dragon2

Cute little pony ciel bleu, Saskia

Make sure the helmet itself is steady in your head, and turn off steadyshot. ciel bleu, Saskia

I really don't know. I've been taught 2 hands while our DZ now teaches 1 hand. I've had 6 real reserve procedures now plus 2 intentionals. I know i needed 2 hands on the cutway twice (I'm a girl...) Last weekend we had quite a few cutaways at our DZ, with one student pulling the handles in the wrong order, and me with camera helmet so without RSL having to go find my reserve handle after cutting away on my back (video here, @ around 2 1/2 mins). Both methods have drawbacks... ciel bleu, Saskia

DO NOT just exchange your slider for a bigger one as this can lead to HARDER openings (slider bigger = can come down the lines faster). Always ask your rigger. ciel bleu, Saskia

You're instructors seem to not be doing a good job of trying to keep you in one piece 175 to 135: you skipped a size, considered fairly stupid. 135: too small, you need 400 jumps in some countries to even jump a (any) 135. Guess why. Nitron: again, 400 jumps needed for this canopy, at any size. Guess why. You may consider yourself an expert skydiver, I consider you a dumb newbie. Don't get hurt too bad and especially DON'T hurt anyone else. ciel bleu, Saskia

A sabre2 for a first canopy at 220 out the door is NOT considered conservative ciel bleu, Saskia

You didn't read the sticky yet? ciel bleu, Saskia

OIS vs EIS. ciel bleu, Saskia

Dont buy the HC9 if you plan on freeflying/backflying with it, in that case definitely stick with the HC1 or get a HC5 ciel bleu, Saskia

Ugh, had a tandempassenger today who's hubby demanded reimbursement for me not having filmed/photographed the tandem landing, this was due to me having a half inflated Vengeance with a few line-overs and subsequent reserve ride and way way way out landing. ciel bleu, Saskia

I was supposed to demo a Smart 120 this weekend but got to jump mine for real on saturday, so no demo needed anymore :-) WL about 1.45. My Smart opened fine after my cutaway, on heading, and it has a good flare: without adding speed I stood up my landing in about zero wind no problem, and this after starting the flare a bit too high. It does fly pretty steep. This reserve is highly recommended :-)

Some DZs offer you the choice between video, video+stills or sometimes just stills is an option too, at our DZ it's a full package - video+stills only. This is all outside video. I heard of some DZs offering handcam video whee you may get a few "stills" (video screengrabs, usually) for free as a bonus. ciel bleu, Saskia

If you need a HD end product you need to shoot and edit in HD, but why do you need a HD end product? You want to play the vid on a blu-ray player? If you want to edit HDV, get a high-end new pc/mac ciel bleu, Saskia

If you shoot tape (HC5 etc), shoot HD and edit in SD, if you shoot memory card (CX series), just shoot HQ mpg, not AVCHD, if speed is important and/or you have a low-spec editing system. ciel bleu, Saskia

Why are you shooting in HD? Why not edit in SD? Even with a new core i7 PC that makes a hell of a performance difference. ciel bleu, Saskia

Yup. I only jump Manfrotto (Bogen) 394

YW. Download Opanda, have the seller email you a high-res recent pic and check the clicks. Or mail to me if you don't know how to do this You can't tell the clicks from just handling the body. ciel bleu, Saskia

Charger is the same, battery not (the D200 battery can be used in the D70s but not the other way round). D200 is a great jumping camera for sure. Won't last as long on a charge as a D70s but still plenty long. The D200 is heavier than the D70s of course but for me it's worth it, especially since now I only jump a CX105 anyway. It's heavy for lots of jumping so I hesitated for a while to sell my D80 but I'm happy with this camera. Do check the clicks before buying any 2nd hand DSLR (use a program like Opanda and check a recent pic taken with the camera), a few thousand up to say 20000 clicks is fine for a semi-pro camera, more = lower price or maybe not buy it if it's been used professionally. A big plus: the remote for a D200/D300 is easier to jump (harder to damage) than the D70s/D80/D90 remotes. The camera is more weather proof (something I appreciated last week.... ) Bigger LCD screen, better autofocus, very good lighting (the D70s is no slouch there either), possible to shoot RAW + JPEG fine. Also you can use manual lenses with ease, should you have any. Price seems fair (in our market, don't know about USA) provided the camera doesn't have loads of clicks and is in good shape. ciel bleu, Saskia

What makes you think they are allowed? ciel bleu, Saskia

Made the Dutch news today click ciel bleu, Saskia

Just an idea: with the tonfly cx105 box, a helmet that has both a flat top and left side and an extra skullz you could make a helmet that can do both topmount and sidemount easily. ciel bleu, Saskia

The strap has velcro on it that can come lose I think, which is why all my tonfly boxes have had their straps sewn so it cannot work itself lose. I don't have screws in my cameras so the strap is all that holds the camera to my helmet, plus usually 2 extra velcro straps that are on my helmet anyway. The lens, i'd buy a raynox 3032 or 5050 if I were you, and sell this lens, as the single element lens is a shame to use on a HD camera (it brings the image quality way down) especially since you topmount it anyway. ciel bleu, Saskia

Did you sow up the velcro strap on the box? I did, don't trust it like it is and it doesn't need to be adjustable. Why did you go with a single element lens if you're topmounting anyway? ciel bleu, Saskia

It has a harddrive Seriously, how hard can you have been investigating a HDD cam for skydiving before realising it'll die on you in a few jumps? Get a CX100. ciel bleu, Saskia

"A camera shoot pictures and it works" eh not in skydiving. If you want to use a nikon in freefall you really want a D70s or a D80, maybe a D90/D200/D300. For a D70 you'll need to buy a wireless remote and the switch of your choice, open up both and solder eh ducktape them together. Do a search here on how, it's fiddly work. Then you need to set the camera in wireless mode, make it not drop OUT of that mode while you jump, fix the remote to your lens somehow, jump it and hope it works. I jumped my D70 for a year (see attachment), got pics about 50% of the time, so no way you can use this as a paid videographer. You really want another camera for jumping, either one of the mentioned nikons or a canon digital eos. ciel bleu, Saskia