DSE

So you have a problem with watching a timeline at 200% of normal speed? (Double speed)

I'm 20,000 miles away from my FTP, and can't measure the thickness. Anyone know? I believe it's 3/16, but not sure. Found a possible source of very inexpensive CF plate here in Asia, but they're limited on what they make.

You have apparently forgotten;"I am the Decider." Intelligence means nothing to him.

A "normal" (SD) lens will "work" but it won't offer the full resolution of HD. Still better than SD, however, and the center third of the lens is pretty close to 720 lines of resolution, so it's not all bad. You couldn't put a "real" HD lens on a CX7 and keep it sized anything like what it is.

http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2007/12/after-day-of-red-dye.html Would appear that certain kinds of flameless smoke aren't too good for the crops. These are jets spewing the smokeless material, but it apparently destroyed hundreds of thousands of $$ in crops, and damaged a lot of cars, house paint, etc. All over the news here.

Scripts, baby, scripts. Wanna pull 50 random frames? 1 button. Some of them will look bad, but they're stills, grabbed in about 1 second. The rest of it, Phree explained. The only thing I'll mention that I do here, is that the template is made to be "long." So, if I end up trimming at all, then all I need to do is turn on a post-edit ripple, and all the gaps/holes in the timeline disappear. One button.

Do you see much difference between Intel or AMD based systems for video editing? Also, is it worth shelling out the extra to get the pimped version of Vegas (meaning Pro)? Or is there another editor you'd recommend? It's an AMD system, the AMD is turning out *slightly* faster times for less $$ this week. My secret to fast editing is that I use script-based templates to set up the roughs for my projects. VMS doesn't offer that feature, but outside of that one thing...VMS is nearly as fast as Vegas Pro. I don't use any of the 3D stuff for tandem vids, and I don't need non-recompressed MPEG editing, so outside of scripting, I'd probably use VMS anyway.

//Proclaimer// Many of them are decent human beings who genuinely want to do good.//Proclaimer// Now then. I can't speak for the entire world, and I really mean what I said in the disclaimer. But I know for a fact, that a significant amount of the people who become cops, do so because they: 1. Have run out of other options (read: they're utterly useless) 2. Are power hungry I know of at least one guy who is a combination of 1 and 2. As in: drug taking, fight picking, ignorant and arrogant piece of shit who wasn't able to do a goddamn thing with his life until he casually strolled through the selection procedures for becoming a copper. Note: he hasn't changed a thing. Only now he can shoot people and get away with it. I once walked into a gathering of police candidates (they were waiting to take their exam). I can tell you I got chills running down my spine when I saw what a bunch of fucktards were gathered there. So the fact that a cross section of the corps shows you a lot of brown spots, and the fact that some cops (possibly these spots) feel the need to be arrogant ALL the fucking time, tells me that the selection process needs to be a hell of alot harder. Now before I get any death threats, I personally know some decent cops. And I'm a big supporter of law enforcement and all those decent cops who try to make a difference. Which is exactly why I'm disappointed that we, as a society, are not able to weed out the trash. a)If you're going to quote me, quote ME, not someone else. I didn't say "I don't care for a lot of police officers because as we've seen, many of them aren't decent human beings" b)Maybe in Belgium there is a high percentage of low-lifes. Isn't the same (at least in this part of the world) based on my experience. There are a few scumbag skydivers that seem to be very visible, very loud. Should all skydivers be judged by the actions of those few?

Of course you can grab stills from this cam, and they're quite good. Cam-eye doesn't work, of course (no LANC), editing is no different in terms of speed than editing anything else. The workflow slows down if you have an older computer, and rendering time. But the editing itself is the same as DV or HDV.

You can't get much faster with iMovie, IMO. Sounds like you're dialed in. With FCP, you can use AppleScripts to automate some of the processing, so for instance, every clip added to the T/L is auto-Xfaded, title slugs in place, etc. The render time you're experiencing is TERRIBLE! Are you rendering from a reference movie, or how? Or is it just that you have a slow system? On my very old 1.83 PC, 6 mins of HD takes about 4 mins to render, 6 mins of DV takes about 2.5 mins to render. Maybe you're recompressing when you're authoring the DVD?

