantis position when doing a solo to one where your the IC of a bent cat. One of you arms in a bent cat is close to your head where the other is straight. That's enough from me. Great discussion. Cookie Run It!!

A good analagy with the Cessna and the Pitts. I totally agree, but why not have both. From a random build where your wide and solid as you transition you get your extremeties in ie get small, make that snappy move and as your applying the brakes start extending your extremities to be solid for that next random build. A good block description is Sidebuddies x 2 (Sorry I only know the names) I think it's #10 If your are on the sidebody it's hard to to have a mantis posiion as it is a sidebody and that extra room between you and your piece partner is good for cogging the block, so a wide stance etc is needed aka Solid! When you key with your opposite I firstly get small so I can turn faster ie arms in/legs closed slightly dearched. On the close I'm getting big, this helps slow the turn and aids in a good sidebody random build. I must say this thread has been great for outlining the many ways people go about being a slick/mean fast mother#@*er of a rel worker. Bring it on!! Cookie RUN IT!!!!

Squeak, I have used a Hama lense before, did approx 500-1000 jumps with one. The only downfall was on those cloudy days with a few inversion layers about it used to get the odd misty dot in the center of the lense between the glass that could only be removed with a hair dryer. Living in Queensland it happened rarely and I could nearly pick the days when it was going to happen. There are still some good priced quality lenses about. The Seimax or Kenko 0.42 springs to mind and wont cost you an arm and a leg. Can I say that you have just got yourself a nice shiney new video camera, don't limit it with a really cheap quality lense. My old man said save your money and buy the best tools possible. Within reason of course. Email me some frame grab's when you get to RUN IT!!! Cookie

Wow. $20 shipping for 1 screw. Wont be buying it there. Yeah $20 may seem steep but it works out at $13USD for express postage approx 5-7 days delivery and $6 USD for the screw. My may want to look at a group by with your dropzone camera buddies as this would ultimately reduce you shipping costs. If you look at our screw closely there is a slot machined into the screw so it can be retained on a camera platform. You will never lose the screw as it stays with the platform. Having said this any 1/4 inch screw will do the job, it's whatever your happy with. If you do get your screw from the hardware and cut it to length, remember to hit it with a file to clean up the thread as the tripod mount in the bottom of the video camera is made of chrome plated brass and will chew out easily if you screws thread isn't perfect. I like stainless screws as they are tuff, look cool wont rust etc but if there is any faults in the thread it will absolutely destroy the tripod mount made of brass. When I first jump camera in the early 90's I mounted up my own Sanyo video 8 and had a brass screw into the tripod mount. My screw was too long and over time went throgh the plastic base in the bottom of the tripod mount. I didn;t notice this until one day it stopped. The result was I had scored through 3 layers of the PCB. I was a $300 for a $1000 camera, the poor guy who repaired it said it took him a whole week to do the repair and I had gotten out of it cheap. I hope I've been of some help Cookie Capturing the Blue Room experience!!

Try here http://www.cookiecomposites.com/products.php?id=6 Cookie

I have just the thing. The weight of the box is 95 grams. www.cookiecomposites.com

*** So which do you use for BASE?that were my Q Base handy cam and belly mount a 0.3 lense is most commonly used. I have seen Douggs jump without a lense on helmet mounted stuff with a PC104 but use a 0.3 and 0.42 on 2 way's plus size jumps. Cookie

I use a 0.3 Redeye and Seimax 0.42 lense with my PC105. Both fit great in the Blackboxes I make with the Redeye 0.3 being flush with the front of the box. I use the 0.3 for inside formation shots and handycam and the Seimax for the majority of the rest. The 0.42 also has the same field of view as my 24mm still lense. You can check out www.cookiecomposites.com to see how the 0.3 fit into our Blackboxes. I'm also looking forward to trying out a new 0.25 Blackeye lense coming out soon. Cookie Capturing the Blue Room Experience!!!!

Squeak, Would you believe it. At Sydney airport yesterday and saw PC104's for $949 and PC105's for $1549. Looks like you did well. Cookie

Cool Matt, Currently our gloves only fit the PC101/105 size camera's. We are currently building Black Box moulds for the PC330. So if we get some interest for 330 gloves sure well certainly say "Giddy UP" and start making them. Our web page has a few problems at the moment whilst we finish our new site which will go live this week, It really reflects the type of guys we are!! Really looking forward to getting my hands on the PC108 or PC109 for a few field tests. I have my reservation on picture quality however it could be a good bang for your buck camera and really light weight. Lense diameter will be the real issues at 25mm. I think you may have to run stock sony lenses as I can't find step rings for that size. Have fun with your new lid and send me some pic's of you in action to chack out. Cookie Capturing the Blue Room Experience!!! Run IT!!

