DSE

Canon has a unique (and generally superior) stabilization system that even when disabled, still permits the lens to float freely. You'll have a very jittery image. The Sony CX7 is the AVCHD unit that most skydivers are purchasing. Additionally, with the Canon you will not be able to find remote indicator/control devices due to their proprietary plug for a/d output, and it's unlikely that skydiving manufacturers will be making boxes for anything but Sony camcorders.

Grey market: If you end up getting the same product, ie; buy a grey 40d vs white market 40d, it's the same camera. What you don't know, is that you might be getting a camera destined for Pakistan, so the control surfaces might be different, or the language may not be switchable to an English menu, or...there are many things in that same vein, but the quality is identical in every case I'm aware of. Cheap stuff is different. I know one lens company that puts nylon bayonets on the lens because of metal oxide problems in one region of the world.... Warranty is the big deal. If you buy grey, you don't have one. At all. You might end up with a grey dealer that wants you to buy batts, manual, etc separately. I've bought grey in desperate straits, but "desperate" is my key word. YMMV. I won't *ever* trust a grey dealer over the phone. I need to be there, in person, seeing what I'm getting. YMMV. Use caution, IMO, but if you know exactly what you're getting, know who you're dealing with, and feel safe about it...go for it. Caveat Emptor!

C'mon Zee...that the best you got? At least hit us with your man-purse.

The Vixia is a GREAT little camcorder. On the ground. You can't lock the piezo stabilizer rollers on the Vixia, therefore it cannot be used in freefall.

All HD cams from Sony (and Canon) shoot native wide, and can downconvert to crop, squeeze, or letterbox in camera on capture/output. I still jump with HC3---it's a great cam, IMO. Prolly have 350 jumps on mine.

I thought Phree was a Premiere boy, but Premiere offers wide or 4:3/standard. Vegas offers both, and mixes both very, very nicely. Since version 2.

what NLE only offers 4:3?

Ours are flagged to letterbox on 4:3 monitors and be full on wide monitors. Customers have appreciated it. We received 2 letters (yeah, only two) that commented on how great the vids looked, and one specifically complained/commented how much more "pro" his looked than another guy's looked from the same load (shot with a 109). I wrote a tutorial on matching 4:3 to wide, simply because so many folks are starting to expect it. Wide for tandems works well, although wide for 4-way isn't the most awesome thing in the world.

Those lenses are pretty obviously either made by Tokina as OEM lenses, or knockoffs. They're barely SD, let alone HD. No way they could possibly give more than 200 lines of rez at the centerpoint, IMO. I'd need to chart one, but most everyone here is likely familiar with their look. If you want low profile that allows for partial zoomthrough, Century is your best bet.

This stuff works.

other than being approximately 1/8 the resolution of the Raynox, it's a normal SD lens that will do fine, if you don't mind the much softer picture quality.

Mine does. The helmet I bought didn't fit me, due to a measurement I took that didn't include my ponytail. When the guys at Tonfly read it, they were all over it, saying they'd deal with it for me. Sounds like Mark had a similar issue. They built a new helmet for me, and said "Hey, we're now offering a cool new carry bag, wanna buy one of those? it was cheap, so I said "Yeah." it arrived today. Damn! Stitched embroidery, divided interior, pockets for camera, cables, and all sorts of other stuff. Super sweet. I'm very impressed with Tonfly. One thing I wish they offered and I was too dumb to ask for, is an additional male plate/ring so that I can experiment building my own box and so forth. I've sent two mails to Zkulls, and gotten no response so far. The box is very sweet, I also bought a box for my HC5. It is top-mount only, and has a thumbscrew in addition to the fastex clip.

jarno, you already know that with a cool name and cool logo, you can make/brand ANYTHING. Jeans, skateboards, boogie boards, wingsuits...with his devilishly boy-ish looks, sharp wit, and ability to be everywhere all the time...Scott is a shoo-in for some sort of branding. Campos®man! Campos™brand! or maybe it's merely been "Campos-ted."

Most 1 hour photo places around here offer a CD of your 35mm prints for a small extra fee. As to the mix of 35mm and digital at the same DZ....perhaps it should be 100% of one and none of the other to help avoid the negative reaction from the wuffo's. If ALL can't go digital, nobody does. Or...the non-digital don't jump until they upgrade. Might be a bit harsh, but that's they way we did it at Perris...for this very reason. ltdiver Same reason our DZ did it. Everyone is digital except for a couple of guys. No digital, no still jumps. IMO, if it's just one person, there is nothing wrong w/film, but when you get two together...it's a problem. Is Perris all digital?

we have. Girl and guy go up on same load, two shooters. One gets film, the other gets a CD. one gets 24 exposures, the other gets 40-50. One can browse, print, share right away, the other gets the pleasure of waiting, possible screw up by 1 hour photo, no browsing, has to scan to share, can't print their own. Film is easier, but if you have two people that can compare experiences...

