DSE

"Broken Wings"=Alterbridge...kickass song.

it's merely a storage device. Exactly the same as a thumbdrive. Getting it onto a PC is the same as putting in a thumbdrive and dragging the file over. On a Mac, it's log/transfer, and isn't done via file system/storage. If your'e on windows 7, then the system will already play the files. If you're on any other version of windows, you'll need a player like VLC. If you're not computer savvy, then you might consider finding someone who is. Honest, this is an EXTREMELY basic task.

A-plug a USB cable from your camera to your computer B-When Windows asks you what you want to do with it, download it to the HDD C-load it into your editor. D-Done Conversely, pull the card from the camera, put it in a card reader, and pick up at point "b"

no one from my quarter has called you names nor insulted you. OTOH; ~you've read reasonable arguments from very experienced people, yet you disregard anything they have to say (that's insulting as well). ~You've made your own potentially eggregious errors in cutting away your camera helmet and not pulling your reserve handle in a malfunction/cutaway scenario (wow!) ~You've made a very flawed statement about "clearing airspace." (Wow! again) ~There is a long list of incidents, potential incidents, major and minor errors that come from a broad spectrum of skydivers in your particular class. Yet you've essentially tossed all that off and said "none of that applies to me, because I'm more capable than others at my experience level." One cannot have a reasonable debate with a brick wall. Ask Skittles, TunaSalad, or several others here; I'm HAPPY AS HELL to take you out on training jumps while you wear a camera with me. And you'll perhaps recognize why you aren't ready. But I'm _always_ willing to teach, learn, and help others the way I've been taught and helped along the way.

You would think they could edit the online version pretty easily though... Why bother editing one line when the entire book is under review, re-write, and approval, due to be accepted in two weeks at the Summer Board meeting? It's on the USPA site and has been since February. Letters in Parachutist have been written, and it was in the USPA newsletter. In other words, the info is/has been out there since the week after it was implemented.

There isn't a Tim Hortons in my neighborhood. Not even here in Northern Manitoba.

There is no wingsuit flight recommendation. It's a BSR. Why? Because a number of hotshots (including one that jumped at your DZ occasionally) felt they could deal with ignoring the recommendations for wingsuits. He's now dead. After a few very "capable, I've talked to my S&TA or very experienced instructors" died doing wingsuit jumps with their mad skillz, it became a BSR. BTW, comparing a 182 DZ like Star to Elsinore....that's even further off than using the coach rating as an excuse for being "camera-capable." A lot of people that go into the coach course come out significantly better skydivers, simply because they're receiving very specific, direct instruction. However, they're still not "awesome, incredible, and there" yet. Not at 100 jumps. You have 2X the experience at 200 than you do at 100 jumps, no matter how you slice it. Tandem manufacturers require 500 jumps for camera flyers to jump with tandems. To jump with Coaches or AFFI's, USPA recommends a minimum of 300 group jumps, 50 camera jumps on the canopy you're jumping for the Coach and AFF jumps. At 100 jumps, there simply is _no way_ you've developed the psycho-neuralmuscular abilities that being a camera flyer more or less demands. At 200 jumps, you're barely approaching the threshold of the door that is opening. Sure, at a dropzone like yours, things are a little more loose than at most DZ's. That doesn't make them safe. The reason they're recommendations vs requirements aren't so they're open to interpretation. Pick up the phone, call your RD or better yet, send an email to your ND's and ask why. It has a lot more to do with living in litigious America than it does with wanting to have loosely defined standards. [edited to respond to theonlyski] The BSR was implemented at the last BOD meeting. The new SIM doesn't publish for a couple more months. That's the problem with paper; takes a while for it to catch up.

Kikk azz at the event and enjoy the fireworks tonight. I'll be seein' them from ThePas.

Nicely done!

Actually, you did say exactly that. You cannot reasonably expect to see someone in your airspace at pull time if they were not part of your stick. They may well not be able to see you, either. Lemme guess....you barrel roll before you deploy? We can debate this point over and over again...but the bottom line is that hundreds of thousands of jumps, a hundred plus years of experience, and dozens of actual incidents, near-incidents, and even your own attitude and experience demonstrate exactly why the recommendation exists. I understand you feel you're uniquely talented and can manage a camera on your head. Curiously enough, you've already proven that a camera distracted you enough to cutaway your helmet before you cutaway your canopy, and counted on your RSL to pull for you. For most people, that would set off significant alarms.

Not a remotely accurate assumption. Merely evidence that you have no clue what you have no idea about.... That said...what should the RW guy do when he's at 3K and sees another body from a different stick falling towards him as he's deploying? How should he have cleared his airspace "better?" Should he stop his deployment and track? Which way should he track? You have a better alternative to the low man rule? How does the first stick out "work on exit separation" in mid-jump? Is the first stick out responsible in any way for exit separation?

