Zee

I use auto focus but I turn the image stabilizer off since I use a 15mm Fisheye and it's not required with such a short focal length. (or at high shutter speeds) I only shoot when I see something worth capturing - usually about 20 - 25 shots a skydive. The camera itself is capapble of way more than that though. I'm using a Scandisk Ultra II 1Gig 60X card Hope it helps, Z Action©Sports

Two of my little toys - SA Loaded Operator 0.45 Benchmade Griptilian Action©Sports

I finally broke down and bought one - I've been using the Maxxum 7 for the past 4 years and I've been so happy with it's performance I figured I'd just stick with what I know. The controls are basically the same as the Maxxum 7 - Most adjustments (Drive Mode, Exposure Mode, Exposure Compensation, Flash Compensation, Focus Area Selection, White Balance Adjustments, Bracketing Setup, 3 Programmable Modes, plus a whole lot more, can be done with external controls without having to browse through endless menus. It's a little bigger than the 7 but it does use the same remote switch. The only adjustment I needed to make to my helmet was to lower the L-Bracket about a 1/2 inch. I'll have to change my flash set up so I can fit the TTL-Cord on top as well but that'll have to wait until next week.... I just picked it up on Friday so I took it out to the DZ and tried it out on a few tandems. The weather was rather shitty and the lighting conditions sucked but, all things considered, it was a fun first day playing with my new toy. Now for the fun (and most frustrating part ) - calibrating my monitors and printers. Peace Z Edit: Does anyone have a recommendation for a good 8x10 Dye Sublimation printer? I've found tons of them that print 4x6 prints but only a few for 8x10's. Thanks.... Action©Sports

You be just as ugly either way Hope all is still cool down there in Texas bro Action©Sports

Start here: Web SLR Pay the 20 bucks and play around. It's an awesome tool that will help you learn the basics of SLR cameras and photography in general. Basically, it's a website that allows you to play around with a virtual SLR camera, change settings, lenses, etc.. and see the results of your actions instantly. The guy that runs the site is also very cool and he'll help you out in any way he can. Good luck, Z Action©Sports

I can't blame Bonehead for that one - It was easily one of the hardest, most fucked up, openings I have ever had. I honestly don't know what happened but, I woke up to the sight of a $4,000 + set-up tumbling off my head. I almost killed my packer but hey, the simple truth is that it wasn't his fault. After all, this is skydiving and if you can't afford to lose it, don't strap it to your head. Shit happens - sometimes it's just your turn. We looked for three days but never found the thing. In any case, I called Bonehead and they hooked me up with a new FTP and I was back to work by the following weekend. Losing the cameras was bad enough but hell, the helmet, remote switches, quick releases, polarized ring sight, clamps, posts, cam-eye, Pro-Track, Pro-Dytter etc.... Uuugh! It just sucked... That was 4 years ago and now all of my gear is INSURED so I can laugh about it now, see Peace, Z Action©Sports

Yummy - Openings like that make me happy that I only have 12 lbs strapped to my head instead of a screaming student strapped to my belly That's just a beatin' Peace, Z Action©Sports

It's easy to spot - That's a great lens, just freakin' HUGE compared to the 24mm. My 20mm hit the ground at Mach 2 along with my other FTP Action©Sports

In addition to what Lori just said, an external flash not only carries further, it also ups your synch speed dramatically. I don't know about Canon but, on my set up the synch speed is increased from 1/200 sec with the built in flash to 1/8000 sec with the external flash. Peace, Z Action©Sports

Nice Rack, Lori. Is that a 20mm on your SLR? Action©Sports

Thanks Steve. Action©Sports

I use Photoshop a lot too but Andy's got a point: Picasa 2 is an awesome little free program. I've been using it for some time for less elaborate stuff and it works great. Give it a whack! Peace, Z Action©Sports

That's just great, Mike. I'm on the verge of "cutting away" as it is - the last thing I need right now is more incentive Peace, Z Action©Sports

Thank ya guys - Yeah, I put that together a long time ago - BASE video was shot by Eric Santee and Grey Fowler, I did the rest. As far as twisting her hand off well, she's got another one. Actually, we tried it on the ground first and she said it felt like holding a serving tray. These days I roll the other way so the the students hand always faces down - just in case. I still don't get how either of you can fall so slow on your back without wings though - I'm 6'4 and a good 250 with gear. Every time I've tried flying like that without wings I feel the vortex twisting off my toes as I watch the tandem go bye bye. Peace, Z Action©Sports

Yep, you'll probably get hammered . What hell, I'll join ya - Sometimes I flip on my back and film upside down like this Nice shot by the way

Glad it worked out for ya, Steve. Action©Sports

Probably, i hear there is an opening. If you could only see the wrestling match I'm having with my social filter right now Z Action©Sports

