dragon2

If the condensation is really inside the lens (ie, between the glass elements), that lens is totalled (I've had that happen...). But most likely the condensation was on the outside of the lens. Not much you can do about condensation like that if you jump in very humid conditions, especially with a fisheye since you can't put a filter in front of it. Try to prevent extreme temerature differences. Not always practical when skydiving... But taking the camera from a heated room into a cold hangar to a heated airplane to cold air is a recipe for fog, both inside and outside your lens/camera. If you can keep the temperature more constant (leave the camera in the cold hangar while you burn your cd in a warm room, etc) it'll help, a bit. There's also anti-fog stuff like CatCrap but I'd be very hesitant to put that on a photography lens, it's likely very bad for it's coating. Some lenses seem to be more susceptible to fogging than others, I see you're jumping a Sony, not many people here jump Sony DSLR to compare, you might try the Finnish wingsuit team I seem to remember them having a Sony. As a sidenote: Saturation - high Sharpness - hard Why? This may SEEM like nice pics on the screen but leaves the customer no room at all to adjust anything. Seems to be a regional thing, and a camera brand/model thing: Sony's camera's like the cheaper Nikon and Canon cameras come pre-set out of the box with settings like this, 'cause it "looks nice". But if you know a bit about what you're doing, you can get the same effect if not better yourself afterwards if you want to, or leave off for a more natural look, or you could do something altogether different with the photo. Your settings don't leave anyone much choice... ciel bleu, Saskia

If you have a computer/laptop around and a backup stick it's way easier to give someone access to that so you can take your camera and go on your next jump I've got a few hundred jumps on my cx105, I only used the internal memory once or twice, to try out. ciel bleu, Saskia

Jumping an empty box may not even be allowed where you're at, it would be a poor choice to jump a camera helmet with extra stuff as a newbie anyway. A box is usually pretty model-specific so you wouldn't buy a box without knowing for which exact camera you'll need it, and where you'll be wanting to mount it (side or top, for most people top is the safest and best place to mount unless you're an AFF instructor then you'll be wanting sidemount for sure), all that will come with experience. Buy camera stuff when you know exactly what you want and why, by then you can also decide whether you'll want the safer option of a molded-into-the-helmet-box or a separate box which is more versatile (and not hard to mount) or even no box at all, also some helmets are suited for mounting both stills and video (for tandem video work) and on the other end some are meant for low-profile AFF/freefly type video, no way to know now what you'll need/want then. Also you'll be wanting a non-camera helmet around for jumps without camera, tunnel flying etc anyway. If I were you I'd buy either a pro-tec/benny type helmet or a simple freefly-type open face helmet now and go jump it. Get a fullface later on should you get into a bit more serious FS work. Get a camera helmet when you're ready for that in the type you'll need then, but keep all the helmets you've accumulated around you'll need them Use the right tool for the right job ciel bleu, Saskia

The copyright on a photo not for hire lies with the photographer, it lasts for quite a while: AFAIK in the US it lasts 70 years after the death of the rights holder. So no, it's not okay to use that photo that way without the photographers permission. Friends who own greeting card companies could/should be expected to know that ciel bleu, Saskia

Also: C-Opening your canopy gets more interesting without arm wings. You can have a harder opening if you're more headdown, and if you're not very carefull in closing down your legwing on opening you can actually frontflip right through your risers. This actually happened to a fellow wingsuiter who borrowed my Safire in lieu of his usual Stiletto - he loved the way the Safire still flew fine, after his step- eh flythrough! I wouldn't cut away my arm wings in freefall unless I really had to, perhaps because of unsymmetrical flight like one wing coming loose, some situation like that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Something new per this year for foreigners wanting to skydive in France: http://www.ffp.asso.fr/IMG/pdf/2010_tarifs_vers_def.pdf (type de license: Etranger) You pay the 25 euros on the centre you jump. It's valid for one year on all FPP centres, no medical help/costs are included. Wow, if you're a "Moniteur tandem" you now have to pay 737,00 €/yr ciel bleu, Saskia

Probably: softer openings, more dependant on body position during openings, more glide, more responsive in turns, more dive using frontrisers, more flare, so in general, more fun ciel bleu, Saskia

I just switched from 1/400 to 1/500 (when the weather/time of day allows anyway), and my pics are crisper now. 1/320 or 1/400 was sharp no blur, but 1/500 is sharper and looks nicer

I base that on my experiences with the EOS D30 a long time ago, and how I film tandems today. I spot metering would work for me still, better than the old evaluative on the D30 anyway which sucked for any kind of backlighted conditions. But I use evaluative on all of my nikons since it *works* so if canon has caught up now, sure why not use that

Pity that, as spotmetering would be especially useful for tandemphotography. So do you guys use partial metering then or what? ciel bleu, Saskia