IMO, the SIM is wrong in the way it's written anyway, because the main issues it addresses are those of snag hazards and not anything substantive about the psychology of the skydiver. If you look at the camera forums, *most* of the issues fall into the distraction of the camera, not the neck-wrenching, snag-hazarding, falling off the helmet issues. We've lost a few extremely experienced people due to the psychological changes in behavior that a camera inspires. We've lost newbies for the same reason. The sad thing is, lesser experienced jumpers will use the loss of the experienced jumpers to point out "See? This happens to big dogs too." The missed point is how many times experienced people have gotten into a hole and been able to dig out because of the recommended experience levels. Funnier still, we could make this a BSR, we could mandate camera training (I'm all for that) but then we'd have more people bitching about "stupid BSR's."

I think it would have been fine had the poll not been put in place. Few would have noticed. The Brits were also flying a US flag at that same time, perhaps they didn't get good images of those jumps.

You're going to have a hard time convincing USPA or any current, experienced skydiver that the recommendation should be less than 200 jumps. In a practical sense, the only people advocating lowering the number are those that don't have the experience. You're right; experienced people also get distracted with a camera. However, their experience affords them the muscle memory and thought process that allows them to deal with problems, much moreso than someone with virtually no experience. Sure...there are people that can manage a camera early on. In my own case, I began training for the camera on my 27th jump. I spent a lot of time in the tunnel with Ed Dickenson, a lot of air time with people like Jay Stokes, Jack Guthrie, Norman Kent, and a few others that really helped me along the way. I didn't fart around with trying to learn to freefly or anthing else. I did relative work and worked on proximity. Even then, I wasn't ready, not really. My second camera jump I ended up in a bad place. S*t happens, no doubt. It can happen at 10, 200, 10,000 jumps. But the guy with 200 jumps is twice as equipped to deal with problems than the guy at 100 jumps, who is twice as equipped to deal with it than the guy who has 50 jumps. All you have to do is look at the list compiled of "stupid" that we've already collected in just a few months, and they don't represent 25% of what has likely gone on. It's not the "I've been doing this for a while and getting away with it" that matters. It's that one time you find yourself in a spot and can't figure out how to deal with it fast enough. You put yourself and others at risk. Only day before yesterday I watched a guy with 150 jumps wearing a camera practicing his sit. "I was just filming my own jump, trying to hold a heading and film my heading." He lost altitude and positional awareness and tracked into another person's airspace. They deployed about 50' apart. The relative worker who was nearly hit had no idea another person was that close until he heard a canopy opening just below and to his side. IMO, that is unconscionable.

This 200 jump discussion has been going on for years. There is no reaaon that USPA will make it a rating (although I can't argue that it shouldn't be) and even if it were, there would always be someone there to pencil-whip someone else to receive the rating. They won't make canopy piloting a coachable, rated discipline either. Nor will they make wingloadings a controlled value much like many other countries do. Insurance, liability, litigation make USPA afraid of this avenue of authority. The SIM is being updated on this subject even as I type.

Yes, you can be packing while it's doing its thing. A lot of people do. There is a video on vimeo linked in an above thread. It'll show you how the process can be automated. There is a very good reason a lot of videographers and DZ's use Vegas and the automation, just like a lot of videographers use Sony camcorders and Canon cameras. They're all products that have demonstrated their stability, efficiency, and quality in the small world of skydiving.

It already is an "official recommendation." And one unlikely to change.

No, you don't have to have "one helluva machine." I'm currently editing on a very old 1.8GHz machine. If you want to run 10 copies of Vegas at once, and want full automation on all of them...and want to burn 3 DVDs at once...yes. You need one helluva machine. Yep, even tho I'm an Adobe, Apple, and Sony certified trainer, I prefer Vegas. If you can show me *any* software that is as fast and has as many options (and is as easy to use) that sells for only 500.00 (with automation software and other goodies) then I'll go that route instead. You don't like my answer....but offer nothing in its stead?

The tool you see in the video is the Sony Production Assistant plugin. My company (my brainchild) created this software for Sony. I do not receive a benefit for the software sales, however. And yes...my company also does training videos.

That's what happens when you have multiple clipboards. I'm sorry!

Vegas is the ONLY app that allows for multiple instances being open while importing, editing, rendering. All other apps require one machine per active instance. http://www.vimeo.com/3025592/ Try the link above. Disclaimer-: my company developed this software for Sony.

A quick search of the forum will net you Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas. Vegas is far more intuitive, IMO

"somewhat" superior" is how I'd look at it. When you're dealing with 1/3 and smaller chips, the gain is all but imperceptible, and no matter what, you trade resolution for light sensitivity/electronic noise. That's why I asked the question, I thought maybe there was something else you'd been looking at. And as you mentioned...the stills just ain't there. Most of us are probably snobby and want the quality images that good glass (even on a cheaper point n' shoot) provide vs what the plastic/glass/processed image a camcorder provides. I had a 350 for all of an hour, and it didn't impress me much over or under anything in its class. not for what we do, and not for the WEVA/LEVA market either. The "between 3K and $500" market is so flippin' cloudy right now....

Dood....for you...lightroom is a requirement, IMO. You'll love it. It's addictive.

The list can be found at: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3894693;#3894693