BMFin

well yes. The nikon guys were searching hard to come up with some faults in the new 5D. Finally the only thing they could come up with was this black dot issue. I guess everyone may decide for themselves if this is a big issue. Some info here

Jussi has the camera connected on his wrist in freefall. He changes it to a carabiner in his chest strap under canopy. Hes been jumping with a lot of different objects in his hand. Its quite normal to see him freeflying with a 2 meter tall carbon fibre rod in his hand and on the end he has a canon 5D for example I think he was propably the 1st one in the world to land with a bicycle back in the early 90´s.. ...edited to add that Jussi actually aims thru the viewfinder in freefall. I havent seen anyone else doing that..

Oh, I wasnt saying we should go on a strike and how wrong it is we arent paid more. We live in a market economy and I accept people arent ready to pay me a professional rate for their photos. My point was: It definetly isnt a lot of money what we are being paid for. On the contrary. And therefore I dont see it as the tandem photographers obligation to shoot the photos with the top of the line gear. IMO compact camera is pretty well in accordance with the sallary. By the way, do you know what professional wedding photograpers charge for example ? Here in Finland the average guy charges about 1000 euros for 4-6 hours of shoot and that doesnt include the photos yet. They will charge you another XXX for the prints. Most photographers will charge you double if you want the original files. Friend of mine charges 2000 euros for a gig. And hes doing fairly well, but in no means he is a rich guy even though he is very good at what he does. It is not a gold mine, even though it might look like it..

Ok. 35-40 bucks. Now compare those fiqures to a professional photographer. After that take into consideration how much would this photographer charge extra for unique situation where you have to risk your self and your gear ? Also take into consideration that most tandem photographers actually hand out all the original files. In professional photograhy world that makes it 2x the price.. Frankly I cannot think of ANY kind of professional photographer who would take a set of photos for such a small price.

Maybe... they're always getting better. But I've never seen one that can really compete. I have a kit lens and a 10-22. Bet you can't tell which shots are taken with which lens, other than the ones at the wide end of the 10-22 or the narrow end of the 18-55. The 10-22 is technically superior, but it's not a night and day difference. I have to look at the exif to know which lens I used. Dave You are right. There isnt a lot of difference when comparing those two lenses @ 18mm. In terms of sharpness the kit lens is very good. The only problem is that the kit lens isnt wider than 18mm Thats the major difference with these two. Something that is as wide as 10mm is quite difficult to build, so that the distortions are not huge and the optical quality is still good. Thats why the 10-22 is so expensive. When talking about quality optics sharpnes is only one factor and sharpness isnt very expensive in optics actually. Even the least expensive lenses can be VERY sharp. What is expensive is the focal ratio. That is something the kit lens lacks.

May I ask, how much do you actually get paid if you consider it as a lot of money ?

Well, Id have to say I dont agree. IMO a good modern compact camera does the same job as XTi in sports mode with the kit lens. The difference of the XTi comes into play when you have quality optics, maby a powerfull flash and know how to use the manual possibilities of the SLR. And about shooting tandem stills with a compact camera: IMO if the photographer gets paid only 30-50 bucks for a set of unique photos such as freefall photos are, I think a compact camera is a very reasonable choise taken into account how poorly you are paid.

I have nothing against people who want to use sports mode and autofocus, like you say. If one wishes to do so, no problem. On a side note, I dont see a lot of reason to get an SLR in this situation though. A compact camera could do those things cheaper and with less weight on your head. Personally I wont put so much effort on the video simply because the videocameras we use are so low tech anyway and not much more quality is availeable from those type of cameras anyway. If I was shooting video with a high quality equipment, then I would definetly put more effort in getting the best results.

Yeah, I wont disagree with most of the things you guys said. There are now 2 different questions being discussed here: 1. Is film more expensive ? 2- Is shooting Digital free ? 1.) Im not familiar enough with film, though I have noticed even the most high end (Mamiya etc.) leaf shutter bodies are ridiculously cheap compared to digital bodies. With the exess money you will finance your film developing for quite a while. However I agree that basically you can say that taking photographs is effectively cost-free. (only the shutter and some other (moreless)mechalical accessories you may have loose their life with every push of the button) 2.) The fact that taking digital photographs is effectively cost-free, doesnt mean digital photography it self is effectively free. It is actually quite expensive. Reason why I brought this out is that a lot of times you hear people say: "nowadays photography is so cheap ´cause its all digital" and I couldnt disagree more.

IMO this is the funniest misconception ever. Hardly - by the time you shoot/process/print 100 rolls of 36 exposure film, you've made up the difference in price between the film camera and the digital - the digital pulls aways after that point. Oh I wasnt saying which is more expensive film or digital. I was just saying digital doesnt seem so free to me.. By the time you have spent 20.000 $ for your camera equipment, editing software, computer, monitor... you most likely will not consider that shooting digital is free.

IMO this is the funniest misconception ever.

You just need to learn photography. No shortcuts here. There are no magical right settings in any kind of photograpy. And about the manual, Im sure youll be able to get an english version of the manual also. (google it)

Zacuto seems to make nice video equipment for the 5D mark II http://vimeo.com/2223602 1st production models were delivered already some time ago and theres a lot of test videos around. For example here Looks very promising.

I disagree. The f/2.8 is superior. The f/1.8 is much softer. I know, it is weird but thats how it seems. Comparison picture EDIT: attached a sample I took with canon 28 f/2.8 @2.8 and a crop of the upper corner. When examining the crop even the upper corner looks sharp. IMO very nice sharpness indeed.

They also have the 11-16 which is better in terms of performance.

For APS-C: Personally at the moment I would either choose canon 10-22 or tokina 11-16 ( I have the canon my self ) The tokina is reported to be very nice. The downside is the small amount of zoom it has.. (5mm) Sigma 10-20 is not a bad choise but it is slower, heavier and most of all sigma is known for its poor quality control. In other words its a gamble wether you get a sharp copy.. I like the zoom for versatility. Sometimes I zoom it in freefall always always I shoot landing shots @ 22mm For a secondary lens I plan on using canon 28mm f/2.8. I havent used it yet, but @ f/2.8 I expect to get nice bokeh and really sharp pictures..

Very nice photos ! The only negative thing was the gallery software which almost forces you to watch the pics as a slideshow. Other than that, looking forward to see your in-air-photography.

Absolutely, but non xbraced canopies can also smack you. Its not only the xbraced canopies that are known to open hard. Also hard opening or any malfunction what ever should be avoided even if you dont jump with a camera..

Ask what ?

Do you think there will be enough customers for 3 tunnels in moscow ?

They do ? I understand that the best way to make sure you wont have packing induced malfunctions, is to pack your self. (Though I didnt know there were statistics on malfunction/packer-usage% ratios) What I dont understand is what exactly increases this risk if you: - jump an xbraced - jump a camera

My budjet ? At the moment I wouldnt get anything since my budjet is kind of limited

Well, depends what my budjet is, doesnt it ?

What exactly makes this combo a bad idea ?

20D is size "APS-C"