Yeah I meant the camera I got in 2002... Stupid Canon, naming 2 cameras so similar Didn't the 300D have spot metering though? I could've sworn I used it, must've used partial or center-weigted then... But I did switch to a Nikon D70 fairly quick because the 300D had an awful lot of problems skydiving. I must say I never block the viewfinder myself, on my helmet is it kinda blocked by the way the camera is mounted anyway. ciel bleu, Saskia

What exposure metering setting are you using? I know I had to overexpose my old EOS 30D (yes the OLD one) quite a bit to get a decently exposed skydiver against a blue sky, and shoot in spotmetering (I also almost always used spot metering for a few of the follow-up models like the 300D), but I thought more recent models had that improved on, a lot. If you use a nikon this problem is much less if not non-existant, always has been. Even when using the matrix metring mode nikon usually gets the exposure against blue sky right (or pretty much right) on it's own, which at the time was one of the reasons for me to switch brands. But like I said, I thought canon had caught up in the meantime ciel bleu, Saskia

DZs in France the 6 closest DZs to Toulouse EmpuriaBrava is of course a sure bet, never been to the other ones so can't help you there. ciel bleu, Saskia

Huh? I'm guessing you are talking about a recovery arc, but what's "more steady/neutral"??? ciel bleu, Saskia

1) don't listen too much to Ken Rockwell 2) this particular sigma the 15mm f/2.8 is a pretty good lens, and in darker surroundings (sunset jumps, in the plane) the f/2.8 comes in very very handy. It's no comparison to the tokina 12-24 really it's better , also I've no idea why a decent fixed f/2.8 lens would be "old skool" I think you mean the sigma 10-20 here, that would be it's place in the "quality" lineup yes. But a fixed lens? Whole 'nuther animal, as is the f/2.8 it gives you. You should compare this lens to the canon 15mm f/2.8 and the nikon 16mm f/2.8 fisheyes really, where of course it ends up third ciel bleu, Saskia

clicky Good one Tom ciel bleu, Saskia

AFAIK the histroy behind is that some of the first mini risers broke and a solution needed to be found. One way, which you see most often, is to reinforce the mini riser (look for the colored tape). The other way is to eliminate the hole in the riser by reversing the 3ring system, f.i. Parachutes de France rigs have reversed risers. "Rules" about which risers you can use with which rig vary, usually you cannot use reversed risers on a rig not originally designed for them, or the manufacturer has to okay it, but you can generally use regular risers on a "reversed" rig, or not, if the manufacturer says you can't. ciel bleu, Saskia

http://www.dropzone.com/videos/Exits/Men_in_Black_jumping_in_Static_Line_1339.html What you're seeing is 2 different methods for static line, the one you're referring to is called pilot chute assist. So yes, normal, at some Dz's and in some countries. Also used for BASE sometimes ciel bleu, Saskia

You could come do thunderbow CRW at our DZ ciel bleu, Saskia

My first safire did the snivel thing too, when I tired of that I tried replacing my pilotchute and that worked like a charm, nothing but normal openings after that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Yikes, schooldays coming back to me Anyway I forgot I demoed the pulse too. I liked that canopy a good deal, haven't seen anyone wingsuiting it yet but I'm sure it would make a very good wingsuit canopy. I wouldn't load it very high; from the few jumps I did with them a WL of about 1.3 suited me better than 1.5 with zero wind I was having a bit of trouble shutting it down (but others have reviewed it at higher WL and liked it). I must say I really was surprised at this canopy, I wouldn't have thought to demo it other than I didn't like the storm as much and i needed a main But you may want to include it if you're going to demo for a new wingsuit main. ciel bleu, Saskia

There's no remote, a remote won't work either on this camera. So for linear editing you need to use the touch screen for slow-mo: pause quickly followed by ff for slowmo, same to get the playback speed back to normal again. ciel bleu, Saskia

I liked the spectres I've had a lot, but I didn't like the storm I demoed nearly as much so I wouldn't buy one myself. For wingsuiting (and camera flying) I prefer a pilot or safire. YMMV. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd rather take say a safire 109 or similar on a wingsuit jump than my vengeance 135 - the safire is a much more docile canopy while fun to fly because of it's size, it behaves much better and dives less (planes out real fast) than the vengeance does, while being a good 2 sizes smaller. The vengeance can dive like hell even at the quite low (for a HP canopy) 1.3 WL I fly it at, while say my pilot 124 or safire 109 will not dive nearly as much or for as long. They also do not require counter steering or as much attention during opening. IMO it's safer for a new skydiver (or a new wingsuit pilot) to fly a 1 or 2 sizes smaller beginner/intermediate type canopy (= up to a sabre2, a sabre 1 is much more docile than a sabre 2) than fly a bigger xfire type canopy. ciel bleu, Saskia

Agreed, however I was replying to the statement that big camera wings would slow you down - at least it better be not JUST you going slow if you want to actually film anyone So, yes you can go slow with big camera wings, but mostly you would only do that when filming someone lighter than you, say a 9yr old tandempassenger ciel bleu, Saskia