dragon2

You sure? I know the 300D has a problem with mono plugs and needs a stereo one to function properly (to get the buffer empty), but the analog camera's (300, 30, 500 etc) should do just fine with either. In fact I think we Europeans or maybe it's just us Dutch are funny about asking for stereo plugs, when almost everyone else uses mono without probs. Stereo vs mono shouldn't be a problem on an analog camera, there's got to be another problem here. Unless he means 300D of course. ciel bleu, Saskia

I open at 4 maybe 4.5 k if jumping a classic/classic2 and my spectre and am fairly current. Anything else, I open at 5k. ciel bleu, Saskia

I know what you mean... I have just gotten a hybrid Triathlon 120. The bigger (at least the 175, haven't measured the bridle of the 160 and 150) hybrids we have at our DZ are suitable enough for birdman, however, mine being such a small canopy and therefore having a shortish bridle is not. So I bought a brand new killine pc for it along with a 2nd hand extra bag last weekend (okay I'm too lazy to keep changing all that stuff everytime). Now it is a mostly-regular freefall Tri for the time being. I like this better; rings in combination with a bag is a very large potential for holes in your canopy. My Lightning is in a bag and has 3 holes Haven't jumped the Tri like this yet, and since I have only 5 jumps on it now and it is the smallest canopy I've jumped, I haven't used it for BM yet either. Will probably do that soon tho, if it opens right now (had 2 pc's in tow for a bit with hop'n'pops from not pushing the pin back and one slammer from pushing it all the way to the thicker bit of the bridle;ouch). At least the brake settings are alright now; first jump the flare was at shoulder-height All in all, need some more jumps on this canopy before using it for birdman. It'll be a lovely canopy for filming crew tho, and I've already docked a tiny velocity with it

I voted 3100-3500 however most of my jumps are either birdman or crew but I didn't factor those. No maximum pull alti's here, just let everyone know if you open higher then say 3500. If you jump out at a certain altitude and the plane goes higher, there are limits of a sort. Ie if you want to do crew from 9k but there are freefallers that'll jump from 12k, figure something out (go to 8k or 7k instead, usually). Most tandems here jump from 9k so watch out for them if you jump from 12k. If I do birdman I really want to know if you're planning on opening at 4k or 5k. Stuff like that; usually it is no problem it's just about communication. You can do a hop'n'pop from 12k if you want, just tell manifest, the rest of the load and the pilot. ciel bleu, Saskia

At the world championships last year in France, Gap, AAD's were mandatory for everybody. One of our Accuracy guys has a student cypres in his rig. They wouldn't let him jump at first, but he said: What, I'm going to get it to fire with THIS canopy ?! Well I suppose he could tho; seen some accuracy guys come down real quick, hanging mostly upside down in the harness or something BTW this is an area where the Vigil is pretty good in of course, since there is only one model. If you ever end up with an old student rig like this guy, you'll be glad ciel bleu, Saskia

I really like what I've seen of the D100 with the Nikon D 16 mm fisheye, but any of the fixed nikon D wide angle lenses will do, depending on your needs... I really don't like the Canon 300D kit zoomlens I have, so I'll pass on the D70 kit zoomlens and get a 16 or 18 mm when I get the money. I'll give the russian 16 mm lens a try I think; bought it for fun, for my Canon, but changing it to a Nikon lens is a matter of ordering another ring. Cheap. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd love a solution for this too.... I'm trying to decide right now wether to get a D100 (2nd hand body with remote included) or a new D70. For ground stuff the D70 is faster, but I'd love to be able to jump it too ciel bleu, Saskia

I think I read somewhere the PD said not to do it on a Spectre. Was interested myself for a while, would've liked my Spectre to be more CF-friendly. Got a hybrid Tri now. But anyway I think this topic has been discussed here before I just can't seem to find it right now I think PD said something about canopies collapsing. Maybe ask in the CF forum? I know, not being very helpful here..... ciel bleu, Saskia

Where? anyway here's a couple threads: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=156309#156309 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=447030#447030 http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=648868#648868 Do a search there's tons more... ciel bleu, Saskia

http://www.proton.org/~dragon2/chutes21/index.html Scroll down to the bottom, in between the hit&chuck pics there's 3 low-pass pics. The hit&chuck was filmed by 8 or 9 camera people total. Somebody compiled a video of it that night, showing every jump and landing a couple times, from different camera's, took half an hour! But at the end of the tape, the low pass came on, all 8 or 9 times! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh. Awesome! And the pilot was grinning ear-to-ear ciel bleu, Saskia

Still, I got a 1GB IBM microdrive cheap from a colleague, used it for my PDA for a while but the battery life was sh*t with the microdrive inserted. So I put it in my 300D for the time being as it is not on my helmet yet. It's pretty fast... I think it is about as fast as an UltraII CF card. It hasn't been in freefall (and I won't even try), but it has been up in the airplane a couple times, up to 23k (Thailand) and it still works. I don't know the specifics of this, is it the thin air that kills it? I'd think the vibrations in freefall definately would, it being a harddrive and therefore fragile. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd be sure to mention this to your instructors! If you're serious about maybe passing out, that may be a serious problem BTW I very much doubt you will be allowed to or will even want to jump in shorts at first; if you fall (and you probably will) it's gonna hurt more.... Personally I didn't think the SL student coveralls were too hot, but the AFF suits (FS suit) might be, depending on the material. Anyway go talk to your future instructor... ciel bleu, Saskia

