dragon2

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Everything posted by dragon2

  1. dragon2
    Same speed as whatever your team/tandem is doing, which usually in my experience is 110mph-135mph. ciel bleu, Saskia
  2. dragon2
    Agreed. I actually bought the Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM and I wish like hell I hadn't. It's slow both in AF and in low light situations, it's big and heavy and I really like my 16mm and 10.5mm f/2.8 nikons waaaaay better. So if this lens is anything like this 10-20, I'm not buying it Mostly, once you're used to fixed (or even zoom) f2.8 or better lenses, it's quite hard to go back to something like this even though it may seem like a handy lens to have ciel bleu, Saskia
  3. dragon2
    No way. ciel bleu, Saskia
  4. dragon2
    That exit I've seen before, from other accompanying jumpers who are too anxious... Yes he looks to be a bit too close, he should be coming in flatter from the side preferably in view of the TM, not come in from this angle and not this steep. I'm not sure I'd call his flying dangerous per se, I would talk to him about it but I've seen accompanying flyers do much worse and I strongly prefer not to have any anymore! About controlling the student, looks to me like a stiff/not relaxed student, that's when you get the potato chipping, that can happen nothing to worry about IMO. ciel bleu, Saskia
  5. dragon2
    The Netherlands: B-license and follow the requirements of the manufacturer, meaning we require a minimum of 200 jumps in the last 1 1/2 yrs (ie, be current) but prefer more jumps. ciel bleu, Saskia
  6. dragon2
    I wouldn't get a stroboframe either, I prefer the manfrotto/bogen 394 quick release as do a lot of others here. A bit more heavy but much more sturdy, a lot of "real" photograhers I know use these, and cheaper than the stroboframe to boot ciel bleu, Saskia
  7. dragon2
    I don't see any reason to buy a standard def lens for a high def camera like the cx100, unless you really need the small form factor of a cookie etc lens... This Sony lens will fit on a cx100 but you'll degrade the image the cx100 can produce, quite a lot, which is a shame IMO, and it's still not a small lens so the only advantage would be the price. I'd buy a raynox 5050 or one of the other lenses listed on this forum as compatible HD lenses and make the most out of your cx100. ciel bleu, Saskia
  8. dragon2
    Keep in mind that a macro lens isn't that good for use as a "regular" lens: it's quite sharp (ie, not so good for portraits) and usually slow to autofocus, plus is a fixed lens. Of course you can do it, it's just not as good as separate lenses for separate purposes. I for one use my 80-200 f/2.8 zoom way more often as a tele photo lens than the sigma 150 f/2.8, unless a macro lens is all I've got with me: have come close to deer before when I was going for dragonflies, and me with just a nikon 105 macro, oops If you wanted a tele zoom with macro function, it's not macro as such you're getting (ie, nowhere near 1:1), so wouldn't recomend that route at all. ciel bleu, Saskia
  9. dragon2
    Indeed, you forgot c) saves you money ciel bleu, Saskia
  10. dragon2
    I only filmed 2 AFF jumps so far, 1 lvl1 and 1 first solo. Usually we don't offer video on a first solo but the jumper really wanted it and it was his last jump before going back to his home country Egypt so I got volunteerd . He's quite heavy and flew quite interesting, I now have an even better apreciation for AFF instructors! I sure wish I had a pic like the last one from my own earliest jumps
  11. dragon2
    Sunglasses may look cool (very important of course) but they aren't quite so nice when you are on the sunset load and him being a newbie he may very well not be allowed to jump sunglasses for a while yet... Plus he said he wanted clear lenses ciel bleu, Saskia
  12. dragon2
    I have had a few rides under them, they fly and flare better than a PD-R IMO (haven't jumped an Optimum yet), although I liked the Smart best out of the 3. These 3 reserves are the only ones I want to jump, especially at smaller sizes/higher wingloadings. The Techno is a quite good reserve, however I'm not sure it's a good idea for an American jumper to be flying one, as I thought they were not TSO'd for the US market or something, but if your rigger says it's ok in that regard there's absolutely no reason to replace it IMO, even though it's French ciel bleu, Saskia
  13. dragon2
    The foam WILL come off, and usually it breaks up so there's no glueing anything back- think you're the first to think of that? About the different brands, like I said, often these have issues, if you want the least problems stick with the skydiving brands. Often times you can just buy various types of goggles at your local skydiving shop so no shipping involved, plus you get to try them on - not all goggles fit all people very well. Another reason why the FlexZ and the FlexZ mini are so widely used on dropzones: they fit pretty much everyone so are ideal for students and tandempassengers. Especially if you have contact lenses or had your eyes lasered you really want good quality goggles that keep your eyes wind-free. If that is not so important for you sure you could try any ebay goggle you want, and leave a review on here whether they're any good or not
  14. dragon2

