Zlew

I haven't had a ton of time to trouble shoot it yet, but I thought maybe you guys might have some insight. I just got a XS for a jump camera yesterday. Right out of the box the continuous shooting rate seemed really slow. I am kinda used to my 40D (which is pretty fast, like 6/second), so I thought maybe the XS's 3/second seemed slower than it really was. I grabbed my old XT (3/second also) and compared the two, and it is real clear that the XS is shooting at about half of what the XT is....and it's just wayyy too slow. I know the XS shoots at 1.5 fps with RAW, and it seems to be stuck at this rate. For the test shots: manual focus, manual exposure (1/100th f4.5) no flash, kit lens manual focus, IS off. Drive set to continuous. Card in, card out gives the same result. I reset everything to factory settings (again) with no change. Changed to all the other auto modes (green box,P etc) and no change. Changed the file size from L to S...nothing. Now for the really weird thing: When I change shooting mode to RAW, it shoots faster until the buffer fills up (which happens pretty quickly). Change it back to large jpeg and it slows back to a snails rate. Any ideas? Am I missing something? I can post vid tonight if that would help.

looks like i might just need another (free?) ripper instead of just moving the files directly from the disk.

I just got back from Skyventure Orlando and want to trim down the raw video they gave us. When I drag the main vob file into Vegas (or even movie maker) it only shows up as 9 seconds long. If I play it in media player it plays the full 30 mins, but the same (largest) vob file shows up as 9 seconds in the other programs. When I open the file in windows and check the properties... it only shows up as 9 seconds. I am thinking this might be causing the issue. Any ideas on how to fix it? I googled it and found the question asked several times, but never answered.

I started to take a little bit of a different approach to skydiving music/video material. One of my other hobbies is taking photos of and blogging about the local live music scene. I asked several folks I know from around town if I could use their music for youtube/facebook skydive videos. So far all have said yes. There are lots of good musicians out there who are not signed and just want exposure. You might ask around and see what you can find. I posted 2 videos in the video section if you want to take a look/listen.

8 rides in 1300 jumps? Dayum. I'd be interested to hear those stories. That's about 150 jump avg between functions.

Even at lighter wingloadings, you will see a difference. The bottom line is that mains (compared to reserves) are high performance pieces of equipment designed to do a range of things well and to be fun to fly. Reserves are not designed to be high performance or "fun". They are designed to designed to save your ass. So even a lightly loaded modern main will fly differently (better most would say) than an equivalently loaded reserve.

Most Reserves are low aspect ration 7 cells. This is a tried and proven design that was common in mains well before my time. Reserves have improved, but in general they are designed to be strong, and dependable. Over time mains have evolved significantly to open softer, turn faster, flare more powerfully, last longer, fly faster, designed (in some cases) to be flown at higher wingloading. Most *reserves are low aspect ratio 7 cells (many F-111 Fabric). They fly just as they would be expected to, if you keep in mind that 7 cell, non tapperd wings were not designed to do all of the things that our mains do. The guys that i knew jumping PD7's back in the day weren't jumping them over 1:1. So they land and fly as expected...but you have to remember what it is and what it is designed to do. If you load your main and reserve both at 1.7:1 ....yea...your reserve isn't going to fly or land like your main will.

FYI, Caddo Millis IS Cowtown now, ever since the prop strike and subsequent sale of the DZ to Scott... Kinda....They are two separate locations. Scotty owns both of them, and they share the same fleet but they are two different DZ's. Cowtown doesn't operate as much as Caddo, but there are two places (Rhome, and Caddo).

On the Dallas side of town, I think really Caddo Mills and Skydive Dallas are your two options. Skydive 35 and Cowtown are a bit of a hike from that area. Skydive Dallas is world class, big turbine DZ with a big DZ feel. Caddo is a Cessna (many cessna's actually) DZ that is much smaller and has the smaller DZ feel. Depending on your style, both can be very appealing. I hear Dallas has a crazy AFF JM there who swims across big ass rivers in her spare time...might watch out for her. :)

Many DZ's will be pretty explicit about the payment being for the ride up, and not the jump in the waiver. I knew one DZ that did that mainly for tandems, such that if someone decided at 13,500 feet that they didn't want to skydive, the dz didn't lose everything (nor did the Video/Tandem etc. that spent time with them).

