DSE

See....I'm different. I'd rather ride a brunette while on horseback. With luck, it would be a roan/red pony. I don't like blondes. Never have. And that's perfect, because blondes don't like me much either.

The 7D shoots better video than the CX100, period. Even with the crappy 18-55 lens. But it's three times as heavy. If your profile is correct, trust me when I say you'd be MUCH better off waiting til after May of 2010.

If you can fly well, reflectors are great. Mike Michigan/Sandberg used to make a suit with reflector material buillt right into the wings. I have one. The reflective portion has mostly worn off. Camera flyer must be on their back or in a laid back sit to properly angle the sun. I just ain't that good, and so....I use a broad hotlight with a 100 degree dispersion. Cheap, light, and lets a guy with lesser skill get the shot. Back to your question, yes. A big enough reflector on the suit of the person flying camera will absolutely kick back more light, but also remember the Inverse Square law and width of field. Applies to lights too, but gives a dummy like me some latitude.

I'd say your new friend was mostly speaking from ignorance. Sorry to have sounded so condescending, it's just....outlandishly funny. Panasonic makes some good products, but one thing absolutely, for certainly, positively will tell you is that the Mysterium and Mysterium X imagers aren't found in anything made by Panasonic. One additional reason that thought would be ludicrous at the most very basic lefel is that Panasonic publically eschews CMOS, and even goes so far as to call their still cams "MOS" vs CMOS, because they solidly are camped in the CCD world, and market themselves heavily in that world, as they're the only ones left making cameras with CCD as a staple. Mysterium/MysteriumX (RED imager) is CMOS, and they're very proud of that fact. In other words, at opposite ends of the same circle. Lumix series are decent cams, no doubt, but it's still AVCHD at low bitrate, and more importantly, it's still an electronic shutter. As Phree said, we're a LONG way off (I wouldn't say years and years), from seeing great stills and video from the same cam at the same time. When you get here, shoot my EX and XDCAM for a few mins. They get HOT and that's just vid. High compression to cards is data phat, and without adding more compression (read-SRaw, etc) we're not going to see this easily happening. And...focal length for good video is also still an issue for the most part (distance between glass and imager). Can't be well done in compact form (yet).

Then there is that, too. Plus, the 7d records a true 29.97 video sequence vs 30p/slow animation that the 5d, T1i, etc shoot.

I'm in Elsinore. I have plenty of suits unless you're taller than 6'4" or super heavy.

Damn, that was GOOD! To suggest it's the quality of the RED Mysterium because the same plant makes that chip? RED is a 12 bit logarithmic color grade stored as RAW data coming from a 1" Bayer'd imager. Then there is the Mysterium X. Anyway...the GH1 is merely Panasonic's answer to Canon's 7d. It's the same recording format, same bitrate, same everything for the most part with inferior glass. The compression alone is significantly different from the RED. It's AVCHD. No first-hand experience, outside of a LOT of experience with AVCHD and a lot of experience with RED. It ain't just the megapixels, and that's probably the point of ignorance from where your friend comes. It ain't just about the compression either, but that's a huge part of the topic. It isn't just about the sensor either, but that's a big part of the topic. Simply put, you trade bandwidth for speed, and speed for quality. That's before we talk about sensors, glass, quality of compressors. Ford makes bottom end cars, and top end Formula One racers. A 5k gas-saver isn't a Formula One car simply because the manufacturer is the same. Panasonic doesn't make the Mysterium, the same manufacturer provides imagers to both companies. Panasonic is GREAT at hype, no one better, but this is the best I've heard. Ever. An "all in one solution" won't arrive for a long, long time for reasons of glass, relationship of glass and sensor, relationship of pixel addressing and compression hardware, compression formats, storage speeds, and heat distribution.

I've never seen one in the "wild" surrounding Edmonton, but have seen many dead on the side of the road. They're much smaller than ours. Coyotes in the Rockies will take down a deer. I hate them howling at night, and this is the time of the year where they're at their worst.

Same goes for commenting about California coyotes vs coyotes from other areas. We have them in our "yard" too (in Utah). They're as large as a wolf. I've seen a few coyotes in the Ortega mountains and they're tiny, almost like foxes or small-medium dogs. They're not the same as the coyotes of Utah, Idaho, Montana. At 50lbs, they are large enough to take down an unprepared adult. They're aggressive enough as well.

They ARE weak compared to a flash, no doubt. But as you can see in the backlit shot, they aren't nearly as weak as some say they are. They are GREAT for filling in that "double chin" shadow a lot of people get at noontime with the sun so high, and also good for filling in a face when the TI is over top of them or when the sun just isn't at the right angle for good lighting. It also smooths the contrast of a harsh shadow on the face, but it's not nearly the power of a flash, either. But they *do* work well. I very much like mine.