I don't see it that way. I don't care for a lot of police officers because as we've seen, many of them aren't decent human beings. Same can be said for any profession that puts their life on the line every day for the benefit of society; it goes quickly to their heads and it's about the underpaid glory. But it *is* very dangerous work that can seriously screw with your head. Ever seen anyone shoot themselves from an up close and personal perspective? Held a child in your arms that has just died because you were seconds too late or didn't have proper gear? Cleaned the tears from the face of a little girl who has just been sodomized by her father/uncle/brother/someone she trusted and loved? Have you daily faced the monsters that live under our beds and in our closets? It's bound to have a negative impact on you. Some joke and say "I work for the sanitation department, I keep the streets clean." Others find a bottle, still others hide it inside and it eats at them like acid. Anger is a normal reaction. Still others manage it very well, and end up being promoted off the streets and become heroes to the newbies coming into the "sport." It's so easy to depersonalize these guys, and that's the biggest problem, IMO. We give them tools they can't use because they're too powerful, we give them tools that are dialed back, or we give them no tools at all. Problems are bound to occur from time to time. Look at this scenario differently; the kid gets back into his car and attempts to drive off, the officer could pull his weapon and fire on the car. Then the headline is "Police Officer Fires on Pregnant Woman" or something similar. Or worse, the officer kills or wounds an occupant in the car, all simply because the person being stopped can't obey a few basic rules of a traffic stop. OK, the cop is/was an asshole in the stop. Exactly why?/we'll never know. But at the same time, your life isn't a constant skydive into a bigway with the "bad guy" threatening you every 1000 feet, and your landings aren't crosswind/downwind every time either. You have predictable elements in most skydives, and when the wind is blowing hard, you get the choice of going up or not. A police officer "jumps" whether the wind is bad or not. My perspective is to cut em' some slack (and hopefully this karma will protect me next time I'm pulled over).

Don't forget to consider the additional length of the very wide/.025 lens that needs to be added for tandem use, when measuring the whole camera.

As an update, the police officer was found justified in his actions. On the flip side of it, several officers were heard saying how immature the officer is, and pointed out why he's not been promoted in a long time. He's been on leave, not because of the tasering, but because of the death threats he's been receiving as a result of the YouTube posting. it's been suggested that now that he's been "acquitted" that he should probably resign.

Just had my assistant build me a quad-core system for slightly under 900.00 USD. I don't think you're gonna find a laptop for a while, not at any reasonable price. I have a quad core system (two duo-cores, so not true quad) that has a BD burner, etc that I've taken to the DZ as my main system. Laptop just doesn't cut what I want to be able to do anymore. Quads are getting cheaper every day, but the cheap quad laptops aren't expected til mid 2008.

Get a quad-core, and so shall you be, depending on source and output format. SD DV to DVD should be much faster than 10 mins on output if you're using templates.

