vdschoor

I would agree with Miami here.. I thought about a unit like this, but a second camera was way more cost effective and practical. Iwan

Get the Canon Digital Rebel XT... You can't go wrong there.. I got the 20D cause I do a lot of ground photography as well, and if you have bigger hands, the XT is not as nice to handle (I think) I wanted a slightly bigger, heavier camera. Iwan

Happy birthday Banannon.. missing you..

I think it will too.. it looks familiar and the one I've seen works REALLY well.. Iwan

Agreed. To the original poster: Read up on "hyperfocal distance" The only times I have shot in AF is when I was using a "longer than normal" lens on my camera (50mm / 80mm / 100mm) With wide angle lenses, you should be able to work with the hyperfocal distance of the lens. For me.. 400 F8, ISO 100 on my Sigma 15mm, set the focus to about 4 / 5 ft out and all my shots are razor sharp. Tandems, Belly formation, FF formation, birdman.. Iwan

Hmmm Thursday night at Antonio's Nut House could be cool. I wasn't around for those times, but I've seen pics of her there. I'd be all over that too.. Lets go nuts at the nuthouse!

Eindhoven de gekste! AJAX is cool though (I am talking the web development platform now) for a lot of stuff.

I think the key here is off camera flash, instead of on the camera.. I did a bunch of photos, but those were mostly through the glass, with an off camera flash that worked pretty well. Iwan

Ahhhh.... I know that guy. He's hot. He's from Europe right? I heard the ladies mention those guys are hot.. 1010 ACMESkydiver Amazon (she's staying with me, I can't wait for my girls to meet her) Deuce Gareth Gravity Girl Mathias monkycndo NWFlyer Sandy SkydiveXXL Sunshine Elisha vdschoor

I'm at work, the pics are at home..

A Velocity is certainly a handful, jumping and flying a Velocity is not that big of a deal.. Landing a Velocity.. well.. its not a big deal either, so far I have found the Velo to be the best landing parachute I have ever had, although I have to say.. it comes in with the speeds of a formula 1 race car even with minimal input. I think the real danger with a Velo at low jumpers / low experience has been posted already on here by CCQ a while back.. everything happens so much faster, flying in the pattern with other people, negotiating the patern with other people, all those things happen so insanely fast that you really have to be on top of your game at all times.. and you can only be like that after lots of jumps and being VERY current. That to me is the biggest challenge with this parachute, make sure I blend in with the rest of the people in the pattern, even though my parachute flies twice as fast..

I will look for a picture of it, I should have several.. Iwan

I shoot mostly fully manual. 400 F8, at ISO 100 for the "normal" bright day If I shoot in auto, I go to Tv 320 (shutter priority) at ISO 100 The reason I go with the lowest ISO speeds possible is for obvious reasons.. enlargements, but also the big white area right at the horizon.. the higher your ISO speed, the bigger that white area is.. For most jumps though I shoot fully manual and I set my camera at about 10K, I meter off the wing of the airplane or something and make sure that the sun is in the position where I want it during the skydive.. Iwan

What he said People always ask this question.. as to the angles.. nothing is as wide as that 8mm.. ha ha.. seriously, you have to fly so ridiculously close to things to get a similar picture as you would with a 15mm for example.. still the pic would look way different due to the heavy fish-eye effect. Look at these pics with that lens.. http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf5a6ffe8097 Personally.. I pretty much always fly with the same video lens (a Kenko .5) cause once you start experimenting with lenses like this one, you're flying more for photos anyways.. Let me know if you have any questions about the lens.. it's a great toy for special photo work.. but not a good overall lens for "everyday" freefall photography. Iwan

I'll take a couple too Peter.. Thanks for doing this..

I am at a loss for words, I can't believe this is all true... I got the call yesterday that "something" happened to her at the bridge, and I knew my nightmare had just come true.. even after reading all this I still can't believe it.. Shannon, you will be missed, but your smile and presence will be remembered forever.

I can't miss out on this one..

I dare you to go for a nice long bike ride on a road bike with a pair of regular shorts.. Instead of a sweaty nutsack, your nutsack will be so blown up that you are gonna want to go see a doctor cause you think your guts dropped into your sack.. yes.. I do ride around in the tights too.. it's not pretty, but I care about my sack..

Nothing really.. it's just a little bit faster than what you're used to, just be careful, you'll be fine.. What's the rush people? Look at all the people that are flying in the PST right now, most of them have hundreds of jumps on the same canopy before downsizing.. I have 1200+ jumps on Sabre2s and I was still having a blast on them. Long swoops, pond swoops, sinking it in.. everything.. don't rush yourselves..

Fine then.. I won't bring my camera then See you this weekend sir!

Does anyone have aerial pics of the dropzone and the beach landing area?

Here's a reason why there are jump minimums for flying camera: 1. malfunctions (your safety) 2. air awareness (other people's safety AND you safety) An example.. (or dozens of them.. really) I can't count the number of "bigger" ways I have filmed with lower experienced people where I see total chaos as the formation builds.. What I mean with this is people taking each other out, cutting each other off. The real interesting thing is to listen in on the conversation back on the ground "Dude.. I didn't even see you coming" What I am getting at here is that your awareness in the sky is VERY VERY low at low jump numbers, you get target fixated and forget about stuff around you.. and trust me.. having a ringsight in front of your eye doesn't help here either, cause now you can really focus on getting the shot right? while doing this you WILL lose track of what's going on. Take it easy, get proficient in flying your body and have fun with your friends.. then start thinking about putting cameras on..

OK, that one's funny. Blues, Dave It was huh? And just cause nobody else said it out loud.. your daughter is hot.. Now take those pics down before all the freaks on here look her up on myspace..

Dude.. I knew you were old.. but THAT old..

Six bucks for the movies, and 2 bucks a gallon for gas? I am moving to wherever you are.. ha ha.. How about 3.50 for gas and 10 bucks for the movies.. Dang.. there goes my Friday night entertainment.. would it be good if I went to the movies really drunk? Or would it still suck?