DSE

That's the old, and better model. Today, they're VERY hard to find, have a ribbed bottom for rappeling, with a rope twist in the mid-sole. My old ones wore out, like an idiot I gave them away. New ones suck, no leather on them at all, and the sole is very rough, much like a Vibram sole. I like the support, but hate the "grip."

Mee too. Had my second sunset jump yesterday, which was really a night jump because by the time we were down, the airport beacon was on. It was one of the most awesome experiences I've ever had, watching a sunset go by at high speed. Kinda like timelapse in an odd way.

I disagree to a specific point. I've twice seen skydivers go from reading a book and watching a vid to their first AFF jump. Could a book or vid replace the instructor testing on the ground? Of course not, or I surely hope not. You're right tho, we ganged up on you. Prolly isn't fair. I think the *main* benefit of vids, books, these fora, is that folks can access the information and gain at least a modicum of confidence that they *can* try some of what they're seeing, but one thing about skydiving...the "mentoring" programs that it more or less requires for jumpers with less than say...500 jumps can get frustrating. Two DZ's in my area, and at one of them, you can barely ask how which way the pin sets without someone saying you owe them coaching money or a case of beer. The other one is one of "hey...cool, but you might wanna try this. If you want, I'll show you in the first 10 seconds of my next dive, just watch closely" sort of DZ. Buy beer and sandwiches every couple of weeks, and no one complains. Until I found the second DZ, for me it was all video, books, and dropzone.com. Apologies if I was too rough in my initial response, You did agree that video is useful.

I wear the GSG9 SWAT boots (ankle supported), and until this morning, loved them. This morning I attempted my first "sorta" swoop, and the heel caught. Fortunately my first swoop wasn't nearly as fast as I hope it ends up, because I biffed it on my side. If I'd have been wearing Vans or something like that, the shoe would have worked with me. (dirt landing field, no grass) I've worn my GS9s for years on a paraglider, been a great boot. Maybe not for skydiving, tho.

1. There are no 5-17MP video cameras, which is where the thread became about pixels. 2. I'd only advocate 2mp for 5x7, (All HDV cams are a min of 2MP) or 4MP for 8x10. However, with Algolith, Magic Bullet, and several other tools, the 2MP can also be upsampled quite nicely. I saw a full bodyboard (Advertising punch) made from a video camera still function that was incredible, knowing the source and seeing the size of the print. http://www.vasst.com/HDV/hdv_z1_images.htm has images you're welcome to download and print on your printer, thus allowing you to decide for your self. These shots are screengrabs from HDV, so they're only 1.7MP. I haven't uploaded any of the still images captured by the cams, will try to get around to it later today. The HDV still image captures range from 1.9MP to 4.2MP, depending on the make/model of the video cam.

Perhaps you wouldn't, but the wedding and technology industries are doing very well with these at 5x7 and 8x10. I've seen what they're doing with them on dozens of occasions, and if you haven't seen it, don't knock it. *I* (like most professionals) prefer as much res as possible. But I'm also not arrogant enough to believe that the average Joe can see the difference. 2MP sized images have been used for years for newspaper print, POP media, etc. Certainly isn't the best, but with CMOS where it is today, you get more bang for your buck. No, I didn't go "Ape" over RAW. I simply love what I can finally do with it. It's a tool. Nothing more. If you'd like to *see* some of the differences rather than make judgements based on specs, I'm happy to send you one of our training DVDs on RAW and other image manipulation technologies. Have you ever sent an image aquired by HDCAM to an offset or for manipulation to be printed on a large format printer? I'd guess not if you're thinking it's only good enough for webmail.

Given that my company produces training videos for media attorneys, video professionals, students, extreme sports shooters, and dangerous capture shooters, I'd have to strongly disagree. Training on video is in no way a substitute for professional training, but video training that contains information and techniques from professionals is a fabulous supplement to professional training. Otherwise, why do we buy books, attend ground lectures, watch movies, and converse with fellow jumpers when we're not in the air? At what point does a skydiver that has 5000 jumps have less valid information than a skydiver with 500 jumps and an instructors rating? If I could see say...Dan Poynter or Brian Germaine on video rather than flying all the way across the nation and staying in a hotel, I'd probably do just that. And then discuss what I've learned with an instructor that I'm comfortable with. Perfect example; I'm told every day that I'm a far advanced skydiver for my number of jumps. I'm sitflying, head down flying, and doing relative work with a few of the skydivers in our dropzone. Not because I'm intelligent or talented; it's because I read these forums every day, and glean all sorts of words of wisdom from people who know a lot more than I do. It's visual training in a sense. In one of the other forums, a technique was presented for bleeding off air. My DZO said it was a silly idea, and "he'd never tried it, and likely never will." One of the other instructors says "Lemme try it up high so I can cutaway if it doesn't work." He tried it first jump this a.m. And gave me encouragement to try it myself after he had. And it made a significant difference. I also passionately read whatever I can get my hands on, and have watched so many DVDs that I can't list them all. In other words, exposure to as much information as possible is a good thing. How you implement it may not be so, but if you are never expose to an answer, how would you ever know to ask a question? Instructors are terrific, and I've very much enjoyed my coached jumps. But I appreciate the other avenues of information just as much, and hope I'm a sponge just soaking it all up. Just my 2cents worth.