A good PLF can keep you from breaking thing on landings when snap crackle pop would otherwise be likely. It does not make you immune to bumps, bruises, scrapes etc., but it can do a fantastic job of protecting you from more significant injury by distributing the landing forces out over a larger area and time.

Softer opening gear has been the trend for at least the last 10 years or so, and isn't limited to small elliptical. My canopy opens usually in 6-800 feet and is nice. Some of the 7 cells out there make my openings look snappy. There are lots of options these days in all sizes and canopy styles that are known to open from "snappy" to "is this a snivel or a streamer?"

I don't think that is a fair/accurate example. Sorry for hijacking this thread anymore than it has been already. My point is pretty simple. I advocate for responsible skydiving just like you do. I have lost friends and spent way too much time visiting people in the hospital. I know what the risks are. Canopy flight can be as much fun (more fun for some) as freefall. The main point for me is you can increase your wing loading responsibly and not be on this razor edge of dying all the time. Take the right steps. Make sure you have the right skills, be responsible and it's not so bad. The "nothing is as safe as bigger canopies" argument might be true. But I'm glad we are not all jumping de-tuned Man-O-Wars, pulling at 6K feet, only doing solo jumps, and shutting down at 10mph winds. That would make us much "safer". Like most things, we should try to be reasonable such that we can enjoy life but not live in a plastic bubble or padded room. If we were looking for the safest sport...skydiving probably isn't your best pick. You must agree to some extent since your profile says you are jumping a 108. You would be safer under a 230...but i bet you don't feel like you are cheating death every time you deploy. I bet you took the right steps, have the right skills, and are comfortable with you skill and safety under your 108. Skydiving is a high energy and risky sport by it's nature. It attracts people who like to go fast and push the limits. We are not playing checkers here. Be smart about what you do, enjoy this badass sport we are a part of.

They do have brakes, and it is up to the pilot to use them or not use them. I fly in brakes a lot under my current canopy (about 1.7:1), there isn't a need to fly at full flight all the time IMO. That canopy can hang up with students and even tandems in deep brakes. Will it fly as slow or descend as slow as a .7:1 wing in deep brakes, nope... but it will fly really slowly. I've landed that canopy (and one size smaller as well at closer to 1.9:1) from about 3/4 brakes several times. It can fly slow..and descend slow if you fly it that way. In my experience, people who fly lightly loaded canopies spend most of their time at full flight. They spend most of the time towards the fastest non turning/diving aispeeds their canopies are capable of. If that is how you fly, and you get a smaller wing, yes you are going to be going much faster...but it's not because you took away the brakes... but because you are driving at full throttle.

I think a lot of it also depends on the mindset. If you are pushing the limits and going hard/fast.... for sure. Most of your trouble you will have gotten into yourself. But you can jump canopies that are loaded up a little bit and not push the edge all the time. You don't have to be mr. super swooper, or hotrod. If that's your mindset, you will be at higher risk due to that...regardless of the canopy. The person I know who messed themselves up the worst under canopy (real real real bad... ) got himself in trouble under a 7 cell F111 at 1:1. There is more to it than wingloading, and I think you are right about the midnset/skill/reasons for downsizing.