I heard some older Sony models had 30.5 threading, all newer models with the small threadsize are 30 mm. ciel bleu, Saskia

In Holland an AAD is mandatory until your C license. In France an AAD is mandatory, period. ciel bleu, Saskia

Well we tried a lot of different things. Swapped out components (lens, battery, cf card, body) at first. Didn't help. In the end, the camera was completely wrapped in plastic (plastic bag) and ducktape! That worked. Looked crappy, but it worked What he did: - tape the lens securely to the body - piece of tape on battery to get a better fit - entirely close off the camera, in this case with plastic (we both ordered custom thailand-made fabric 'jackets' for the 300D but they weren't finished yet when we left, so after the Thailand boogie I'll get mine). Probably the platform you mount the camera on is important too: an L-bracket on your forehead is less secure then top-mounting it. We think the camera cannot handle vibrations AT ALL. The error 99 is probably a loose connection somewhere, be it lens-body, battery, cf card, whatever. ciel bleu, Saskia

No spot measurement, and the Nikon I sometimes borrow gives me way better lighting, Bruno Brokken's 300D quit on him in Thailand from the first jump(error 99), I gave him mine and it quit too . He's fixed the problems but it took him (us) a week . No such problems with the Nikons and 10D's (well fogging did come up). I mostly use mine on the ground and the 10D and Nikon's D100 just perform way way better. Also I really don't like the small buffer size and lack of speed. I knew that of course when I bought it but together with the other problems this camera bugs me. Pictures are sometimes good but a lot of the times not really. Bruno did make some good shots with his, eventually tho. Pro's: I already have it, I have a bunch of Canon lenses, it's lightweight, it can take a standard switch, can't really afford another camera. Not sure if this weighs up to the cons tho: I want a Nikon! ciel bleu, Saskia

Caren I meant the analog camera's, not the digital ones. So this means I can't get you to buy my 300D? ciel bleu, Saskia

And then again, really lightweight people may never hit 1.3 (at least not if they're not into FS and wearing loads of lead). And some people may never feel ready at all. I come close to 1.4 with my Lightning 126 and 8 or 9 kilos of lead, which I would not recommend and I only did this a couple times. Actually the lightning lands better that way, because I usually land it from full flight, no extra speed... This speeds it up all right Last weekend I put 3 jumps on my new Tri 120, WL 1.3. This is one small canopy! Feels a whole lot smaller then my Lightning 126 too (measurement difference? Or just perception?). I'm not allowed to go smaller for the next 540 jumps, I can go elliptical tho. But this canopy FLIES. And I love it! However I shudder to think about having to fly this canopy when I had like a 100 jumps. Yikes. Still, I've seen Tri 120's as first canopies for light girls (admittedly, much lighter then me, but still), with wingloads of

I know but the 126 only comes in ZP. ciel bleu, Saskia

A new reserve flies like ZP anyway so a tri actually comes close, esp if you are not used to 7cells I think you can learn a lot from a tri. Even better, a lightning. I found that after I landed my lightning 126 a bunch of times, my next reserve ride on my 128 reserve was NO PROBLEM, it even has better flare The lightning is ZP too btw. Best thing tho I suppose would be a demo reserve the same as yours if you can get it. But try a tri, lightning or maybe even a spectre, it may help a bit as well.... ciel bleu, Saskia

Both nikon and minolta will have -relatively- cheap digital slr's out this year. The nikon sure looks interesting, however the remote control thing is still there (or rather, ISN'T) ciel bleu, Saskia

A lot of people at my dz jump canon 500x or the newer 300x camera's. Lightweight, cheap and compatible with all the switches. Mostly it is the lightweight part that I like. Also if you want to try out lenses look at what other people at your dz are jumping. If you're the only one with a minolta you can't borrow anything (conversely, other people can't borrow from YOU which may not be such a bad thing ). Since I own a backpack full of canon lenses already for me the choice was easy. Although I'm not really happy with my canon 300d but that's another story.... ciel bleu, Saskia

Funky pro-track readings I only get when doind birdmen and forgot to put it in slow-mode (it's in slow mode now all of the time), sticking my head out of the airplane for a couple minutes (making pictures) and sometimes a plane ride down will trigger it. Don't have my pro-track or my manual handy but there's a way to change the total jumpnumber and freefall time in the logbook. I don't bother anymore (do too much hop'n'pops) but it's not hard. ciel bleu, Saskia

Profile Home DZ: No home dropzone entered. Photographer: Yes ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah, among others. He borrowed my still camera for a bit but it had the same problems as his.... BTW If you ever think about downsizing or getting a faster canopy, watch him with that Spectre! MAN that is so amazing. Cool thing, out of 10 camera persons, there were 4 jumping Spectres. ciel bleu, Saskia