DSE

Scored a 6; maybe there's hope for me after all.

Would this be true of lines as well? A guy was dirt-diving in the packing area and got a small amount of grease from the casters on my lines. I immediately cleaned them off with a dry rag, rubbing them to where the grease is all but invisible. should i be concerned about this breaking down the integrity of my lines? Canopy is brand-new, less than 50 jumps on it, FWIW.

Shoot something with fine detail; look at it closely. Better still, shoot a rez chart, look at it closely. Frankly, for *most* purposes, *most* people won't notice the difference, but what separates cheap from sweet is the details. If you're shooting for tandems, you probably won't care much. Greater resolution means sharper pictures and potentially deeper colors. If you can't see the diff between a low end multi element vs a single element lens properly set up, be grateful. Be sure you're comparing them on a decent television monitor. That said, I don't have a Cookie around to test; I borrowed one from a guy at the DZ and it was an older lens. It's possible Cookie is using a different supplier. I'd asked Cookie for a newer/more recent lens when we met at PIA, but it ended up not happening. Don't take my word for it, you've got eyes. Just be sure you're comparing on a decent monitor and not a cheap television. Bear in mind that your customers probably have better monitors than you're using at the DZ, if your DZ is like most DZ video rooms I've seen.

Because the cheap Sony lens you have is a multi-element lens, made for zoom through. Cookie, Royal, Waycool are a far superior lens because they are single element lenses. But you can't zoom through a single element lens. They're made to work as a multiple of the existing focal length that your camera offers. The two attached images are from Norman Kent's Aerial Cameraman DVD, and illustrate the difference between single and multiple element lens structure. In short, chromatic abberation is significantly less in a single-element (also called bi-convex lens) due to the fixed length and design when used at intended operating distances. You wouldn't want to zoom through a single element anyway;color timing would be off. Spherical abberation can be (and usually is) worse with a single element lens, simply because information entering the element at the sides will be timed differently than information entering the lens at the center. Stopping the aperture down significantly reduces this effect. As a means of perhaps understanding this, shoot a white wall with your single element. Slowly zoom into the wall. It will go out of focus of course, but notice that it starts to turn bluish? This is because blue lightwaves are shorter than red, and as a result, bend more. [edited to add images]

I'm not the one that has to live with the smell....so can't make a suggestion. I'll say this, however; DO NOT attempt to wash the rig with the reserve packed in it, tray or not. Is it the container that is stinky? Or the main? Both? Are you sure a cat didn't climb into the main tray and do his bizness? (rig at the DZ had that happen, it smelled like hell) Depends on your budget and point of view. If the smell is as bad as you say, then 40.00 for a repack and 35-40.00 for a washing sounds like a good deal to me, but it's not my money I'm suggesting you spend. Or, save the 75.00-80.00 and hope for a reserve ride real soon. Or, wait 4 months and live with the smell til your next repack. Lotsa options...

I'd urge you to take this to a rigger for washing, close examination, etc. Washing a rig isn't a huge deal, finally did mine recently thanks to several folks here providing a guiding hand. But it's not something I'd recommend doing on your own when there could also be something wrong with the canopy fabric, lines, or other. If you've already had a rigger check the entire rig for airworthiness, then by all means, wash it. Do you know how to reattach your reserve, main, uninstall/reinstall AAD? I'd assume not, and AFAIK, it's best done by a rigger. If you wash, you're in for a repack anyway, so why not add 35.00 to the cost of the repack; that's cheap peace of mine, IMO.

brings up a good point. I've got one halfway complete, mostly solid colors. Some say it's gonna hurt like hell when the artist starts going over old ink. True?

This guy doesn't advertise, never been to a boogie, knows little about skydiving. I saw an ad for historic rides, went over and asked him. He thought about it for a second, and then said "sure, why not?" He'd dumped skydivers before, but said it had not been a great experience, so he wants B or higher people, but he know well what to do, when to do it, instruct the exit plan so no holes were made in the wings or tail strike, and both went like clockwork. Funniest part aside from the novelty of it, was that the DZ was shut down for the evening, no planes in the air. I had him drop me in the DZ landing area. 3-4 people quickly stood up and wondered where I'd come from, as we'd taken off a mile plus west of the DZ runway region. Told em' I'd just done a HALO in my freefly pants and long sleeve T. One guy believed me for a second. Go ask. Getting a "no" is less painful than wondering about it for a few days.

This was my understanding after reading various posts, rules, and talking to the TM's at two DZ's; the manufacturer can confiscate the rig if the TM is out of compliance with their rules. But I don't have anything foundational (specific manufacturer statement) that supports this opinion. Do you?

King 90 King 100 DC3 Twin Beech Twin Otter Super Twin Otter Porter Pac 750 Long Ranger Caravan Grand Caravan C182 C185 C206 Balloons And today....added twoStearman 220's to the list. If you're ever on Oahu, look up Bruce Clements at the west end of the airport. He's got two Stearman's, one yellow and one blue. Both are incredible aircraft. Wood prop, 7 cylinder engine, noisy as hell but a fun jump. Ask for an inverted exit.

I've just uploaded a third part from Disc Two.