Nono, don't lead the boy astray: pack fast, pull low, date your rigger's wife. Seriously, though, I've actually heard people argumented that they'd be safer under a smaller canopy. Yes it's true. You know I agree with the general concept that "bigger is safer" and I don't advocate going smaller than you are ready for....but it's not all doom and gloom. There are some advantages to having a higher performance canopy. I'm sure I'll get nailed to the cross on here for saying this, but I've been in situations where I was happy I was under a canopy with a 35mph fwd speed and a nice big landing cone, and not under something twice as big and half as fast. I've been in the situation where having a canopy that would turn "now!" to avoid the guy flying right at me in line twist might have saved my butt when a student sized canopy may not have. I like having the decent speed range that allows me to let it fly and come down quickly if that's what makes sense in the pattern, or get into the brakes and land last if needed to. Yes, there are some more risks with higher wingloadings. Yes, it takes time, experience and skill to be able to fly at higher loadings (no dobut) but there are also some options and benefits that come with having something smaller. Station Wagon is safer than a Vette for sure. The Vette can get you into trouble fast...but there are times when the Vette can get you out of trouble the Wagon might not be able to. I'm not trying to argue for downsizing fast... or saying that "smaller is safer" but a lot of what I read on here is all about the doom and gloom of smaller canopies...and my point is that there are some advantages as well....it's not all bad. bring on the flames. Z

If you are going to do those jumps in a reasonable time frame, using Demo canopies might be a good way to go. That would give you the chance to try out some different wings, and different sizes. If it fits in your rig, it would also keep you from having to jump unfamiliar gear (safer). It would keep you from having to buy or borrow something for just a few jumps, and help you determine if the Safire 160 is what you want/need or if one of the demos would make a good purchase. Some DZ's have a better variety than others of rental gear. That would be the a good choice as well.

This one gives an idea of the forces/energy possible. This was similar to my last one...one second you are there, and the other you are gone (and happy not to have dislocated a shoulder/elbow or caught your head on a knee on the way out). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUrvzQIpCU This one gets credit for the coolest/most creative Mr. Bill.Part Mr. Bill, part FruitLoop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwq-yg9GwGE

Mr. Bill jumps are a lot of fun when they work out. How often do you get to fly a 3 to 1 loaded canopy with a friend :) It is a high risk/high reward jump IMO. Many times "Mr. Bill" can't hold on. The forces involved when things don't work out are pretty high, and there are lots of things that can go wrong (from things like the video to getting kicked/kneed in the head when mr bill can't hold on during opening shock). I have a few failed attempts, and one good attempt. The last failed attempt was enough to probably keep me fry trying again. They are fun for sure, but higher risk than many of the other fun/trick jumps.

When I started jumping, our main plane had a Garrett engine on it (like most skyvans) and they are louder than most PT-6's. Also, we had a lot of pilots who jumped at my DZ, and all of them always had ear protection in on the ride up. I figure this might be total BS, but one of them always talked about damage that can occur from exposure to some of the high frequency noise created by props. I got in the habit, and now I always have them on in the airplane. I've spent lots of time in noisy airplanes, and figure it cant hurt to have something in. I have the plugs on a rope that I put through my jumpsuit zipper.

If you really want speed and redundancy (and have some cash) Raid 10 can be great. It is 4 drives that are a combo of raid 1 and raid 0. So they are striped disks that are each backed up with a mirrored pair. Thus you get the full speed of raid 0, and the redundancy of raid 1, and the cost of 4 drives. The board I have now doesnt support it, but most of the nicer/newer boards will.

For the hard drives, I would recommend: If you want super speed, Raid Zero is fine, but I'd get 2 SSD's (don't have to be super huge) and have the big volume drives for your storage. The rig I use right now for photo editing has 2 10K RPM hardrives (total is about 76Gigs of space) that I have my OS and all my programs on. I have a 1TB raid 1 array (2 identical drives that act as one, so if one fails I don't lose any data) for my files and for my backups. And I have another smaller hard drive that is just the scratch disk for photoshop. Something similar might work well for video (but i'd go SSD instead of 10KRPM drives). Having everything on one really big raid 0 array is risky. Raid 0 is really fast, but if one drive fails you lose everything (that isn't backed up off that drive). That's why I'm a fan of a smaller and really fast raid zero array for the boot drive, and then having another drive (raid 1 if you can) for storage etc. edit for type-o

you mean a roll before you pull, or just as a general skill? If you mean at pull time... i will be one of those who doesn't fall into the "everyone" category.

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