The chow in the pond was spectacular. Thanks for organizing a few loads today. Jonathan Tagle was here jumping with Tim, James, Simon, Phil, and myself, and the sunset was yet another amazing sight over the Ortegas, reflecting off the ocean. Gonna be fun down here. Even if you're not flying...it'll be a great time. Can't wait to see old friends and new ones here in s'nore.

Scott Pruett (google him) has an iPod plugged into his com system during races, and when he skydived at Skydive Utah, he talked about his playlist and we compared music choices. Fast music keeps his heart rate more constant and allows him to keep an edge. It's a soundtrack to an experience. Soundtracks can enhance or distract the brain and motorskills.

I disagree. I wear a hot light all the time, and use it for high sun and sunset. Often I use it in lieu of a flash, although it's nowhere near as intense. It does a good job, as seen in the exit shot backlit by the sun. It's half the weight of my 580, so if I can use it vs the 580, I'm happy to do so.

if you experiment a bit, most any DV cam or flash-based cam can be used in a pinch as a v/o mic. get it close to your mouth, about 4" away from the side of your mouth on left or right sides. Then recite the alphabet backwards if you can, while recording. you'll find the proper placement very quickly. Outside of that, how much do you want to spend? avg for "cheap" is 300.00. For that much, you could hire a good v/o guy for more than a couple hours.

That's rediculous. You may as well say 1) Stay safe. 2) Don't die. That's all you need to skydive safely... Nobody plans to get distracted, crash into anyone or to fly in an unsafe manner. If a device is likely to increase any of these factors, it's a bad idea. Then RDS, high wingloadings, weight belts, long chest straps, tertiary rigs, helmet cameras, toe and belly cameras, raft dives, demo jumps, swooping, swoop n' chugs, flag dives, full face helmets, novelty dives of any kind, rodeos, wingsuits, hoop dives, and radios on AFF students are all bad ideas too. Boogies are a bad idea, as a high percentage of injuries come from boogies. Not an argument in favor of iPods, but rather a point that most of these arguments are equally ridiculous. Don't have a canopy collision. Don't hit someone else in freefall. Do your best to be alert and keep your head on a swivel. Be conscious of your surroundings at all times both above and below. All redundant, all relevant whether you're a first time jumper or have 10k jumps. One story I'll share here; a very famous camera flyer was wearing a Walkman with a dytter splitter (put the dytter into his headphones). His partner wore the same setup. Both of them missed the dytter alert because of the music they'd chosen for the choreography of a jump, and both had Cypres fires. Both people had over 15K jumps at the time. They were distracted in freefall and counted on something other than their eyes to give them altitude awareness.

Canon 580EXII is my choice.

you didn't have to clean a pile of "extra-thick" from the floor of your trailer with no vacuum. The tongue works well for picking up those small foily things that your fingers can't *quite* grasp. Thank you, Lisa!

You often seem to be making the right decisions, Josh. Good thinking under pressure, and you landed safely without incident. No one can really comment much beyond that because you were literally in the pilot's seat.

Notice I didn't say "scrub" but said "playback." CPU cycles are MUCH heavier for AVCHD, so buffer space is necessary. HDV is a light compression by comparison (although it's not light by any means). CPU-based decoding helps too.

TV Specialists in SLC, Utah is good. I've used CamcorderRepair.com once, they did a good job on a Canon GL1 for a fair price. http://camcorderrepair.com/estimate.php HTH

might as well ask about blonde, brunette, redhead. All are great, variety is the spice of life. More time, more fun. (Brunette) More distance, more fun. (Redhead) Flocking jumps, more fun. (Blonde) Multipoint jumps, more fun (ponies)

Probably a good idea, especially considering the number of sniffles heard at the local Walmart today. I'm here, BTW. If anyone is coming in early I'd appreciate the opportunity to fly with you. A three way and a couple two ways today...not much happening here yet. Weather is gorgeous but don't be fooled. Mornings are cool/cold.

how is it you're jumping a camera at 100 jumps in the UK?

There is an RV Rental place on Jefferson in Murrietta, IIRC it's just south of Winchester (across from a Thai place I frequent) Can't recall its name off the top... Renting an RV is going to be LOADS more expensive than what Jan suggested. Rent a car, sleep in bunkhouse or cheap hotel. Hotels very close to Elsinore are the Casino and Quality Inn, less than 3 mins away from here.

It's awesome that Adobe puts it into the community for commentary, even though their feature list is decided more than a year in advance. The community makes it better.