dragon2

Use gaffer tape (the good stuff). Tape the door shut and you probably want to tape up the zoom switch and photobuttuns too. I'm gettting a box for mine though, it's too plasticky (compared to TRV and PC series I jumped box-less) and too expensive a camera ciel bleu, Saskia

Evidence? Plenty, look at any photography website (except those trying to sell you UV filters LOL). Also in our case they add to lensflare so even if you get a good filter (the multicoated ones, from a good brand like B+W, Nikon or Hoya) it can show in your video, plus the good filters are as expensive as the raynox lenses are so why even bother Should you scratch the lens, buy a new one Or be more careful ciel bleu, Saskia

UV filters degrade your image, and the raynox isn't that expensive anyway, so just don't scratch it ciel bleu, Saskia

Problem is my custom helmet has it's cam-eye glued in in such a way it's impossible to remove without damaging the lining, and also impossible to neatly stick in another indicator or switch. An adapter would make that helmet usuable with my CX105 too, without having to ducktape another hype-eye to the helmet. But I'm no good with a soldering iron, so I'd need one ready-made ciel bleu, Saskia

Why does the burning take up so much time? ciel bleu, Saskia

Where did you get a lanc adapter? ciel bleu, Saskia

Ah, I took that to mean you shoot tape and shoot 9 minutes thereby ending up with a 12 minute tandemvideo, or something like that. 9 minutes to copy 12 minutes? Might as well shoot tape at that transferspeed You need a faster card and/or a faster cardreader for sure. But if you shoot AVCHD and need fast render times, get a pc not a Mac And get a GOOD one (NOT a laptop with minimum specs). Apple and AVCHD don't go together very well apperantly. Plenty of stuff written about that here already, mostly by DSE. ciel bleu, Saskia

You're on a mac then? That's comparable to my times, and more along the lines of what I'd expect from a fast editer using a decent computer, so rndyroth is probably doing something different from you? ciel bleu, Saskia

I have a nice new laptop with 4 gb ram, a decent graphics card and a decent dualcore processor, cheaper than a macbook pro but way way faster than what you quote, those times are not acceptable to me at all (even when i'm not in a rush LOL). A quadcore pc is a better (faster and cheaper option) but if you need portable, a USD1000-1500 laptop with Premiere or Vegas will serve your needs better than that macbook pro. Weird though, I'd have expected it to be quicker, but don't have much experience (eh, none LOL) editing on a Mac. Exactly what format are you burning to what? HDV to DVD? SD tot DVD (what I'm doing)? ciel bleu, Saskia

2 schools of thought: 1) reserve size should be same size as main, so they'll behave when in a 2out situation 2) reserve size has nothing to do with main size but should be a canopy you can land anywhere safely in crappy conditions (bad spot, going downwind, having to land in someone's small backyard) under high stress (just after a malfunction). Since the reserve is a different canopy type than the main you'll be jumping, with less flare and other flight characteristics, and you'll have very little altitude to come to grips with that, you want it BIG so you don't get hurt. Also most reserves esp older ones simply aren't made to handle more than wingload 1. And you're assuming you're wide awake and in good physical and mental shape, and the reserve in 100% flying shape, not a 100% given after a malfunction. It's your LAST chance. 90% of all reserve landings I've seen (and done) of people with less than say 1000 jumps were not pretty stand-up landings. And that included myself at a few hundred jumps with a wingload of .8 I still hurt myself a little bit, landing on our own grassy dropzone and doing an intentional cutaway so I was prepared too. Even a reserve as big as your main will not land you as softly without a lot of skill. So go big ciel bleu, Saskia

Also ask if there's an age limit in gear in Norway: if you can only jump gear up to 20 years old that rig + reserve are getting close. ciel bleu, Saskia

