WayCool

You can find it all on at Way Cool Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Sony have lenses in 25mm. We have the Black Eye in 25mm and we have step rings to 30 and 37mm for the 109. It should be a problem to get any wide angle you like to fit. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

What cloud monkey says is definitely on the money in my books - Good advice! I might add that it's not a bad idea to be able to fly with one wing because when that tongue switch decides that it isn't going to work when I'm taking my second still shot in the plane (second test and helps compile the sequence of events) then I'm sure as hell flying with my right hand on the shutter release button! Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

This might help. Wide angle conversion lens usually refers do a lens element/s that is in addition to an existing lens and it is difficult to get a very accurate figure. The figure(0.6) refers to the multiplication factor which the conversion lens will apply to the focal length of the system. Figures less than 1 will decrease the focal length(wider) and greater than 1 will increase it(zoom). Camera lenses for SLR cameras are rated in millimetres and this is the focal length. The reason is that this is the entire lens for the camera and not an add on conversion lens. These converters are available for SLRs but usually are x2 converters for increased zoom. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Jees maybe I should change my slogan!! We have the 25mm step rings and will be making all our lenses with a 25mm thread in the next production runs. I had to make these step rings special in small numbers(expensive). If anybody knows where you can buy a 25mm step ring right now for $3 then I would very much like to know where so I don't have to have any more made. Clip ons and gaffer tape YUK! Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Here's a couple of Photos. The thing I liked about the install when I built this setup was that I could almost completely inclose my PC110. I used to jump in the tropics where rain and water vapour is more of an issue. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

I haven't done any tandem vids for a while but here's a tip. Get the exit cadence off the tandem master so you know what to expect. Most tandems sort of pivot over the the edge of the door as they launch because they have a lot of weight to shift, so it's a sort of progressive exit. Once you have done a few you'll get used to knowing when they are beyond the point of no return. That's what your looking for, that's your key to go and I believe the key to close tandem exits! I used to hang from my fully extended right arm(left hand door) and hold the side of the door and pull myself close to the tandem pair with my left arm. I would let go with my right arm when I thought the timing was right but also keep my left arm loaded up a little as I went. I would control the precise exit timing (and therefore remain close) with how I extended and released the plane with my left arm. Remember this is all happening over a very short time and once you let go with your right hand you ARE going. I think the Chinese guy was right though because I don't remember noticing things in this much detail until I done lots of tandem vids and was really current at the time jumping every day. Also like quade and itdiver said be close to the tandem in the door and wings tucked right away during exit. Good luck Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

If you want the neatest install it takes some commitment but you can take a hole saw or drill bit and drill a hole in your helmet and mount the cam eye body inside the helmet under the liner. This will give you an almost perfectly flush button on the outside of the helmet and looks really pro! Make sure you drill the hole about 1mm smaller than the smaller round protrusion of the switch because it is made of rubber and you can push it into the hole. Use some heat glue on the inside to glue the body of to the helmet shell (this type of glue is easily removable if necessary. You'll have to then route the lanc cable to the lanc plug point and tape or heat glue the indicator to your ring site. It won't affect your footage. If you are interested I'll post a few pictures of the cam eye body mount later. "Edit" similar to the post above but with a bigger hole and no need to disassemble the Cam eye Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Yes on the older camera models it shows on standard the standard frame. It can be solved by nudging the zoom. It's difficult to make a lens so wide that will work with all camera models because the focal length varies so much from the older models to the newer ones. I had this lens designed mainly for use with the newer Sony cameras. The computer screen vignette was not a design concern since this lens is primarily for video and TV use. Note: On the TRV models it is only slight and only needs very slight zooming. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

No body has them yet but the good news is we finally have them. They will be shipping as from today. Unfortunatly we have pushed the envelope a little far and the lens will be unsuitable for the PC5, 9, TRV19, 22, 33 in it's current configuration because of corner clipping. The lens is very wide and has no vignetting on the PC101, 104, 105, 110, and should be good on the PC120, 330 and the 109. We will be testing with these and other cameras over the next few days once we clear the initial orders. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Hi all, I know they have been impossible to get until now so I have manufactured a limited amount of 25mm-30mm and 25mm-37mm step rings. So until they become common place and relatively cheap, if you need them drop me a line. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

I would agree with Cookie as I did a lot of jumps with a Hama 0.5 also. The image quality is quite good, the fog factor is a small problem if you jump in a tropical climate. The other thing I found with the Hama is that It was a little restrictng when filming customers inside the plane because it wasn't quite wide enough. You had to aim really well for good framing which is difficult sometimes in cramped conditions. A wider lens lets you get the grabs a little easier and the newer cameras a less wide as well which magnifies the problem. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

We have the Red Eye 0.3 and the Blue Eye 0.45. We will offer a special low profile UV filter for them, to be released in the next 6 weeks. This will ensure your lenses remain scratch free for your lifetime. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

The simple answer is market forces. The market is very small for a lens that is designed to be wide and small, with limited zoom ability inherent. tooling and manufacturing cost for producing these in relatively low numbers is considerable. It is not appropriate to compare these lenses that are produced mainly for the tiny skydiving market to consumer products produced in Asia or China for the millions. I hope to increase the market for these and other new products planned and then have the ability to upscale production and therefore lower costs. This is true for the single element design, most skydivers are willing to sacrifice this for small size and weight. There are many wide angle conversion lenses available you will find hundreds of options with a well defined google search we also stock some cheaper options they are on our site. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

As Quade says getting hold of your risers fast is also important and with a little practice you can learn to guide your risers around your helmet before you swing vertical with canopy inflation. You can keep your head level if you like, I just find it comfortable and supportive in the position I said earlier. For me it is important to watch my deploying canopy as well as headings and traffic, it helps you learn a lot about canopy deployment and heading control which is a very useful skill for all parachuting applications. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

