WmLauterbach

i have seen both extremes work AND fail... I have watched HUNDREDS of students biff in under a 370 foot docile square after 15-20 jumps on the same canopy... (students that recieved MORE than adequate instruction.) I have also seen jumpers just off of student status land a spectre 190 like they had been doing it for years... The moral of the story? (none really) There are those who given proper instruction can do a BOC mounted level one AFF jump with a wing loaded Stilletto and walk away from the landing area wondering what the big deal was. Then there are a few who can get a FJC before every jump, and skydive for 20-30 years, have thousands of jumps, lots of cool gear, and still suck becuase the 'light-bulb' never really comes on. Now, final exam time... As a skydiving instructor, which of those groups does one have to focus his efforts on? (no correct answer, but the answer to your question whatever it may be, will be the deciding factor as to what canopy YOUR drop zone will use as its 'solution') So, my gas bag now drained, I wish for all to live happily ever after as normal fun loving skydivers... ps... "A first jump student under a Stilletto loaded at 1.3:1 is a recipe for disaster." I couldnt agree more...

non-Linear... I use a HP pavillion Celeron 533 w/64 m of ram and Studio DV as software. analog... I have used a plain old Sima fader board, Panasonic WJ-AVE3 and lots of work on a WJ-AVE7 (and a couple of jumps on a AVE5) all of them have treated me just fine

focal length and distance from the formation can be two different animals... BUT If you are using a medium/wide (.5 or .6) you can fly about 10 feet up and be comfortable. If you are using a very wide angle(.42/.45) , you will have to fly closer to get the same frame size, which means you will spend more time flying in someone elses bad air (or maybe even falling on top of them) You can even shoot without a conversion lens, and add about 5 more feet of separation while still getting ABOUT the same frame size... My advice is: spend some money on lift tickets, and look for your 'sweetspot' until you figure out what works best for YOU... Every 'camera-guy' will eventually find a sweetspot that works for them. The only way to find it is to make mistakes. Do your best to make "safe" mistakes, and I promise you will see the difference. Good luck up there...

for work... TRV-30 top mounted on a flat top w/Minolta Maxxum 700si front mounted on an L-bracket for play... TRV-11 / Canon Rebel 2000 top mounted on a batrack Sony Digitals Rock!

...most camera flyers I know RECOMMEND that you "put it in a box" It protects the camera, its more secure, and there are less spots for a line to snag on. (screens, eye-pieces, batteries, cables) just my opinion

a guy I work with just bought one... to me it looks like a bonehead version of the HAWKEYE LT (but made of carbon fiber) His is factory color, but looks real nice.

sounds like this case is going to be a bad thing for skydiving... No matter what, it will set a pattern for other litigators to follow. My heart goes out to the family for losing a loved one, and to 'our community' because we lost a brother. low man has the right of way sounds really good until someone gets injured... When I am out there, EVERYBODY else has the right of way. I am sure you camera flyers out there have all been at least close to the same incident... at breakoff instead of flat tracking, some knucklehead turns 180 and dumps.... again... god speed to our fellow skydiver

I use both... the flat top is hands down the winner (in my opinion) for shooting video of AFF/Tandem. Just my preference..... then again,I would not get rid of my batrack for all the tea in china.....

Rest assured, I never fly over that drouge thingy... its only held down by a leeeeeetle piece of cable. I float up even with it... even if it released I have plenty of room NOT to get 'nylon poisoning' ...just so ya'll dont think I am nutz.......

You also have to consider what effect you are looking for... If you are shooting tandems, a .42 allows to to fly close and still get everything, if you pop up to the drouge and look down, the tandem pair and the ground will look MUCH farther away than they really are.... gives a pretty neat effect. I have shot quite a few tandems with a .6 Sony lens and get great results. The problem with vignetting on sonys and the .42 isnt so much the lens... its the adapter ring. Most companies make conversion lenses with 37mm threads... TRV-6/8/10/11/17 and PC cameras... ALL have a 30mm thread, so you have to buy an adapter, the adapter puts about 1/8 to 1/4 of unwanted space between the add-on lens and your camera. This allows the camera to "see" the inner barrel of the new lens. If you spend 90 bucks on a .42, then bump the zoom in a few notches to get rid of the shadow, you are no longer shooting at .42.... The .6 that sony offers gives a wider view (on trv11's/17's) than a .5 and adapter ring. Something to think of.... The 'titanium' .45 macro w/ring do a lot better job of eliminating the 'shadow'. I have used kenko and titanium .42's... they leave a shadow, the .45 doesnt. I am currently using a TRV-30 (which has a 37mm thread) and a .42... since the adapter ring is gone the .42 doesnt vignette on my camera now... the same lens blacked the corners on a PC1 TRV-11 and TRV-17 I used a TRV-9 (37mm front thread) and it also did good with eliminating the shadow when using the .42 If you are not flying close enough to hold hands with whoever you are filming, the subject is going to look VERY far away when using the .3 ... Shooting that close can be trouble if you are filming AFF students (prone to moving around a little at pull time) or tandems (four legs and a trap door effect) If you are shooting RW with a .3 I have a feeling you will need a VERY big wing to get good footage because you are going to spend a lot of time flying in other peoples 'bad air' It might be pretty good for very large formations, but again, the bigger the formation, the bigger the 'burble' you will be flying in. Generally, I use a .6 for tandems, a .5 for AFF and a .42 for RW..... sometimes I dont even use one for FF because I aint good enough to fly that close yet, and taking the lenses off makes everything look a little closer.... I know a few guys that like using .42 for tandem and a one guy that even uses a .7.... It all depends on what you like and how big your wallet is. Happy shooting....

