dragon2

What about those who do not have a creditcard? Creditcards arent that common outside the USA. ciel bleu, Saskia

Really? I jumped a springo 120 for a season, it actually opened and flared pretty good, it just can't handle turbulence worth a damn so no filming CRW or even following a tandem or sport canopy around at a distance, nor is a rearriser flare an option if you prefer to not get hurt, and the slider had a habit of getting stuck, all of which is why I dont jump it anymore. PdF main canopies have a short toggle range, if you flare them like say an Icarus canopy you're gonna stall it yeah, but you can lengthen the steering lines if you want or just not flare so deep (which I did, it wasn't my canopy). I never had any trouble landing the springo except for one jump in turbulent weather with the slider stuck halfway Didn't want to chop it for "something so minor" as it was a borrowed canopy, but should have in retrospect, got lucky there. But for all its faults, the openings and landings were actually quite good. This was a canopy with a few dozen jumps on it at most when I started jumping it, at WL 1.4-1.5 or so. ciel bleu, Saskia

Did you notice the camera forum? Read the sticky there it'll explain the 200 jump "rule". ciel bleu, Saskia

Try a search for 7 vs 9 cell canopies, and guess why most reserves are 7 cells. ciel bleu, Saskia

You didn't attach any picture. Why did you feel it was necessary to land into the wind? Was there a set landing direction? Why did you think spiraling in the pattern was appropriate? Are you 100% sure you didn't hinder or confuse anyone else? ciel bleu, Saskia

Like BillVon said, really not a good idea. Have you read the sticky yet? ciel bleu, Saskia

I'm gonna put a polaroid camera on my helmet ciel bleu, Saskia

Disclaimer: I'm not a rigger, but judging from your pics I would jump those risers. I'd probably run a lighter along them though (don't do that yourself). Looks to me like these will be okayed by your rigger. ciel bleu, Saskia

I think I'd recommend a plastic one of you've already got one anyway to those sidemounters with bigger lenses, these tend to get damaged a lot by banging into the plane door (happened to the same guy twice in 2 weeks ) and riser slaps and stuff, but it may just be wishful thinking on my part. Haven't had a ring plastic or metal break on me yet, but I would use metal on high-altitude jumps for sure. For normal type 9k/12k jumps we do here, plastic seems to hold up well enough and the raynox lenses aren't that expensive anyway. For a century baby death, different story ciel bleu, Saskia

True, and they're starting to become very affordable. External harddrive cases with eSata/USB2 can be had for the same price as a USB2 case only, I bought a EUR 30 case that came with a eSata conversion cable+slot for my pc too, plus all the cables, so real cheap

I used to think the same way, however should your lens get hit by something or someone, I'd rather lose the wideangle as the crappy plastic ring will hopefully give way easily, than lose lens+front of camera which would be way more expensive. These days I'll happily use the plastic rings supplied instead of buying the metal ones extra. Also some of the metal stepdown rings (or filters, for that matter) for sale are shiny instead of matte black, something I don't particularly want on any video/photo camera. ciel bleu, Saskia

Reserve: 126/128 sqft (Techno 128, PD126R). Main: 120-135 sqft ZP, with 150 ZP possible (when new a 150 would be hard to pack, I'm speaking from experience here...) and 170 F111 or old hybrid fabric canopy (ie, an old Merit 170) also possible. ciel bleu, Saskia

clicky Read the comments There's a sensor between the gates at 1.5m, usually two sets with one lower to prevent people not setting off the sensor if you come in low and bunched up (seen JC do that ). If the sensor goes off you hit the gates. Usually there is backup video but the sensor systems now are quite reliable and good at picking up even the fastest downwind runs so usually if the sensor says you didn't hit the gate you really did not hit the gate ciel bleu, Saskia

It's not flash that's the problem, it's the OIS that most of these have. The brand new CX100/CX105 have EIS and so far they look good for freeflying. The CX6/7/11/12 are not as suitable. If you want to buy a laptop that can handle both tape and flash based cameras, make sure it has a firewire port (not all laptops do these days) and if you want to edit using that laptop too, get a good (high-end) one. ciel bleu, Saskia

Bottrop = City in Germany, famous for indoor skiing, and now for indoor skydiving too, yay It's actually a bit closer to me/our DZ than our Dutch tunnel is

And if new was always better, we'd all be jumping Thunderbows... Thunderbows are kewl ciel bleu, Saskia

I would get a 2nd hand HC3 (or HC5 or HC1) over any new SD camera. If you want firewire, these cameras are a great choice. Editing on a computer with these cameras is also easier than with the microMV and miniDV tapes are cheaper as well. And wait until you connect on of these with HDMI to your HD TV, you'll be sold Even if you shoot in HD but transfer/edit to SD the quality is better than the microMV cameras. A CX100/CX105 might be a good choice new, but then you get no firewire, so you'd still need a laptop or something to capture high-def video off other people's cameras. Do buy a HD lens if you get any of these cameras, the wide angle you have now is probably not HD, get a raynox HD5050 or HD3030 (.5 or .3) those are great and not that expensive. ciel bleu, Saskia

You just wanna show off your bank card ciel bleu, Saskia

I'll see what I can do, the trv25 is basically dead and my oldest tapes are archived (ie, in a carton box somewhere deep in my garage), I know I have an opening which shows the "wave" thingie the HC5 does in a Teuge daily video somewhere. So far, 2 jumps in the whole of february and crappy weather forcasted for next weekend, I doubt I'll have oppertunity to play around much in freefall... Very much want to though as I ordered a CX105 (which I really really need right, LOL) which hopefully will arrive before next weekend

Ditto. Same for the HC-5 and TRV EIS models. With my old TRV25 I got noticeable shake mainly under canopy (filming CRW) with steady shot on, turned it off and the shake was gone. With my HC5 I didn't get shakes so much with steadyshot on but I got "waves" when deploying my canopy, very annoying so again I turned it off. On the whole, I get noticeable better video with steadyshot off, maybe I just keep my head more still than you guys ciel bleu, Saskia

Why turn off steadyshot? Is there a downside to EIS? The whole UPSIDE to EIS is that you CAN turn it off Using anti-shake in freefall = more shake. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'd turn off autofocus and steadyshot, try setting focus to infinity for starters. When you have jumped without autofocus and without steadyshot I'd like to see some (high-def) footage please

Pre-eos is the wrong term to use: the 35mm cameras that came out before the digital eos cameras were also eos cameras, pre-eos means HEAVY, OLD, manual-focus SLRs I'd still recommend a digital eos, the beginner ones (300D up to 1000D) are lightweight and relatively cheap. The alternative is buying a non-SLR camera but there are only a few select models that are suitable and wiring a remote isn't easy - do a search on these forums for who sells ready-modded cameras. But you'd be spending as much as a 2nd hand older DSLR with kit lens. ciel bleu, Saskia

The Advance container is a fairly common sight over here. I have never flown any of their mains myself or even seen one that I'm aware; any 2nd hand main of theirs would be a bit hard to sell here, but the container is definitely a fine product. I have heard no complaints about their customer service (as opposed to the other French skyding company PdF). I've no idea what brands are common in Israel, I'd check out what people around you have if you're interested in selling 2nd hand later on. ciel bleu, Saskia

3) This is not visible. ciel bleu, Saskia