4dbill

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Everything posted by 4dbill

  1. 4dbill
    This is one of the best deals I've seen on a 64bit notebook ($549 after rebate). I wonder how fast you can render Vegas on this.. http://www.frys.com/product/6058178 4DBill
  2. 4dbill
    Ahh... that explains why my 4 min HD footage takes 8+ minutes to render on my 'fast' 32bit machine. 4DBill
  3. 4dbill
    What is the rendering time different between the 32 and 64bit version? Thanks. 4DBill
  4. 4dbill
    That would be perfect! The biggest obstacle, I thought, was to be able to trigger all cameras, in freefall, at the exact same time. Now we REALLY need to do this! How many freefall photographers can you squeeze in to a 12' semi circle? 4DBill
  5. 4dbill
    Ever since I saw the movie the Original Matrix, I wanted recreate the ‘bullet time’ or Time Slice effect in skydiving. See example of the movie at 2:19 of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E3JDtqHaVM To get somewhat of a smooth effect, with software keyframe morphing, at least 12 cameras from different angle need to be triggered at the same time. Option #1: Have 12 cameramen in a semi circle formation firing off at a subject at the same time. The technicality of such shot would require awesome camera flyers tight formation, firing off one shot after another at a subject. We need to try this someday with a hot model as a subject. Option #2: Mount a 12-camera setup on the bottom of the helicopter and have an expert wing suiter fly by it. This would require big $$$ due to cost of 12 cameras, camera mount for all DSLRS, and a helicopter rent. Anybody wanna finance this project?
  6. 4dbill
    All the upgrade options/costs are listed at, http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/buy/upgrades
  7. 4dbill
    I've been bugging Douglas Spotted_Eagle, 'DSE' the moderator of this forum, with a few Vegas problems/questions for last few weeks, but this is the exact main question I had for him. There was no solution until TODAY! He notified be this morning (4/13/10) that Sony has release the Vegas Pro 9.0C version that burns the DVD directly from Vegas! I just tested it and it works! Just go tools/burn disk/DVD and walk away. Buy the time you pack, voila! DVD is ready! Thank you DSE for all your help. And Thank you Sony for making a perfect NLE package for skydiving! (edit to add) Oh.. Vegas already had this feature for Blue-Ray burning. 4DBill
  8. 4dbill
    Here's Smoothcam test #2 which also yielded amazing result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzBE4Ch6kNk It's definitely is not practical for tandem/AFF videos, but for projects that could use some extra nice shots, it surely is a great tool. The footage above was shot with GoPro HD, which does not have any kind of image stabilization, so it made a greater difference than the first footage, which was taken with CX100. The mount I used for CX100 might have been a bit loose, causing vibration shakes, which Smoothcam video filter got rid of beautifully. The process seems to soften the video a bit, but not enough to make a significant difference on DVD resolution, since the originals were shot in HD. If burned into Blue-Ray, however, it probably won’t be as sharp, but I think I the benefit of significant improvement in smoothness overweighs some reduction in sharpness. 4DBill
  9. 4dbill
    Final Cut Pro Smoothcam filter applied to certain skydiving footage is simply magical. The processed video looks almost as smooth as those $1 million Heligimbal stabilized images used for Planet Earth documentary. See my first test at, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkAOCfxHqhU I thought my videos were pretty smooth already, until I saw the Smoothcam version! Do you think the general public might appreciate the extra smoothness or just the vidiots? 4DBill
  10. 4dbill
    A picture says it all, which is worth way more than hundreds of questionable negative postings about Bill Dause and his operation.
  11. 4dbill
    I am curious to see the setup and the length of the pole. 4DBill
  12. 4dbill
    It's never funny making fun of injuries. "Dive and Dump" is a great name for it because nowhere in history has anyone hit the tail of any airplane diving out, with cut or not.
  13. 4dbill
    Let the games begin! Both Ken Oka Cup and North American Cup Accuracy Meet start today at Lodi (4/2/10), and it's LIVE! http://www.lodicam.com We'll plug in a microphone next time so the viewers can hear what's going on as well.