If you're new to the forum or camera flying, please read all of these questions prior to posting. Q: How much experience should a person have before starting to fly camera? A: 200 jumps and a USPA C-Licence or FAI equivalent is recommended. See USPA SIM Section 6-8. Other countries have rules and/or recommendations that differ from the USPA. It's recommended to have a solid background in the discipline for which you are planning to video. Even when people say they're only using it as a 'flight recorder', a camera ads a distraction, and your flying will change. Focusing more on trying to capture the subjects on video and less on your surroundings and your own flying can pose a risk to all participants. Having 50 freefly or wingsuit jumps does not make you an experienced flyer in the discipline. Each time you begin a new discipline, take the camera out of the experience until you've got more jump history in that discipline. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What is a Copyright and who "owns" my work? A: Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. See US Copyright Office Circular 1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What does the phrase "Work Made for Hire" mean and how does that affect my rights under Copyright law? A: Although the general rule is that the person who creates a work is the author of that work, there is an exception to that principle: the copyright law defines a category of works called “works made for hire.” If a work is “made for hire,” the employer, and not the employee, is considered the author. See US Copyright Office Circular 9. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Is it legal to use (insert name of popular tune) in my tandem videos? A: Legally, you'd first need to get permission of the Copyright holder. Imagine how you'd feel if someone used one of your photos in an advertising brochure without paying you or getting your permission. See SIGNATURE SOUND, INC. -- 11 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Music Licensing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q:Where can I look to know more about the nuances of camera flying? This thread is an excellent start. ____________________________________________________________ Q: What size box fits the (insert camera model here)? A: It's almost impossible to know the answer for this question for every camera but there is at least one manufacturer that posts information about their camera enclosures for you on-line. See Bonehead Composites, Cookie Composites, Skysystems, or other camera manufacturer listed on Dropzone.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q:What wide angle lens do I need? A: Use the search function; this is often asked. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q:Why is a camera jump any different from any other jump? Why do I need 200 jumps before jumping a camera? Why do tandem manufacturers recommend 500 jumps before shooting tandems? A: Billvon wrote an excellent response from the point of view of one of those people that isn't really shooting camera as a "camera flyer", but simply "wearing" it as a way of documenting the event. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because it absolutely will affect how you fly. You will pay more attention to the camera than to the jump. Two examples of this in action: 1) At about the 2000 jump mark, I built a chestmount camera to use during AFF. A bit later I took it on a bigway at Perris. At this point I was a decent bigway flyer - had a few state records, had a reputation of being a reliable late diver etc. Well, on the first jump I collided with someone, and the second jump I ended up in the wrong sector. Kate told me to get rid of the camera (which I did.) Why was I having a problem? Was it getting in my way? Nope, it just stayed on my chest; I didn't even have to aim it. Was it making the dive more complex? Nope - I just turned it on before exit and turned it off after I landed. It was just that I knew I had a camera on, and was thinking not only about my job on the skydive but about what the camera was seeing (which all camera flyers do.) I made a bunch more jumps on the system (probably another 100 or so) and then took it to another bigway event. This time I was OK; I could handle the multitasking better. Since then I've taken a similar system on three world records and gotten some good pictures. 2) At Brown we did a demo one day into a golf course. It could not have been an easier demo. Wide open landing areas, low winds, clear day. We took people with at least a C license. It was a scary thing to watch. A helicopter on the ground - perhaps 1/4 mile from the LZ - waited until everyone was under canopy before starting up, and didn't take off until well after the last person landed. But one jumper saw the rotor start to spin up and freaked out. He landed hard enough to break both his femurs; amazingly he was OK. (The wet grass had something to do with it.) Someone else landed into the only tree in a 500 foot radius of the target. Why did they have so many problems? Was the area tight? No. Were there immediate hazards they were dodging? No. It was just that they had more things to pay attention to. There was a helicopter that had its rotor spinning! Oh no! And there's a tree! What do I do? I should avoid that . . . WHAP. It wasn't that these people didn't have the basic skill to land in a big area - it's that there were distractions that they didn't have the experience to manage yet. Camera is like that as well. I'd wait until you have 200-300 jumps, until you can do RW without worrying about whether you will get there or not, without worrying whether you can break off safely, without ever losing sight of the people on the dive. Once you can do that, then add the camera and do very simple skydives until that is second nature as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q:How current do I need to be? A:Currency is a good thing. If you've got 175 jumps over the past 5 years or have had a long layover, it's probably a good idea to get current before considering putting a camera on your head for many reasons in addition to those laid out above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: I want to become a camera flyer/videographer/photographer, but I'm a newbie. What should I be working on until I have 500 jumps? A: The answer to this is debatable. One school of thought says "Get good on your belly and be capable of doing at least elementary 4-way before putting on a camera." Another school of thought says "Just fly, have fun, learn to fly your body so you're comfortable in the air, then worry about learning the various techniques of the camera flyer." Both have merit, but both opinions also bear repeating the tired but true concept of "Talk to the instructors and experienced skydivers at your dropzone." