dragon2

This is the post I meant: ciel bleu, Saskia

Yes too bad about the smallest nikon dslrs, if you want the smallest/lightest dslrs to jump you'll have to go canon. Yeah I gathered that, look up BillVon's comments on doing this... ciel bleu, Saskia

AFAIK there is no one jumping a D40 here. Look up directions for jumping a D70, that was the first common pro-sumer nikon it also didn't have a wired remote port so you either got it modded (not offered for D40/D60 AFAIK) or you bought a IR remote and soldered (eh, ducktaped) that to a tongue/bite/blowswitch and then ducktaped the whole thing together again. The problems with that last setup are that the connection is fragile, the IR remote needs to be held to the lens with rubber bands pointing the right way the entire jump and the camera needs to be (and STAY) in IR remote mode for it to work, also the batteries from the IR can fail at any time without warning. Result: half the time you will not have any pictures from your jump, so this setup is not workable when you're getting paid to shoot photos. So, best practice is NOT installing this camera at all but buying a D80 esp. now since the price is so low because the D90 has been announced. As for videographing during a bigway, are you sure you'll be allowed as you are both a novice at bigways and at videographing, this spells trouble in my book - look up Billvon's trouble with his camera ciel bleu, Saskia

Why is that? ciel bleu, Saskia

So, if there is a student or TM or AFFI or someone else who for whatever reason really needs an alti in the plane because theirs broke, you wouldn't give up yours and jump anyway? One word. Sjeesh. ciel bleu, Saskia

You mean you won't jump without an alti? What if your alti fails halfway through a jump? You got eyes haven't you? Can't do your landing pattern without looking at an alti? At 100 jumps? I'd seriously work on that! Some (most?) jumpers are WAY too device dependant ciel bleu, Saskia

What you probsbly want for jumping is an auto-iso option that lets you set a max iso. I shoot at iso 100 on auto up to 400 iso, so i can take pictures in the plane without using the pop-up flash if I want to take pics without anyone knowing An auto iso option without a user-settable max is useless imo so check that. ciel bleu, Saskia

Go for a D200 Everyone wants a D300/D700 so they are getting "dumped", excellent camera. ciel bleu, Saskia

Ehm, try a search? ciel bleu, Saskia

While I like the idea of getting to someone under canopy, I don't see how in this case. There'll be a lot of separation to start with and generally my canopy is smaller. Might also be good to get down quick and alert the DZ if they haven't noticed already. ciel bleu, Saskia

I'm always watching out for flapping things. The pilotchute was visible for a few secs before it opened, get the hell out of there, get on level or way to the side but not stay above if you see something like that. Afterwards, depending on altitude, I'd have leveled and shown myself to the other 3, to prevent any of them from tracking into my space (should they decide to also track and pull), and maybe even we'd decide to continue the jump. Pulling in place soon after is dangerous as the unlucky jumper is straight above you and may have to cutaway. ciel bleu, Saskia

Buy a Nikon D80 body there are cheap now that the D90 is (rumour has it) coming. Or buy a Canon EOS beginner body these do have wired remotes. ciel bleu, Saskia

lol BTW I found it comes in handy if the accessories are a match, my D80 and D200 use the same batteries and charger and of course lenses, although not the same memory cards unfortunately, and the extra HC5 makes sure I have a spare battery and a spare charger (and the box fits both of course). Of course if you have something suitable lying around you don't have to buy something else, but if you do it helps if they are compatible. Keeping around a TRV25 (M series batteries), PC106 (F series) and PC2 (S series) with extra batteries and chargers and lenses turned out more expensive than 2x HC5 which of course have yet ANOTHER type of battery grrrr. ciel bleu, Saskia

My D80 remotes are all done for so until i get a new one I'll jump my backup still camera, D200. The D80 is my backup camera for ground shots After someone broke (literally) my TRV25 early this year I bought a HC5, then they went and about halved the price in a few months time and since no new models are 100% ok for skydiving I went and got me a backup HC5. I use the backup for ground shots so the first one can stay on the helmet. If you use either a stills or video camera for other stuff than skydiving I find it very handy to have 2 bodies as you can just leave the helmet ready-to-jump and not worry about bringing all your camera stuff to the dz always and having to check the settings always etc. And of course having a backup can save your bacon. It's a luxury yeah but if you shoot tandems or a serious 4way team or whatever you pretty much have to have a backup plan IMO. ciel bleu, Saskia

Because I already posted that I think the OP needs a bigger reserve in another thread. So repeating the "need" for a 160 IS fairly stupid IMO. BTW, I'm no Mr ciel bleu, Saskia

Most girls I know are happy with a 1.0 wingload or slightly above, my former teammates still fly 190-170-150s at now >500 jumps each. Our canopy rules help here but while the boys generally can't wait to downsize as soon as they are allowed, the girls usually don't. YMMV. ciel bleu, Saskia

If you weigh 165 you need a 190 or bigger reserve! A 160 would put you at a wingloading of 1.2 which is pretty high (ie, frankly fairly stupid at your jumpnumber). ciel bleu, Saskia

If you are using a dvd recorder get one with a harddrive and save to that then burn the customer dvd. For a pc, it's easier. Then again, we have no such requirements, I keep my videos around for a week or two in case of dud dvds and after that I can make a new dvd from tape if I have to. Not everyone saves their footage here though, for instance one has a cx6 he just formats the card when full ciel bleu, Saskia

If you've read this forum you should know the associated problems with it, and why start yet ANOTHER cx7 thread ciel bleu, Saskia

Where do you want to crash today? ciel bleu, Saskia

Wrong question. Question to ask is: what is my exit weight and so what is the size reserve I need to go to a max wingload of 1.0 and what size rig accomodates that. Take a look here ciel bleu, Saskia

That totally depends on the instructor. If you jump something way out of our rules, say a katana 120, you very likely may not jump it. A one-size-too-small sabre2 at a reasonable wingloading like he's jumping now shouldn't be much of a problem, but you never know. ciel bleu, Saskia

You should come over here, oktober 11th we have a vintage weekend with everything from rounds to triangles to squares to the funny shapes. Some of these canopies can be seen in the air here during slow low-wind days as they are test-jumped (and fun-jumped). Also we have had lots of round SL jumps this year, with more students on the way, they jump capewells (but are not taught to operate them). ciel bleu, Saskia

Well the plates are only 11 euros here, let me know if you want some. http://www.fotokonijnenberg.nl/product/5902/manfrotto_410pl_adapterplate.html ciel bleu, Saskia

For now, probably true. But lightweights tend to buy small canopies soon, so a few lbs when flying a 135 at 50 jumps suddenly becomes very noticeable. I know I come in noticeable faster on my 120 when I wear my 5kg (11 lbs) leadbelt for the faster tandems. If you're a lightweight, think about the lead you may want to add and factor that in your canopy choice. ciel bleu, Saskia