If I can't leave the plane and I'm on fire, chances are, I'm going down with the plane and won't survive anyway. My helmet, rig, canopy, hair, and jumpsuit are all combustible, but something suggests that if you're on fire inside the cabin of the aircraft, you're more likely to have greater worries than burning synthetics vs burning natural fabrics. At that point, I guess I'd prefer to be wearing hemp.

Technically, a wide angle lens is one that attaches/detaches from the camera as the only lens. A wide angle adapter/converter/add-on combines with an existing/usually fixed lens to provide a more wide angle. A .5 lens for example, will double the field of view over what the camera's fixed lens would initially provide. Single element lenses such as the Waycool, Cookie, Royal Lens, etc are superior for this sort of work simply because of their lack of elements (an element is a piece of glass in the lens assembly) The more glass, the more opportunity for the colors to be ill-timed, and more opportunity for other things to be off inside the lens. This is particularly true of the very cheap wide angle adapters out there, such as the 30.00 Kenko and Noname variety. However, due to their magnifying structure, they also can be zoomed through, which cannot occur with the higher quality single element lenses. FWIW, we tested several single elements, and Royal slightly edged out the competition in the area of resolution. Additionally, multiple elements may be coated and will drop exposure by as much as a half-stop. This isn't good...which is what you're likely seeing as the image gets brighter when you remove the lens.

Skysystems USA has a new half-helmet made from ABS plastic, adjustable in size. Dunno if it'll work, but they offer it.

Of course it does. You have freedom of speech, so long as you don't have any dog in the fight. Once you have a dog in the fight, you have to pay to feed him. Religions aren't allowed to make political statements because then they aren't religious any longer. In other words, they don't pay taxes which allows them to speak freely. Free speech isn't free. Pay the tax, open your yap.

How dare he say that????? Joseph Smith (historically speaking) never murdered anyone. While I don't agree that a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan, it is a vote in the direction of stupidity. Mitt Romney quotes.... Reporter:"Mr Romney, what's wrong with America?" Romney: " Nothing" The CNN quote "I'll never forget that day, it was so powerful... back in 1970 something" On Quantanamo: "We ought to double Guantanamo..." On presidential power: "I like vetoes." On hunting: "I've been an avid hunter my entire life. I've gone hunting twice." His favorite novel? "Battlefield Earth," by L. Ron Hubbard. Mormonism is very outspoken about Scientology's evils. On marriage? "There is no work more important to America’s future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home,” Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life. “It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking,” Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. In France, for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.” disclaimer; Mitt Romney is the only person I've personally known that is/has run for president. The guy is a liar and defines flip-flop. He'll do *anything* to become president. If it's his religion that becomes his undoing, more power to the prayer. Is it religious intolerance to make negative commentary on a presidential candidate? His religion is a weird one, based on fantasy and fiction, founded by a pedophile (convicted) that was a polygamist, who wrote a book while staring at rocks inside of a hat, who was later charged with plagiarism. Or is it only intolerant because it's a religion making a "religious" statement? Or, as we currently (arguably) live in a theocratic state, is it merely pointing out salient points for social consideration? Does that make it intolerant or biased but informative? At the very least, it's almost entirely factual (strike out the word "murdering" and it's 100% accurate).

Sony Vegas Movie Studio, Adobe Premiere Elements are both great starter packages if you don't want a high learning curve. I'm a bigger fan of Vegas, m'self.

If I understand correctly, not only do the manufacturer requirements need to be followed, but the manufacturer can walk on to a DZ and confiscate equipment if they feel a safety violation has occurred. Has this ever happened?

You're welcome to think them "stupid thoughts." Catholicism doesn't require unquestioned loyalty to the Pope, Catholics don't have Articles of Faith that require them to put church ahead of country, and Catholics don't have a revelation going back in history that the Mormon Church would one day lead this country. Perhaps learn more about the subject matter before attacking one viewpoint on it?

yup...if Mitt Romney wins the election, this guy is the next President of the USA. Scary thought, huh? They rely heavily on the old testament, almost as much as on the Book of Mormon. Can you imagine our President wearing [url "http://www.truechristian.com/img/garment.jpg] this stuff[/url[\] under his clothing? Scary thought, especially when you learn what the symbols mean.

Oops...I guess I separate wine from alcohol, although I have no coherent reason for doing so. Please forgive, I live in Mormon country where they use water instead of wine. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Same with wine on Shabbat, too... Like I said, wine isn't part of my religious lexicon, it seems to sit differently than "alcohol" in my mind.

I have the map! I have the map!And the day after tomorrow, the world! nicely done.

IRQ=Interrupt ReQuest Kinda like an address in your computer. Some devices share IRQ's very well, others don't. If your 1394 card is sharing an IRQ, it usually doesn't play well with others. Kinda like an apartment building where some apartments have individual tenants and others force lions to share space with tigers, and there is only one rabbit in the room.

With the title, I thought this thread was about my exwife.

Parachutes de France S.A. 2 Rue Denis Papin Jouy Le Moutier 95031 Cergy Pontoise Cedex - France Tél : +33 (0)1 34 32 77 77 Fax : +33 (0)1 34 32 73 17 Google found it...or click the link from the Dropzone pages: http://www.dropzone.com/gear/Detailed/239.html