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And another post of similar thought from VideoFly: "During my entanglement, I knew I had a problem. I had no idea I was just about to clear my cutaway cable from one riser’s three-ring assembly. A sudden disconnection might have broken my neck and/or created more problems. My helmet was pinned down so hard that my helmet’s chin area bruised my chest and my hand was trapped in the mess A helmet cutaway was not an option as the back plate was held closed by tightly twisted risers. I know this was a bad situation and I was lucky. This is one reason that camera flyers get so concerned when inexperienced jumpers throw cameras into their routines without considering or preparing for potential consequences. While being a truly wonderful experience, flying with cameras adds distractions and potential hazards to skydiving. Experienced flyers know that. In the future, in addition to my standard EPs, I will be more conscious of my cutaway cables when clearing twists. I have no argument for others using RSLs or Skyhooks. As I said, without cameras, I would use them. I was hoping to inform others of the possibilities involved when clearing riser twists, with or without cameras involved. Another post with other commentary from DaveLepka Of course this is the classic question many new skydivers ask with regards to shooting video. They go on to suggest that this camera or that helmet have almost no risk for snags, so what could it hurt? The reply is always the same about the camera being a distraction to the jumper and those around him, and if you don't know how to handle it, bad things can happen. I had forgotten about this until it popped up in another thread, but now I present to you, a bad thing happening - This was 12+ years ago when mini-DV was brand new, and sidemount cameras had not been released. As such, there were literally 1/10 the number of cameras on the DZ because not many folks were keen to jump the big stuff. Guy 'A' and guy 'B' are expereinced freeflyers with at least 500 jumps each, and many, many jumps together. Guy 'A' mans up and buys a camera helmet, and I present you guy 'A's first camera jump, where he did a two-way with guy 'B', alot like the many two ways they had done before. http://www.youtube.com/...er1LmWTL4&fmt=18 Long story short, guy 'B' was stoked to be on video, and guy 'A' was stoked to be shooting video. Both forgot about break off, tracking, or pulling. Both well over 200 jumps, both got sucked right into the camera, and almost didn't get out. __________________________________________________________________ Q:What editing software should I use? A:There isn't a single answer. The common editing software packages available are; Adobe Premiere (PC and Apple) Avid Liquid (PC only) Avid Xpress Pro (PC and Apple) Canopus Edius (PC Only) Final Cut Pro (Apple only) iMovie (Apple only) Sony Vegas (PC only) Sony Vegas Movie Studio (PC only) Ulead VideoStudio (PC only) Windows Movie Maker (PC Only) [Q} Is XXXX a good reseller to buy from? Check out resellerratings website to learn if a seller is reputable or not. Learn the meaning of "caveat emptor!!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why does everyone demand I fill out my profile? A: Filling out your profile not only tells people a little about you, but it helps them tailor their responses to you as a person rather than a generic response that may be either beyond your experience level or beneath your ability. Anticipate some grief if you attempt to hide your jump numbers if you're a low-number jumper. __________________________________________________________________ Q:Can I use a hard drive-type or DVD-based camcorders? A: No, unless you're only doing hop n' pops from low altitudes. Hard drives require air pressure in order to function properly. DVD drives cannot manage the stress and bounce of freefall. Stick with memory card or tape-based camcorders. __________________________________________________________________ Q:Which is better, top mount or side mount? A: There is no fixed/proper answer to this question, it depends entirely upon what you're wanting to do. Top mount systems as a general rule, are better for your neck at deployment time, sidemount systems are easier to manage in small aircraft. Sidemount systems run a risk of riser slap, top mount systems are not as easy to manage for some freefliers. __________________________________________________________________ Q:What is "EIS" and "OIS?" A: EIS=Electronic Image Stabilization OIS=Optical Image Stabilization For stills, you won't be worrying about this feature in the air. Most camcorders today are OIS, or "Optical Image Stabilized." EIS can be preferable for free-flying. Sony offers a couple of EIS models. All Canon and Panasonic camcorders currently are OIS. __________________________________________________________________ Q:Why does everyone recommend Sony camcorders for aerial use? Aside from the fact that Sony is a tried/tested brand in the air, only Sony and Canon offer LANC control, which allows the camcorder to provide feedback to an optical device, indicating the current state of the camera (recording, stopped, off) Panasonic and JVC do not offer LANC. Newer Sony and Canon camcorders do not offer LANC, Sony has an AV/D control that products like the HypEyePro D will access. Canon does not offer this. Additionally, helmet/box manufacturers seem to strongly lean towards Sony for box models. __________________________________________________________________ [Q]Can I sidemount an HD camcorder? HD camcorders in their current form, do not lend themselves well to side mounting. There are helmets made for sidemounting these wide-bodied camcorders, check them out from people who OWN the helmets vs what resellers of the helmets may say. [Q]What are the differences between lenses and the numbers that describe them? Numbers like .3 describe a lens that is very wide. .5 describes a double-width, etc. .5 is common for outside video, .3 is common for inside video. A test of sorts may be found here that demonstrates the different widths of lenses. ___________________________________________________ [Q]What do all these acronyms mean? There are a lot of them, no doubt. Here are a few that might pop up often: AVCHD-Advanced Video Codec/High Definition AVCHD is based around MPEG technology. Not all NLE systems directly support AVCHD; be sure you know what you're getting into if you choose an AVCHD camcorder. AVCHD is the "new DV." It replases Standard Definition DV. All AVCHD is widescreen. SD-Standard Definition. Usually a 4:3 display image, it's what most cameras have delivered fo the past 12 years. HD-High Definition. There are two flavors of HD, the predominant flavor is 1920x1080 at display. Your camera may record 1440x1080; this is still an HD display. HDD-Hard Disk Drive. As mentioned above, HDD camcorders CANNOT be used for freefall above 9000 feet, and it is not recommended to use them at all due to potential shock damage to the hard drive platter/heads. HDV-High Definition Video. This format is based around a combination of DV transports and MPEG2 technology. NLE-Nonlinear Editor. A computer-based editing system.