If you do that you can't see your canopy and if you get some good line twist your head can be trapped down there in front of your risers. Not a nice place to be on a perforance canopy! Also if you have a hard opening this will put a lot of stain on your neck especially if you have a topmounted SLR or something. Try this -Sit your head back so you can see your deployment and lift your shoulders up to create a support for your head and neck for the initial part of the opening. You can see whats going on and this is a very supportive neck position. It is also symmetrical for on heading openings. This works for me! Cheers Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

I just installed version 8.3.17 on XP Pro and really like how quick and easy it was to use. Got a quite good production after only 5 hours. I got a perfect export to DV tape. The problem is I want to make VCDs and when I tried it I can only get it to play in my lap top and it skips and jumps and generally just doesn't play in my consumer DVD player which says it supports VCD and SVCD. Also the menus didn't work. Tried a CDR and a CDRW and 100 and 80% SVCD formats. Any Ideas anyone? Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

I used to jump a PC100 with a 0.5 and a 0.45 conversion lens. I jumped it with an SLR 35mm with a 24mm fixed sigma lens and found the combination to work very well. The stills was a little wider than the video frame and I think that is best. Cheers Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Sorry I should have been more specific. I was mainly talking about the issues raised earlier about camera weight in relation to G forces and hand use restriction. Although I will say that these gloves have been in use for over 3 years in Australia with the restrictions placed by the APF and there have not been any serious incidents reported. Is it not posible that most tandem masters who are qualified for and comfortable with using a Hand-cam glove can exercise their own good judgement and necessary discretion before placing an arm in a vulnerable position? I believe it is possible to get video and be out of reach of the passenger, although the variety of shots and overall quality will suffer. My point is that the tandem master is in a position to make this decision on a case by case basis. Hopefully instructors using these gloves will be competent and aware enough to make the right call with all the decisions involved including the decision to totally disregard the video when "all is going to hell". Everything has an element of risk and I'm not saying that this is for everyone, these guidelines go some way to help ensure this: - Minimum experience of 500 tandems - Recommendation by CI with log book - endorsement - CI approval of camera and mount - Undergo course of instruction by DZSO - One jump with a licensed jumper before taking a student - An audible altimeter is mandatory I would also say that Hand-Cam doesn't even compare to outside photo/video and is a tool to allow DZs more flexability. Operations with lots of staff and lift capacity will hopefully realise the need to keep the new instructors coming through the ranks of video and AFF etc. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Here are the APF rules http://members.westnet.com.au/onlineair/html/safety.htm Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

The IP model cameras when mounted in Hand-Cam gloves are so so small that it would be a pretty tough argument to say they would constitute a safety issue. It's a shame that Sony changed away from the mini DV format with these instead of just the media because They are a very small and safe Hand-Cam option Especially the IP5 & 7 in the Classic configuration. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

AggieDave your are fairly opinionated for someone with relatively low experience (especially 250 tandems) The Australian Parachuting Federation would require you to have double that experience before even allowing you to jump a Hand-Cam on a student tandem jump. I've worked as a video/photo person and instructor on various DZs in various countries and have seen plenty of customers not get what they want due to lack of infrastructure. Why are there plenty of people you know who regret it if you are so good at selling? They won't regret it if you can still offer it to them after the jump even if they didn't want it before hand! Then you will find out how good you are at sales. You are very concerned about the safety of something that has already proven itself to be safe. (nice comment Rigger Rob) If your not up to it yet then don't do it. You might have a different idea when you have more experience. If our sport was governed by such narrow mindedness as yours, there would probably not even be tandem jumping! You might like to read this informative article by a very experienced tandem master.http://members.westnet.com.au/onlineair/Forms/handcams-article.pdf Oh yer, If putting across some opposing points to an discussion and helping with the spread of information on new techniques and products is considered advertising, maybe you should lobby that no more web site URLs be allowed on these forums. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

Here are some more positives: No more customers who can't have video through lack of aircraft slots or staff. Sell video to speculative customers who normally wouldn't have it and doesn't cost an extra slot! Being used very successfully on full time Australian, Swiss, New Zealand and USA Drop Zones. Great on BASE jumps too Awesome opening shots Cool canopy flight shots, Spirals etc. Awesome audio Opening and canopy flight interview Even gets screams on exit It's possible to make an exellent video production with just the tandem master filming with practice and the use of super wide lenses. Ok that enough Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

There are some good points made here on both sides of the equasion. One thing that is missed here is that the whole point of the video is for the customer to enjoy watching it and re-live there one time (mostly) jumping experience. Most of the opinions here are based on the thoughts and views of experienced jumpers and whilst they are valid points in that context, they aren't looking from a customers point of view. I believe that if a customer was unaware of the other video possibilities and received a good quality Hand-cam video from an experience operator they would be very happy with the product. The USA will catch up with the progression of tandem Hand-cam video soon(Don't mean you guys in Las Vegas), that is for certain. There ARE many operators using this product effectively around the world and there HAVE been many thousands of tandem jumps made with them. I have a customer who has made 2000+ jumps with a Way Cool HC Pro. I hope that my customers would inform me of any major safety issues that occur or have occurred but in the last 2 years all the feedback has been positive. There will always be a place for outside video, it is a great starting point and training ground for professional skydivers but Hand-Cam is coming, it is simply a matter of progress and economics. There are some photo galleries and more information on my website for those interested http://www.waycool.com.au. We also have a new super wide and small lens on the way designed for this specific purpose it will also be very handy for AFF jumpmasters who would like to offer their students a little more in training aids. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au

http://www.waycool.com.au has the thin ones and a new one to be released soon that will be wider than anything scene before thats not fish eye. Stay Cool http://www.waycool.com.au