good point, understood. (remember, i'm a ground DP, not an aerial cameraman, yet) This will be less and less of an issue as time rolls on, thankfully. The need for still + video is rapidly diminishing. Canon has a buffered cam (S80) that will shoot 15fps at 4.0 MP, and I'm sure that will jump. Sony's HCR HC3 and HVR A1 will shoot 2mp simultaneous to vid, so unless you're printing larger than 8x10, these work quite well.

Ogden tower 801-625-5569. People with a noise beef about an airport have it on speed dial, trust me. And guess what? The guy in the tower is the FAA, and he's answering the phones. I've phoned a control facility or two in my time. The ATC system belongs to the taxpayer. They have to listen to you bitch. No user at a public airport has priority over the other users, unless they are an emergency, a Lifeguard flight, presidential aircraft, or DOD on a special priority mission. Other than that, it's first come, first served, whether private, commercial, or military. reply] *you* might have the number, but it's not in the phone book, nor information. That is my point. Second point badly presented, is that the DZ gets priority, simply because they're usually the first one on the taxiway at the smaller airports, being they have the most flights. Adding additional commercial operations to the airport means (to me, anyway) that the flightlines get longer, therefore the wait gets longer, more to manage which adds to the wait. While I might not have nearly as many jumps as most folks, I 'd wager I've an exceptionally good understanding of how international, national, and community airports operate. Back to topic, Deland isn't laid out nor operates anything like Ogden; apologies for taking the thread to a different direction.

maybe I'm wrong, but thought the D70 can shoot RAW 1 per sec? E20's are slower, 1 every three sec, so I can see that won't work...

On a hop n' pop of 3-4k, it's no big deal. Most of our jumps are on a tandem-loaded plane, so we're always going to 13k. Good point about pulling immediately, indyz. Small DZ, exceptionally rare to be jumping with a formation, let alone anyone else close, but at the moment of eye agony (cold, wind, fear of what might be blown into my eye at 130 mph) I didn't consider anything at the time, other than getting my canopy out once I'd stabilized. Bad move on my part, and it could have been bad if I'd been jumping at a larger DZ.

Does anyone know if the Airport Authority is using funds provided by levees placed on the "big" airlines using Orlando? Don't know if it's the same in Orlando as it is here, but our small airport receives its funds from the majors, because the major airport impacts private operations, thereby requiring a second airport operation in the area for private/small commercial use. Not that it matters much, other than having a tower would increase commercial use, which is obviously about which the area jumpers are concerned.

Gotta totally agree. Once I got off student status, I started focusing on my A license, and now have jumped several times working on various position transitions. Failing most of them. Had a coach go with me on 5 of 6 flights today, and in jump 1, she identified several issues with my posture, jump 2, she had me in significantly better control over my posture, and jump 3, it started to really sink in. Jump 4, I was able to get into position after locking legs with her on exit, and jump 5, I was able to sit reasonably well, although my getting into and out of sit still sucks. Jump 6, I just took what I had learned and practiced it, able to be in sit pretty well from exit on. She barely charged me more than the jump ticket, plus a bottle of very nice red wine, and she deserved a LOT more than that. Sheliegh, TX for the awesome day.

It hurts like hell. My goggles broke in freefall (elastic was blown off the attachment to the lenses) and it was very painful, causing me to pull immediately. Try riding a motorcycle at 120 mph with no eye protection. Not only would it be stupid, but exceptionally dangerous, let alone what physical damage that might be done to your eye, don't you think?

