pcalandra

Filter Diameter: 25mm, right from Sony's web site

Hi Jeff, cool pic!

You might try checking out butterfly photo also, (no affileation). I've purchased from them and they were honest and promt. Accessories also are expensive though. Pat

I have my digital rebel mounted upside down using the standard 1/4"x20 threaded mounting hole. I use an allen head and it goes on & off easily. I haven't had a problem.

I haven't used a wide angle lens yet this season, I mostly do tandems and like the perspective better without it, however it's tough for 4 way extis especially when you don't do a lot of 4 way. Pat

The standard kit lens, and this is the only time I've exprerienced this in over 1,000 exposures so far. Hopefuly this is the last time too!

That's what I thought but the metadata indicates F7.1?

Is this what you are talking about? This has happened to me once, and I have no explanation as to why? It really pissed me off too Here is the metadata File Name IMG_0472.JPG Camera Model Name Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL Shooting Date/Time 6/19/2004 6:46:08 AM Shooting Mode Shutter Speed Priority AE Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/125 Av( Aperture Value ) 7.1 Metering Mode Evaluative Exposure Compensation 0 ISO Speed 200 Lens 18.0 - 55.0mm Focal Length 28.0mm Image Size 3072x2048 Image Quality Fine Flash Off White Balance Auto AF Mode AI Focus AF Parameters Contrast +1 Sharpness +1 Color saturation +1 Color tone Normal Color Space sRGB File Size 796KB Drive Mode Continuous shooting Owner's Name Camera Body No. 1060310189

Well I took the plunge and created a Shutterfly account, I've posted the pictures from my first day using the Digital Rebel. I'm pretty impressed with this camera, I literally took it out of the box, mounted it on my helmet and used it for the first time today in the air! If your interested you can see some photos here [www.shutterfly.com\pro\PatrickCalandra\FrontierSkydivers] Pat Pat

I agree with the routine, thats key! I'd also suggest keeping a spare battery with you and a set of spare goggles. You'd be surprised how many times a tandem passenger has managed to loose them, squinty or closed eyes make for bad video.

Duece, Can I ask how much your getting paid for straping on the digital camera and what you give the customer when they leave the DZ? Please e-mail me if you don't want to make it public. Thanks, Pat

Thanks quade, But back to my original questions. Is anyone that's using this service actually making any money?

Thanks for the feedback so far! Just to clarify a little, we are a "Club" operation and as such there aren't any contracts with the DZ or a photography concession in place at this time. As a matter of fact until I recomeded it several years ago the club made nothing off of a video at all, now they get about 10%. We use a leader tape that every video get's, the Video's are a great sales tool for the club and it's a very cost effective form of advertising. Today any photographer that does stills (which is not a requirment to fly camera) just send the stutent home with the roll of film or if digital gives the student a photo that is printed by the photographer and/or a private arrangement for reprints are made. Personally I hate the whole idea of fulfilment and/or having to deal with making prints at the DZ. That's why Shutterfly appeals to me. I can see a point somewhere in the future where the club handles the whole Shutterfly thing and maybe throughs the photog a bone or tow or changes the pay scale, but that's not the model today. Pat

I'm just getting ready to go digital for stills and was wondering how many of you are using Shutterfly or a similar service for Tandems and what your opinions are. Also are you actually making enough money to justify the cost of the service? Thanks, Pat

Sabre 120 loaded from 1.33:1 to 1.5:1 depending on weights etc. I've had 99.9% soft and on heading openings, although I did get slammed so hard it ripped my helmet right off once! I got lucky and caught it though, you should see the video of my crotch !

Nicely said Quade!

Sweet, congratulations!

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the link, that camera looks interesting I'll have to do some research on the remote release. By the way one of the guys I work with just bought the 7 and it takes great pictures on the ground anyway

Sorry for the delay, heres the deal; I spoke to Mark at Harbortronics and their 2000 series will only let you take 1 image at a time, the camera has to fully write to the media before you can fire another shot, totally useless in my humble opinon. You can't take advantage of the 3 frames per second that it's capable of or the 9 frame buffer. Both the 5000 and 5700 have a connector on the bottom that was intended for an external battery that enables the ues of a remote shutter release like the Conceptus tonge or bite switch, the 5400 does not have this feature! I had some dialog with a Nikon service tech who said there is no way to make a Conceptus switch work on the 5400. Even after some mild begging he was unwilling to get me a serivce manual for it or a schematic for the Nikon remote MC-E1U, which I think could be modifed with a little work. Here is his response in quotes; "Pat, service manuals/ schematics are not made available to the general public. The chances of an untrained tech opening any Coolpix product without damage are very slim. I've seen enough basket cases in service to attest to that fact. It's more tightly packed with flexible PCB and lilliputian ribbon cables then you might imagine. Frankly speaking, this model was designed without any type of mechanical shutter release system. The Coolpix 5000 and Coolpix 5700 have optional battery packs which connect to a bus available on the bottom of the camera which grant access to the shutter release system (the pack has a shutter release button on it), but the 5400 does not offer that particular accessory item, nor does it have the bus required to tap directly into the shutter release. Sorry I didn't have better news for you." I'm sorry for the long post, but I was quite bummed to hear this, I felt this was an ideal "low to medium budget" camera for skydiving photography. I haven't given up totally but it doesn't look good. I really don't want to spend $1,600.00 plus for a D10 and lens

I'd do some research on them, that does sound too good to be true! By the way I was surprised how large the D10 was when I first saw it, considerably bigger than a standard 35mm body.

Quade is right on regarding the trigger delay. As far as the 5700 goes the biggest difference is the 32mm wide angle lens vs the 28 on the 5000, plus it does a lot of other neat shit that's useless for skydiving. If you check the specs out, think it also has a little better buffer and is slightly faster than the 5000! If you want some reasonably good camera reviews try this site http://www.steves-digicams.com/default.htm[/url] By the way forget about the Coolpix 5400 for now, there is no practical way of a remote shutter release for it, I'll post more details in a new thread. Pat

This always works! Wait until I purchase one, I guarantee the price will drop right after I take delivery the odds are much better than Vegas too

Thanks Quade for taking the time to do this and sharing with us. I was mostly interested in your subjective opinon anyway! I'm glad to hear that our friends at Sony keep giving more for less. I'll put the 22 on my buy list for next year!

The Cameye II works fine on my Canon Optura PI, the LANC ports should be the same. Hope that helps. Pat