I agree with both of you, and twice now I've begun to attempt to improve upon the excellent piece that Quade put together. Both times I quit in embarassment, but will likely have something put together soon.

This is a fantastic DZ with views that put it in the very top listings of all DZ's worldwide, IMO. They do a lot of tandems, no doubt, but there is also a fairly deep group of experienced skydivers willing to share their knowledge. Of course, Shlomo Pearl's loft is amazing, and the huge covered packing area, food court, covered picnic area, team rooms, etc are nice as well. I did have a bit of an issue with the women at manifest; neither of them seemed to be able to handle pressure of what appeared to be a reasonably slow day on the DZ and both were surly and unwilling to do much but put names on the manifest sheet. Even a smile would go a long way. Shlomo, Ori, Etai, Dan, and so many other folks there did a great job of helping me to feel welcome, they offered top-notch gear, good sized landing area, good food, fast climb to altitude, and exits over the ocean. Safety is heavily emphasized here, helmets or frap hats required regardless of experience level. Expect gear checks from everyone around, and expect a very positive vibe from all the jump staff. It's a good sized DZ, much bigger than I'd expected.

Or a tandem stoe band works very well.

Normally, I'd delete this post, but it might serve as a deterrent to someone else displaying a cavalier attitude. Strat, Jimmy, etc are all guys that have not only a lot of experience, but also have watched people end up in not-so-good situations because they didn't fully research and/or understand what they were about to do. We've all had "o shit" moments with our canopies and cameras, but spending time on the ground looking into the potential problems helps to reduce those moments to the absolute minimums.

Congrats, Math lady!! Very sweet, welcome to the sport for real!!