A big Bronco's fan. I've been hanging out at Toogoolawah since 1991. Very cool place and people. Drop me a email at cookie@cookiecomposites.com and let me know when your coming so I can hook you up with the locals. I'll diffinetly be at the Equinox boogie in October and next week all the Aussie chick are doing some bigway RW and freefly record stuff. Toogoolawah has it all, kangaross,koala's,3xcessna caravan's and a great fun vibe. See you there. Cookie

That's right Squeak. The PC104 is the same as the PC105 minus a few small features. I beleive optically they are the same. There is also a new range of Sony camera's I just did some research on thanks to Rigger Bob for asking the question. The PC108 AUD$1333 and PC109 AUD$1645 have just hit our shores. The only problems I can see with the PC108 and PC109 is the optical quality is not as good as the PC105. Also the PC108 and PC109 have only 25mm lense adapters. This is a odd size I believe it will be hard to get generic lense step rings for 25mm to say 30mm or 37mm. The PC108 and PC109 have a NP51 battery which I think is a little better than the NP50 and a lot better than the NP30. The PC108 and PC109 comes with a docking station and I/R device capable of transferring your video to recorder. I think the I/R adapter is extra cost?? Because the price of these camera's are coming down with each new model you can bet that the image quality and/or features will be reduced. I reckon that the PC9 has the best quality for the low end PC models. You still can't beat the PC330/110/120/100 for upright camera quality. It's a tough choice!! You need to look at what you want to acheive with your camera, then budget and weight it up from there. Cookie Capturing the Blue Room Experience!!!!

Yeah hear what you mean. A mate of mine Douggs aka Chris McDougall has released some DVD's that are great viewing. His latest one is just friggin awesome. Drop me a PM if you would like me to chase them up. I did my first base with Douggs off Arco after the world meet, a very life changing experience after all the skydives I have done. Very humbling!! I think now a trip to Norway is a must. Cookie Capturing the Blue Room Experience!

Yeah I have met Clare, I think she is hanging out in Sydney. Team Whoosh are doing some go shit also. You cant beat tunnel coaching either to iron out body position stuff. I had a stint in Deland in 1999 with a team. Ended up with 6 hours of Tunnel time and 140 jumps for the 3 weeks we were there. Felt very current when we left. Keep at it Katie, one day while your going at it your problem will no longer be there. Then you'll be asking about smooth vertical transistions. Cookie Capture the Blue Room Experience!

Hey Quade, Finally pulled my finger out on the TRV box. Comments please!! This is the first one off the press. Cookie Capturing the Blue Room Experience!

Tell Jonny Eagle that he flies with he knee's to wide apart they are definetly wider than his shoulders, He is a good example of what ever it takes to move fast. I think a wide stance is good. You are definetly more solid and have a good grip if you know what I mean. I do agree that this position is also prone to catching air if you knee's are down. A to big of an arch can restrict you movement when trying to super transition, This will create popping as you modify your arch to move. I know wearing a lot of lead sucks, but if your tearing it up in the sky whilst remaining on level, I would hang in there. Also those lead weight belts are great for getting on and off and they can go over the top of you suit. Rip it a new sky hole Cookie

Hey Deuce, That Dog of yours looks like an Australian Dingo.

Hi, A trick with drilling carbon fibre is high speed, slow feed. This means getting your electric drill flat out and only applying minimal pressure to the bit. Let the drill do the work or otherwise you end up tearing the carbon. A slightly blunt drill bit or one with a less aggressive angle from the tip to the cutting face works best. Another tip is to apply masking tape over the area you wish to dill as this can stop fractures around the hole and it also makes it easier to mark the spot for the hole if you use the white stuff. I generally use 4x1/8 or 4mm screws to mount my boxes to the helmets and nylock locking nuts is a must. As said in the previous thread a dust mask is important as in good ventilation, so do it in the garage or outside. This stuff can also make you itch so coverup. Before you start the drilling process, do a dumbie run. That is tape the box to the helmet and get a friend to have a look side on with you looking straight forward or go to the bathroom and check yourself in the mirror. Anyway good luck with your project, and if you can it would be cool to post pic's of your handy work. Cookie

I also need some help. I need to go the other way ie jpeg to bmp. I have done this but I need to reduce the file size to use a thumbnail etc.

The Sony PC5 is roughly the same size as the PC9/PC101 and PC105. Check out www.cookiecomposites.com

Here's a good tip for sighting the stills camera. Get your hands on a small piece of mirror approx 2"x1". Glue this onto your lense cap using hot melt glue or double sided tape. Mount your camera on you helmet. I must say this works best with a ring sight set up for you video. Now head to the restroom with your helmet on. Look in the mirror and using your sight or laser pointer etc. aim it at your own face. If you can see your face in the small mirror on the lense cap you know that your still camera is pointing in the same direction as your video. Some people might ask why your heading to the restroom with your helmet on prior a jump. Just tell them your trying to get the right shot!! Good Luck Cookie

How does the PC105 compare to size with the PC101. I manufacture Carbon fibre boxes for Mini DV camera's and haven't been able to get my hand's on one to see if it is the same size or bigger. Alround general concensis is that the PC101 is a very skydiving friendly camera will the robustness that only a Sony camera can offer. See some of you camera guys at the World Champs in France.

Just found a pic and info at JandR's. I believe they have similar spec's to the PC101, however I think they are marginally smaller. What do you all think