What were you thinkin'? You missed your chance to approximate life as Mrs. Colin Montgomery Action©Sports

Simply badass...... I always thought it would be fun to go for a ride in a high performance aircraft like that, or maybe even a fighter jet - then I read this Below is an article written by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. He details his experiences when given the opportunity to fly in a F-14 Tomcat. If you aren't laughing out loud by the time you get to "Milk Duds," your sense of humor is broken... "Now this message for America's most famous athletes: Someday you may be invited to fly in the back-seat of one of your country's most powerful fighter jets. Many of you already have -- John Elway, John Stockton, Tiger Woods to name a few. If you get this opportunity, let me urge you, with the greatest sincerity ... Move to Guam. Change your name. Fake your own death! ... Whatever you do, do not go. I know. The U.S. Navy invited me to try it. I was thrilled. I was pumped. I was toast! I should've known when they told me my pilot would be Chip (Biff) King of Fighter Squadron 213 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. Whatever you're thinking a Top Gun named Chip (Biff) King looks like, triple it. He's about six-foot, tan, ice-blue eyes, wavy surfer hair, finger-crippling handshake -- the kind of man who wrestles dyspeptic alligators in his leisure time. If you see this man, run the other way. Fast. Biff King was born to fly. His father, Jack King, was for years the voice of NASA missions. ("T-minus 15 seconds and counting ..." Remember?) Chip would charge neighborhood kids a quarter each to hear his dad. Jack would wake up from naps surrounded by nine-year- olds waiting for him to say, "We have a liftoff." Biff was to fly me in an F-14D Tomcat, a ridiculously powerful $60 million weapon with nearly as much thrust as weight, not unlike Colin Montgomerie. I was worried about getting airsick, so the night before the flight I asked Biff if there was something I should eat the next morning. "Bananas," he said. "For the potassium?" I asked. "No," Biff said, "because they taste about the same coming up as they do going down." The next morning, out on the tarmac, I had on my flight suit with my name sewn over the left breast. (No call sign -- like Crash or Sticky or Leadfoot -- but, still, very cool.) I carried my helmet in the crook of my arm, as Biff had instructed. If ever in my life I had a chance to nail Nicole Kidman, this was it. A fighter pilot named Psycho gave me a safety briefing and then fastened me into my ejection seat, which, when employed, would "egress" me out of the plane at such a velocity that I would be immediately knocked unconscious. Just as I was thinking about aborting the flight, the canopy closed over me, and Biff gave the ground crew a thumbs-up. In minutes we were firing nose up at 600 mph. We leveled out and then canopy- rolled over another F-14. Those 20 minutes were the rush of my life. Unfortunately, the ride lasted 80. It was like being on the roller coaster at Six Flags Over Hell. Only without rails. We did barrel rolls, sap rolls, loops, yanks and banks. We dived, rose and dived again, sometimes with a vertical velocity of 10,000 feet per minute. We chased another F-14, and it chased us. We broke the speed of sound. Sea was sky and sky was sea. Flying at 200 feet we did 90-degree turns at 550 mph, creating a G force of 6.5, which is to say I felt as if 6.5 times my body weight was smashing against me, thereby approximating life as Mrs. Colin Montgomerie. And I egressed the bananas. I egressed the pizza from the night before. And the lunch before that. I egressed a box of Milk Duds from the sixth grade. I made Linda Blair look polite. Because of the G's, I was egressing stuff that did not even want to be egressed. I went through not one airsick bag, but two. Biff said I passed out. Twice. I was coated in sweat. At one point, as we were coming in upside down in a banked curve on a mock bombing target and the G's were flattening me like a tortilla and I was in and out of consciousness, I realized I was the first person in history to throw down. I used to know cool. Cool was Elway throwing a touchdown pass, or Norman making a five-iron bite. But now I really know cool. Cool is guys like Biff, men with cast-iron stomachs and freon nerves. I wouldn't go up there again for Derek Jeter's black book, but I'm glad Biff does every day, and for less a year than a rookie reliever makes in a home stand. A week later, when the spins finally stopped, Biff called. He said he and the fighters had the perfect call sign for me. Said he'd send it on a patch for my flight suit. What is it? I asked. "Two Bags." Action©Sports

Here's a little back flyin' for ya

I have a whole digital studio you can borrow if you'd like, K Action©Sports

D'oh, see that is why you need to come back down here. Think Phil would spot me a room in the trailer behind the DZ? Action©Sports

I was just givin' you some shit - I don't even use Canon cameras Edit: I forgot to ask - Did it work? Action©Sports

"C.Fn-05-3 disables the built in flash from firing" For further explanation - Read manual You can download the manual here: READ ME Action©Sports

Drill another hole in the L-Bracket and move the whole SLR down about 1/2" - Looks like you have plenty of room to drop it down. Action©Sports