I freely admit my bias against Panasonic consumer cams. They're a lower-quality cam, and always have been. Not just my opinion, it's the shared opinion of many reviewers and users. As far as "serious review," I review cams as part of my living writing for various magazines, and I reviewed the resolution charts as openly and fairly as with any camera. The SD5 is the FIRST GENERATION MPEG cam from Panasonic, the company that has very loudly spoken out against MPEG as an acquisition format. I feel this is why their image quality is significantly less in some areas vs Canon, Sony, or JVC, all of whom have been in the MPEG game for at least 5 years, and in the case of Sony/JVC, for nearly 10 years. The Sony has no more need to touch a screen than any other camera of it's sort. You can't do a fade to black with the Panny with one hand either. All basic functionality of the two cams is essentially identical, as are all the various AVCHD cams. The CX7 is very good in low light, in practical terms it's the best of the lot, with Canon coming up very, very close behind. Both have superior DSP because again...they've both got a lot of experience with MPEG algorithms. Panasonic does not. Yes, Canon is moving to the Flash-based storage as well. No, HDD cannot be used for skydiving. No AVCHD camcorder will come with a LANC port, LANC is a tape-protocol, there is no tape involved with AVCHD, and there never will be, ever. I don't know what "sluggish manual control" you're referring to, other than the boot time. If the cam is on, it's immediate. I've just spent the entire week using the CX7 as a crash cam experiment, and very impressed with its overall performance. Either way, you seem pretty determined to own the Panasonic, so not sure why the question is being asked. Cards cost more, cards require special drivers, picture is inferior, lens grade is inferior, codec isn't supported by everything out there (panasonic isn't standard like Canon, JVC, and Sony are), but if it's what you want, buy it and enjoy! As far as storage, get used to storing on HDD. It's the way of the future. In my case, I bought a half TB drive for the season, cost me 199.00. I store everything on there. If you need to find a tape, you've got to re-edit it. All I need is the date of the jump, it's found, and the edit/finished version is immediately accessible. No muss, no fuss, no hunting for tape (even though I've got them).

Thanks for the reply Geezer, I had emailed you guys quite a while back asking. I then made the mistake of going with a "big name" company that built suits, and got royally f#$%! over. Suit came 4 months after promised date, didn't fit, and had double stitch marks all throughout from where seams had been mis-stitched and unpicked. Then when I returned it (after having missed the season with a suit that was to have been delivered in May and finally arriving in September), the company refunded only part of my money, and I only received the full amount last week. Shoulda bought from you perhaps, but the lack of reply to email caused me to look elsewhere. On a positive note, Sherry from Firefly took measurements personally, and the service from her has been well above "good."

Yes, you can fly a camera. No, you shouldn't be flying one right now. 250 jumps or not, you're: a-not current b-haven't had any instruction from anyone on camera flying. c-the sort of questions you're asking indicate you haven't got a lot of experience "flying." I'd recommend you search/read through the forums a bit, read the sticky at the top of the page, and most importantly, spend some time talking to an instructor at your DZ. Flying a camera is more than just buying a helmet and strapping on a camera. Riser slap is indeed an issue with sidemount cameras, and so is body position during deployment.

I don't understand your "one hand" operation comment; the Panny is no different than the Sony, Canon, or JVC AVCHD camcorders in that regard. No need to use two hands on any of the consumer grade cams. IMO, the image quality and light sensitivity of the SD5 make it a no-go for me. However; A-I'm pretty biased against any Panasonic camera that isn't Varicam B-Sony and Canon simply have the best DSP of any camcorder available in the low-cost category. C-As for me, top mount is the way to go, so 5mm doesn't matter much to me. D-Memory for the Canon/Sony AVCHD camcorders is less costly, less hassle than the Panasonic SDHC cards. I don't think the SD5 is a "bad camera" but rather not the best deal on the block. If the 5mm is a big issue, that's a point that is very much worth looking at. Sacrificing camera quality and image quality for 5mm isn't my idea of the right thing to do, but I"m not the one wearing the camera on the side of my helmet.