  14. 4dbill
    Sweet I love the otter and I love 5$ H&P's out of the king air. Shhhhh... The locals cringe at the words "Hop and Pop." After the conclusion of the trial all you people been following, it's now called "Dive and Dump."
  15. 4dbill
    Will do, this Sunday, weather permitting. It is probably one-of-a-kind, in this field. BTW, there will be an accuracy meet at Lodi on 4/2-4/3. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/calendar/page.cgi?g=Detailed/3968.html;d=1 Of course, the webcam will be live for the event. Also, legendary Cheryl Stearns is/will be at the location. 4DBill
  16. 4dbill
    Bill Dause got his Otter AND KA back! Oh.. along with that $5 Dive-and-Dump is back. Hooray! 4DBill
  17. 4dbill
    If everything goes well, we'll install a lodipondcam someday. All the infrastructure is set up. It's just a matter of supply and demand.
  18. 4dbill
    Hmm... The native resolution is only 320x240 to conserve bandwidth, so full screening it would make it kinda fuzzy, but yes, it can be viewed in full screen if desired. I've tried double clicking on 4 different PC's, using IE Explorer, Firefox and Chrome, and they all seem to work fine in full screen mode, so it must be your computer. Oh.. we just acquired the name http://www.lodicam.com as well as http://www.lodicam.net! 4DBill
  19. 4dbill
    I am not sure what the data rate is for a single users. I am going to takes an educated guess on saying that it depends on movements. You can easily monitor the usage by using an appropriate software. Here's an example. http://www.bandwidth-meter.net/ All you have to do is google "bandwidth usage meter" and pick the software you feel comfortable with. 4DBill
  20. 4dbill
    After many technical glitches and delays, Lodicam is LIVE! http://www.lodicam.net The video streamer server, theoretically, is supposed to be able to handle up to 120 users at the same time. Please log on and see if you can crash the system, for testing purposes. If it goes well, 2nd camera will be added, and so on. 4DBill
  21. 4dbill
    I got my Gopro HD as soon as it was launched, and I was/am happy with the overall quality, given its weight and cost, however, one thing I really missed was the indicator light. So.. I got myself an old fashioned photocell battery powered model used for Hi-8 cameras. I was going to make one, but was lucky enough to have good old friend Brent Finley dig one up instead. A few strips of gaffer tape, and voila! (See attachment) Brent -- you just might get a bunch of orders. Be sure to save my cut! :) 4D Bill
  22. 4dbill
    Canon XTi has 3 metering modes: Evaluative, partial and center weighed. After taking hundreds, if not thousands, of simulated skydiving shots against different kind of backgrounds on the ground, I found Evaluative metering seems to be more useful on an average shot, but I didn't have the camera for that long, so I'll keep experimenting. One thing for sure though. XTi sucks when it comes to auto setting outdoors. It's way too dark.
  23. 4dbill
    I shoot almost exclusively in shuttle priority mode of 1/400 or so because I want a guarantee of having no unnecessary blur and a decent dept of field. Two biggest criteria for the settings I choose are amount of available light and the brightness of background compared to the subject. When I am shooting against the sky, I open up the lens to +1 step, because the sky is almost always brighter than the subject. If shooting against the ground, around +1/3 since Canon Xti tents to shoot a bit dark anyway. If it’s sunny, I keep the ISO around 100-200; cloudy,400. Here are some fist test shots with XTi. It shows all settings I’ve used. I think you have to be a Facebook account holder to view them, though. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14797&id=100000044890285 4DBill
  24. 4dbill
    Hi Pete and Marsha! Attached is a few snapshots from hundreds of video's I've shot there. This should bring back some memories! Check out the purple ducktape interior -- a scene right out of Fandango! :) For the "newer" jumpers there in the 90's, here's a video of a Queen Air weekend at the DZ, close to the end of its era. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA1yvWbppik Lot's of good memories.. I spent pretty much every non-winter weekends there for quite a few years. Bill
  25. 4dbill
    What is the motivation of such hijacker? Was he going to sell the airplane for parts or crash into a building? Please enlighten me.