No remote. ciel bleu, Saskia

If the main is too small, what do you think about the reserve Older Atoms are fine, even freefly proof (check the main flap walrus teeth though, may need replacing). If it's in good shape, not a bad beginner rig at all. However that reserve is way too small for you and likely the rig will not accomodate a bigger one, you didn't say which container size the Atom is (0 or 00 most likely). You want a reserve at wingload 1.0 or preferably less, meaning you want a 180sqft or bigger. What about an AAD? AFAIK you're required to have one in Norway, and even if you're not, it's a damn good idea to get one. So factor that in the cost. All in all, it's a bad idea to buy gear before you have an idea of what you want and what your instructors think is a good size and model for you (plus what the local rules are), which you won't have before you have 20-50 jumps. You may very well even quit before you get to that point. So good deal or not, I'd skip on it for now. When you're ready to buy, ask your instructors to help and get a rigger to check the rig over. There'll be other deals ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd buy a new computer first Then shoot-to-edit and learn to edit quickly (ie, practice it a LOT). These 2 will save you loads of time. A 8 minute tandem video takes me 20-30 minutes from dubbing to finished DVD. 30 only if I'm taking my time. This is on a budget quadcore pc. ciel bleu, Saskia

click click click click ciel bleu, Saskia

1x Sandisk HD video 8gb and 2x Sandisk Extreme III 2 gb. ciel bleu, Saskia

Swoop Doggie-Do-o-o-o-og ciel bleu, Saskia

Dunno, depends on the jumper. I'm certain that with most I'd be ending up answering all kind of technical questions about the video files: why they don't play straight away on this and that dvd player, can I do a short editing course, can I give them the files in a different format than i shot it, plus getting asked to burn to dvd anyway for easy viewing, no thanx. For some jumpers however it's a whole different story: they bring their own camera, harddrive, memory card, usb stick or dvd-rw and they want to have the raw footage of their jump to edit and play with themselves. Sure they can have it like that, lets them have their fun and saves me work editing and burning. Done that for a few tandem jumpers as well, if they ask and i have the time and it doesn't cost me anything extra (like a tape). With wingsuit students and the like they get the choice between either raw footage or a nice edited DVD Most teams want raw footage anyway of course, usually dumped to a laptop these days. ciel bleu, Saskia

Debriefing using a camera without remote slowmo is only practical on a laptop/pc. ciel bleu, Saskia

You can use 16gb cards, but get a real one, not an ebay crappy one. ciel bleu, Saskia

In skydiving, it is (or was) usually not lens compatibility or dirty contacts, but bad contacts (due to shaking? moisture? temperature differences? whatever). If you look back to posts about WT'04 we had problems with the 300D on exit, this camera seemed to (usually) work fine with 9k/12k exits from regular jumpplanes but as soon as we jumped a Herc even from 16k various canons error'ed out, I know Bruno Brokken solved it at the time by covering up the 300D in a plastic bag with lots of ducktape, then by selling it, as did I. Bruno upgraded to a 10D, I switched over to Nikon However some 10Ds were pretty bad too, later models only occasionally seem to give error99 (so may have other causes). The guy I sold my 300D to did tandems from 9k with it, from Porter/Cessna, never heard of any problems, while at 18k and up from a Herc it never got past one exit shot. So something about tailgates ar Hercs or higher exits it didn't like. Unreliable = gone ciel bleu, Saskia

Just installed PE7 for the heck of it. Neither PP CS4 and PE7 seem to accept a file straight to the timeline. If I import a 3 min MTS file (95 MB) and then play it they both seem to behave the same, importing is quick enough, maybe PE7 is having a little more trouble playing it smoothly. This is on a "medium performance" laptop. Not sure what to make of this, seems PE7 for AVCHD works fine. Maybe I'll start using it, as I can't seem find a decent (= 1 click) way to export the timeline to DVD from CS4 like there used to be in all previous versions I used ciel bleu, Saskia

Unless you have those bootie soles which when even slightly wet will act as BRAKES My FS suit does that. Oh well, can't remember the last time I jumped it anyway ciel bleu, Saskia

I haven't tried Elements 7. although they *advertise* native handling of AVC, I don't know that it does. FCS and FCP both advertise native handling of HDV... and neither does. How can you tell if it does? ciel bleu, Saskia

What about Adobe Premiere Elements 7? I don't use it myself but I thought it does AVCHD natively? ciel bleu, Saskia