Ogden, Utah isn't remotely close in operation to what Deland is, not by a long shot. Ogden is slower than its counterpart in Tooele, or at least that was my experience there, and there are a lot of Ogden jumpers that come to Tooele allegedly for that reason. Ironically, we were just discussing that today. I'm jumping Ogden next week because we're there for the airshow, maybe my opinion will change. that said, I just looked in the phone book, can't find a phone number for the tower in Ogden. My point? The guy in the tower doesn't care much more about noise than the pilot does, and the guy in the tower isn't answering phones about noise. That's what the FAA is for, among many other things. I dunno....Never have jumped Deland, but have been there. A tower might not hurt operations, but I'd wager it would. Small airports that don't support more than one DZ sure are nice. Yes, the pilots have to self-manage, but at the same time, they also are managed by a controlled system, and usually do quite well. In Tooele for instance, the DZ has priority because they're commercial, except when the BLM or other government entity has their helicopters or Gulf fired up. Deland is an awesome place. Sure hope it can stay that way.

once you start working in RAW, regardless of whether you use Ulead, Photoshop, or even iPhoto, you'll wonder why you ever used compressed formats in the past. Significant difference, especially if you're color correcting or manipulating the pixels in any way.

Ditto for Linda. She is awesome on the phone, knows her stuff, and was a sympathetic ear about a lost helmet. She had several great ideas for options and costs. Other good for me... Isaiah and Ward at Performace Design Bad customer service... Sunpath. Unreturned phone calls, unreturned email, and finally got an apology with a promise of an answer within 48 hours. That was nearly 3 weeks ago.

I'm now starting to wonder if I'm the only person that writes personal notes about my mistakes and successes in my logbook? I like looking back even just 3 weeks ago and seeing my frustration on a particular canopy because I couldn't stand it in the wind, reading my various flare levels, and finally writing down what works. It refreshes my brain when it comes time to drive to the DZ.

Oh my god...someone who says it the same goofy way I do. CTL+ALT+DELETE=restart. Blue skies to forget the BSOD

decided to make this it's own thread, since y'all might be interested. Not quite finished, but you can get an idea of what I think of this cam now that I've had several shooting situations with it. http://www.vasst.com/search.aspx?text=HC3

Thx, Pops. I went to Skydive Atlanta while I was there. I'm assuming they were having a bad day. I walked in, nary a word from anyone. I'm not used to that at a DZ, usually it's "Hey, how are ya" sort of thing. Was reasonably busy, but I didn't feel the vibe, so chose not to jump. RedKite, I've ordered an HC42, and going to rip it apart to lose the zoom feature, and will keep the still and video on/off feature. I wish you could use just a CamEye to start the vid and a vacuum switch for stills.

Figured I'd regurge this thread instead of starting a new one... While it's not record-breaking, I'm fairly pleased to say that this coming Friday will mark one month from my first tandem jump. Yesterday, I passed my "A" license requirements, and now have 27 jumps in my log book. This does not include two "jumps" when I was dropped from a military round canopy from a training tower several years ago. I've advanced thru my training SIGNIFICANTLY faster as a result of these fora, I've learned so damn much it's hard to decide what techniques I want to try first. Awesome forum, awesome people, tremendous information and resource. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and the top of my canopy.

Don't expect it, not from anything like the A1 or HC3. The reason the Z can do this, is because it has room on the power module for dual clocks and regulators. One runs at 50Hz and the other at 60Hz. Someday, we might see something that runs at 48Hz, 50Hz, and 60Hz. Canon has this as a purchaseable option for the XLH1, but outside of that...(and it's a HUGE camera)

Tyrion, The only cam that does both formats currently (that I'm aware of) is the Sony Z1A, and that's a tad big for most camera ops. Can only be mounted on top, no side. It shoots HDV and DV, plus DVCAM in both PAL and NTSC. Be aware that in HD, there is no PAL or NTSC, just frame rate diffs, resolution is identical in both framerates. PAL is 25fps, and cycles at 50Hz, and NTSC is 29.97fps, and cycles at 60Hz. Today, most NLE's don't care about the format and framerate; the problem is in the output. You can convert PAL to NTSC in standard def easily, but going from NTSC to PAL means you're taking a fairly significant hit in resolution. Doesn't really answer your question too well, but hopefully helps you understand the diff in PAL and NTSC. If you're in the Sydney or Melbourne areas, I'll be there in a couple months doing training on HD and shooting extreme sports. PM me for more info if you'd like.

Duh...I gotta second and third the Recode option. It's a great tool for this, particularly their latest version. It will generate the file for you, that Pinnacle 9 will be able to read. Nero is a good toolkit to have on hand anyway.