uh.... what he said.... you can also try the 3d shop, B&H photo and promax... If you are looking at an AVID go to promax, they (and B&h) are to of the few places fully certified to build/sell AVID systems. B&H also has good deals on Pinnacles "DV series" of hardware/software... IMHO... if you are buying "consumer grade" stuff, go with an AVID DV-Xpress, or a Dell Dimension w/a Pinnacle system It depends on what you want it for... I would go broke just to 'liven' up your tandem videos.... Software prices make it hard to earn your money back (a registered version of Adobe Premiere (sic?) is pretty expensive.) Pinnacles "Studio-7" is really good and worth the money.... just my 2 cents.....

OK.... OK.... fess up..... who else got a pin check this weekend! I didnt.... (winds, didnt jump) blue skies

I thought in your post you said it deployed your reserve "before" you wanted it to? I am confused... did it fail and you had to pull the res RC your self? Please explain, this could be a good teaching point/example for other jumpers.... thanks, Billy

if you are using a .42 a 24mm camera lens will give you about the same coverage... for freefall pics, 100 asa is your best bet... just to give you some thought... slide film will make better enlagements, but print film is MUCH more convenient and cheaper to develop. When you are shooting on the ground and looking for GOOD pictures... stay away from the 'full auto' settings.... I generally stick with the 'Av' and 'Tv' settings. I could go on for ever about depth of field and shutter speed... but as a rule of thumb, if you use "Av-make the number as high as it will go, and you will get better detail in your shot. The camera will pick the right shutter speed. (if it is an over cast day and you are on the ground you can probably get away with the "P" setting) If you are in freefall Av works good because you get a clear sharp back ground... but the shutter speed will be a little slower, so you may get a little fuzz on the things up close and moving. (like your buddies leg in the middle of a transition, or a tandem passengers hands when they wave) Also try "Tv with the shutter at 250 or 350 I like that because its just fast enough to keep you buddies leg from being fuzzy, but just SLOW enough, that a baggy jump suit sleeve, or a section of pants leg, will blur up just enough to 'show' some speed in the shot... There realy is no 'correct' setting... Q: what setting do you use? A: all of them! Try something different on every jump until you get the desired effect. One thing I would say though... in freefall autofocus can do silly things... for freefall shots iI use manual focus,and set it just a "tad" shy of infinity... that way everything farther away than my hand, will come out pretty clear.... good luck shooting! blue skies Billy

i can only think of a few times when it is WISE to disconnect your RSL... 1) cRW 2) board flying 3) flying a camera 4) flying a tube or similar 'trailer' If a jumper is doing anything else, an RSL may accidently save his/her life. As for saying the lanyard flapping around while freeflying could deploy a reserve, thats just an excuse to unhook it. A jumper dont need an 'excuse' to disconnect an RSL... just because its there it dont have to be used. People all over the world spend hundreds of dollars on AAD's then dont even turn them on... If you are doing AFF and have a bad student, it (along with your reserve RC) could get pulled while trying to get him/her stable. If you are doing RW, and the formation funnels, your rig could get deployed when a stray appendage catches something. Strange things happen to skydivers, that why the center cell on the topskin of your canopy has that funny little orange warning tag..... The easiest way to avoid problems is to check your gear... When was the last time someone got a pin check before opening the door? When was the last time another jumper checked your gear before boarding... to make sure your kill-line was cocked, deployment sytems stowed properly, RSL LANYARD PROPERLY ASSEMBLED AND STOWED.... I am in the military so we 'over-safe' everything... but because we oversafe everything, having someone check my pins doesnt seem like that big a deal.... Having someone give me a thumbs up and make sure my cypress is on before I board doesnt seem like undue hassle.... If everything is rigged like it is meant to be rigged, there is no eason to worry... anything after that simply can be settled by reading the little orange panel on the tail of the canopy... Even the most well designed "freefly" rig can and will have a premature deployment if bridles arent stowed, riser covers arent closed, velcro isnt mated, and the jumpers brain isnt in freefall with the jumper..... of course thats just my opinion......

in response to the initial question... whether you use a sit, an iron cross, a head down, a swoop, a canon ball, all of them are effective if you are aware of your environment... if you are reckless and 'race' to the formation, even a simple swoop can hurt someone.... the problem is a lot of people think they are 'swooping' when they are really tracking... thats how you end up 'too-steep' to begin with.... closing the outer rings of a 30way is probably a bad time to try something new tho.... get a buddy and a stopwatch... have the friend do a nice easy poised exit, leave with him (undocked) and work towards being able to CONSISTENTLY redock in less than 10 seconds... make a little competion out of it... then move to giving your buddy a 2second headstart... work toward being able to dock in under 15 seconds, then move to a four second delay, and be able to CONSISTENLY dock in under 25.... those are great drills for a cessna dz... you can have two friends do an AFFLVL4 harness hold type exit... swoop them and then turn points... when you get to the 2-4 second delays, they can turn points while they are waiting for you.... and of course you can turn all of this into a little friendly competition..... just an idea......