    Argus

    dragon2 replied to swoopgaz's topic in Gear and Rigging

    The stories I've heard about mistakes with AADs happened mostly with non-standard flights, like taking the DZ plane to a boogie, jump-in, competition somewhere else you plan to jump. A low pass over a river when you already took the plane above 1500ft, the German accident, etc. I think it's a very good idea if you're at least aware of this, even when you're in flat country like The Netherlands where you generally don't have to worry about DZs offsets, you could still make potentially fatal mistakes here. Also interesting on longer flights is when the pilot holds the altitude steady for a long time - depending on which brand you have your digital alti/beeper/AAD could now decide that altitude is 0 Happened on a demo jump here when the pilot was told to fly his small cessna over Schiphol Airport at 1000ft, well, he did. The 3 neptunes in the plane all decided 1000ft was 0 ft after 20 minutes or so ciel bleu, Saskia
  15. dragon2
    I personally love my sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro. 150mm is the limit you want for handheld use though, it is very good for small or flighty insect etc (I like photographing damselflies with it, with or without flash). For subjects like bigger flowers, toadstools etc you will likely want less mm, more like a 90/100 mm. ciel bleu, Saskia
  16. dragon2
    The goggles you don't seem to like are in fact the best goggles ever. I've tried an awful lot of different brands, types and styles of goggles, I'll stick with FlexZ for ever
  17. dragon2
    42 ciel bleu, Saskia
  18. dragon2
    I meant more like expensive/annoying as in you're out a AAD for a while and it needs to be shipped, plus you need a (partial) repack or 2. ciel bleu, Saskia
  19. dragon2
    As this scenario is too fast/weird to be a real plane ride an AAD might react similar to the pressurization of an aircraft, in which case I think a cypres 1 might have turned itself off untill shipped back to manufacturer for a checkup (now THAT would've been expensive and annoying for the owner too...), cypres 2 and argus would likely just have turned themselves off, Vigil 1 would have fired too. ciel bleu, Saskia
  20. dragon2
    WTF? 3500ft? less than 100 jumps? So what? With your number of jumps you should be able to get out at 2500ft no problem Asking for 5000ft makes you sound like an AFF baby ciel bleu, Saskia
  21. dragon2
    Why not? We shot WorldTeam '06 in HD already (well about half of the cameracrew used a A1/HC1/HC5 camera), since this was almost 2 yrs later there should have been plenty of HC5s etc in the air? ciel bleu, Saskia
  22. dragon2
    Is that other jumper using the same lens? Generally a good lens is more important than the camera body. So if you're jumping the kit lens (18mm-50mm) or similar cheap lens, I'd invest in a good skydiving lens (Canon 15mm f/2.8 comes to mind) instead of in a new body, and use the XT until it breaks. ciel bleu, Saskia
  23. dragon2
    I did staticline not AFF. For the first 3 jumps I could remember being in the plane and ... then I was looking up at a nice big canopy. Did I jump out myself? Did I get thrown out by my instructor? Who knows, I sure don't So yeah, it's called sensory overload and I got it bad. After those 3 SL jumps I did a tandemjump (a jump-in at a party, couldn't do that by myself yet at the time of course) and again I "woke up" a few seconds after exit. After those 4 jumps, all in one day, the sensory overload went away and the tandemride the next morning back to the DZ and the subsequent SL and freefall jumps I was aware for the exit too. I gather you talked with your instructors about your experience? And gather they've seen this before... If I were you I'd give it another go ciel bleu, Saskia
  24. dragon2
    He removed the WL from his profile: Now I wonder why..? ciel bleu, Saskia
  25. dragon2
    C'mon, it's not that hard to turn on Just push the logo"button" whenever the display flashes, how hard is THAT? OK if you're waiting for a little red light you'll be waiting a while... but if you're serious that's a dumb reason to not buy a Argus IMO ciel bleu, Saskia