Fixed it for ya

Scott, If you wear stereoscopic glasses, you can see that Campos was already in your suit. It's just a trick of light.

I don't know that you could surmise the ratio from a small sampling like here on DZ.com, but at our DZ, if you don't have digital, you don't shoot stills.

Just about everyone I know with a HDV camera jumps the raynox 3030 or a newer version of it Well...you sorta know me I like the 3030 at exit, we fly a King so it's easy to get the entire door in the shot with the 3030, and easy to get the upper half of the door/faces/chest with the 5050. I wish there were a .4, it would be about perfect. I saw a prototype of a new Century lens coming soon, hopefully we'll see it in the next few months, that has a sweet MTF value (on paper) along with a high line count, and the profile is very nice as well. I don't know that my skill will ever get me (tandems) to where I can shoot w/out a wide adapter, but it's a goal to work towards. If nothing else, I'll be better for having tried.

I'd venture to say that much of what we read, hear, experience are "rehashes" of what has gone before. Sure, there is some *true* innovation, but it's rare as hens teeth. I think assigning it to being motivated by "helping their own self esteem" is somewhat shallow as well. What one man does out of ego, another man does out of fear, what one man does of greed, another does of survival. I don't believe it matters whether we're talking about skydiving or not. I believe it's human nature. At the end of the day, someone *feels* they've been innovative, when of course, they're just a new twist to an old story. But it may be that the product, message, or technique reached someone in a different way than previous demonstrations, products, or explanations may have. Does it matter if the concept has been around for 1 year or 100? Who decides what "true innovation" may be? Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile, and apparently Robert Jarvik didn't invent the Jarvik heart. Would anyone argue that they weren't true innovators? No matter how it gets sliced, at some point, this sort of discussion boils down to the Crab Story, because no one can truly know what motivates anyone, IMO.

You mean, there is anything besides the USPA? Thanks for the catch

To obtain an AFFI rating: Candidates may earn the USPA AFF Instructor rating who have met all the following requirements: a. reached the age of 18 years b. holds or has held any USPA instructional rating c. earned a USPA C license or the FAI equivalent d. logged six hours of freefall time e. completed the USPA AFF Instructor Proficiency Card (applicable portions) f. successfully proven ability by successfully completing the written and practical AFF evaluation process with a USPA AFF Instructor Rating Course Director What privileges does the AFFI rating allow for? A USPA AFF Instructor may— a. exercise all privileges of the USPA Coach rating b. conduct AFF-type jumps, the AFF first-jump course, and transition training to AFF c. conduct training in the general portions of any first-jump course d. train and supervise jumps with non-methodspecific students e. conduct the A-license oral quiz and check dive f. verify certain USPA license applications, according to the requirements in SIM Section 3 g. supervise a USPA Coach in training students and making recurrency jumps with licensed skydivers 3. Supervision (BSRs) a. All student training is conducted under the direction and oversight of an appropriately rated USPA Instructor (refer to the BSRs). b. All general, non-method-specific student training and jump supervision may be conducted by any USPA Instructor, but method-specific training and jumps (AFF, IAD, static-line, and tandem) require a USPA Instructor who holds that method-specific rating. USPA website has a lot of information, although it's not always easy to find.

Nice analogy. I've always thought of the bits as Lego blocks. I don't always have audio at the bottom though.

Nice! I'm aware of most of the software in that list, but never seen a single-page resource of it all listed like that. Very useful, now added to my Favorites!

MP4 is the same as MPEG 4 in terms of the audio portion of what the container may hold, but mpeg 4 audio is actually M4A. iTunes sells m4a files (or are they m4p?) but that's not the same as MPEG 4. M4A is non-protectable, but m4p is, which is why I seem to recall iTunes is using m4p, but I'm sure someone more iTunes-savvy will correct me if I've got it wrong. MPEG 4 is merely a container, and although it is a codec, which h.264 codec does the container contain? There are several encoders...not all compatible. the short is (I'm cheating, looking in my Broadcasters Bible), M4A/P are MPEG 4 part 14, and is audio-only, whereas MPEG 4/mp4, is MPEG 4 part 10, and is audio/video with potential for closed captioning under the same spec. Hope that helps?