OK... I am bored and was about to burn a CD for using at the DZ when it dawned on me.... I really wasnt sure what I wanted to put on it. I am tired of taking a BIG stack of CD's when most of it isnt used anyway... What are your favorite "skydiving songs"....

musicmatch jukebox... you can even plug a walkman into your computer and rip casette tapes......

I know this makes me sound like a cheapskate... but unless you have a name like jennings, mcgowan, or kent... and make your living from freefall video and pictures... Spending a lot of cash on a camera is not going to give you the return you are looking for. I know a few guys that jump with $3000 on thier head, and they suck at it.... I also know another guy that for years used an old HI-8 and a crappy little Nikon... but he was ALWAYS where he needed to be to get "the shot". A $1300 Olympus digital or a $800 dollar Elan cant take a good picture if its not where "the shot" is.... If you are new at this, dont blow your wad on great stuff, use it wisely on 'dependable' stuff... In freefall, a $289 dollar Rebel-X will shoot a picture that looks just like the one taken by the $2000 EOS-1. Unless you are TRULY a photography afficionado, you will never be able to tell the difference. What is going to give you more pleasure... showing your buddies the 'new gear'... or listening you people say "damn-thats a good picture... What kind of camera did you use? WOW, you took that with a cheap little ______ ? " I use a Canon EOS rebel 2000 and get great results. I know 2 others that use the same... 2 guys that use EOS 630... (1 guy that owns a 2000 dollar Olympus digital but he shoots his tandems with an EOS 630) and a few others that use old Nikons, Minoltas etc..... Dont buy junk, but then again you dont need to over do-it... Example... why spend 2000 on a canon eos1 when a $289 rebel x uses the same lens and (when used in a 120 mph head wind) takes the same picture... Now ... you could buy a canon reble x- (no pop up flash) but what do you need a pop up for if you are taking tandem stills.... a pop up is only 'really good' as a fill light, so if you are going to be shooting night 4-way, get a shark fin and a real flash unit ... you'll get better results... another good choice (although slightly more expensive than the rebels) is the canon eos 630...older model but still lots of them out there no pop up flash, but the dang thing is just about bulltproof.... cameras with all that fancy 'pupil responsive focusing systems' are wasted technology if you have it on top of your head... most of the time you will probably be using manual focus anyway.... As long as it can accept a remote shutter release, you should be in buisness..... spending thousands of dollars on 'high speed' equipment is money better spent on lift tickets....of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong

strat... they dont make that one any more... BUT if you buy the headhunter "mini-cam" they use the same base helmet to mount the little ccd camera....

if shooting 'top mount' was 'bad for doing head down, then why does Eli Thompson (on the cover of parachutist) from the Flyboyz wear a top mount? If top mounts and freeflying didnt go together, I dont think he would use one.... Where you mount the camera has nothing to do with how you fly... YOU fly your body... your camera does NOT fly you.... The only time I have jumped a side mount was with a sidewinder, and I was not doing head down, I was filming RW... IMHO a sidewinder is more comfortable for RW because of the mounting angle of the camera... Its ALL about preference....

I use a TRV-11 and its memory stick... It has actually helped out in a few cases... The customer wanted stills, and my bite switch went bad ... Sooooooo I offered to give them a 'set' of 8x10 pictures taken from the memory stick 1) On the ground prior to boarding 2) One of the exit with the a/c in the background 3) Freefall 4) Deployment 5) Landing In addition to the 8x10's I told them they would get a floppy with 24 'jpegs' just like they would have if the bite switch had worked... OR, I could just give you your money back .... Both times the customer went for the digital stills.... This is the computer age, a laptop with a firewire will make a better product than a $50 radio shack mixing board.... Just remember.... its going to take alot of paid jumps to make your money back.

sony

I have quit a few jumps on a voodoo.... it is ALMOST the same, the vortex has a face shield and the the top of the helmet is a little bit wider.... Headhunters are pretty nice, but for a few extra bucks I would buy a flat-top from bonehead...

try to find a GOOD used PC-1.... plenty of on board features. IMHO stay away from the PC-5... the lcd screen works like a touch-pad, and dirt, sand, grease from the plane etc, will put undue wear on the unit. If you DO get a PC-5 try to use the remote as much as possible..... PC-100's are nice as are the PC-9, but $ for $ I'd find a good used PC-1.... just my opinion......