BMFin

So you dont consider your country as democratic ? Is it someone else than you who gets to attend the decision making in your country ? Is it only the attorneys who make laws and rule the country ?

Everything always attorneys fault ? What you should understand is that its your legal system that is rotten, not the attorneys. The attorneys are merely spokespersons in behalf of their clients. They dont give the verdicts in court.

In the finnish legal system the child has the same rights as everyone else. However before the child is 18 years old his legal guardian / parents will have the right to use these rights in BEHALF of the child. (with some exeptions) Therefore every legal act (that is more than customary) has to be done by the childs parents in BEHALF of the child. I would be suprised if the US system would approach the subject in substantially different way. So it isnt so that the child wouldnt have any power to make legal acts. It is just that someone else is using this power in his behalf. Now we get to the area of the OP´s question: Are there any legal acts the parents /legal guardian cannot make in behalf of the child. Answer: ofcourse there are The pending question remains: What are the kind of legal acts parents have the right to perform in behalf of a minor and what are the kind that parents dont have the right to. Example: Do parents have a right to circumcise a child if there is no medical reason ? Example2 : Can parents sign a liability waiver in behalf of a minor ?

Any human activity restricted by society has to be weighed agianst civil rights and has to be in parallel with the civil & human rights in general. Therefore you need to evaluate the importance of the objective of legislative act X and the amount of it restricting civil right Y. The restriction of a civil right is acceptable if X outweighs Y and the objective may not be achieved without restricting Y any less. In example criminalizing heroin is in conflict with the right to personal freedom, but it has been politically agreed that the importance of criminalizing heroin is worth restricting this civil right. (due to its effects on society in general)

What is legal ? Skydiving as a minor ? Sure its legal. Where wouldnt it be legal ? Well 1st of all minor does most certainly have right to sue anyone who violates his rights. (so you are wrong in saying that minor doesnt have the right to sue and therefore it may not be waivered away) Secondly, minors most certainly can do have the power to do legal transactions to some point. (in example go to a grosery store and buy a carton of milk) It is only the legal transactions that surpass the line of being consequential enough to be not binding if not made under approval by the guardian of a minor. (in example sell a house the child has inherited) (in finland this actually even needs to be approved by the authorities to prevent possible exploitation of the minors assets) Anyhow the question weather the guardian may waiver rights in behalf of the minor is a valid question. What people should anyhow understand in this case is that waivering rights doesnt mean you give away your right to sue no matter what. It moreless documents that you are aware of the possible and hazards that might actualize, and can be upheld in court to prove this person was actually aware of this possible scenario happening. There are just things you cannot waiver away. This apllies to adults as well. As an extreme example: no one can give another person a right to kill him. Thats for sure. IMHO the whole US legal system is a nightmare..

I understand what you mean, but I do not agree on this very much. The only possible outcome IMO could be that it would cause restricting the rules for underage skydiving. (which are non existant at the moment) If you are suggesting that skydiving in general could be restricted or even banned, I would remind you that civil rights such as the right to personal freedom are institutions that are not within reach of a soccer moms making noice out of nothing..

Andy, why do you think he would try to deceive us as being under 18 ? Any reason for that ? What would be his motives you were questioning and you therefore see as a non acceptable cunduct ?

May I ask you what ill-motives he could ever achieve, if you just give him an honest answer to an honest question ? Is it you fear that he might actually find out the truth ?

Why exactly do you want to attack this OP for asking questions ? Furthermore with your attack you are actually counter-argumenting with irrelevant issues here. It is irrelevant to the OP´s question whether DZ´s themselves will not want underage customers. May it be so that the DZ´s has every right setting any requirements they like, as long as they are not discriminating. It is not the question he was asking. Second thing. Who cares if the guy isn´t actually under 18 ? What does that have to do with the issue here either ? IMO he is asking a perfectly good questions and so far the only answer to his question has been from the OP himself. If you cant answer the question, then dont answer. EDIT: Seems there was also BIGUN who actually answered the question.

Im sure the organizers made a few bucks while organizing. or if not I would say even the organizers were screwed pretty bad by someone.. I dont know much aobut the whole event, but to me it seems it was an event that was directed towards rich people with money who want to do something exiting. (they wont care about the cost) When the media is interviewing them they might say something like "3x thick parachutes" since most of them I guess are wuffos and dont have a clue about skydiving.. See this page: http://www.incredible-adventures.com/ And subpage on that site: http://www.incredible-adventures.com/skydive-everest.html I wonder what exactly was so difficult with this that it took 15 years to plan ?

Ok. Now that I looked at it again, I noticed that there is that tab you may click to open the "downloads" section. Maby a bit hidden IMO (or maby Im just a bit retard ) Personally (if possible) I would modify it as the first Tab which would open as a default. Maby I will open one of these also. Tandem photos I still prefer selling the "old way" just handing out the files on a CD. (its much less work that way) But for those who decide not to have the stills I could upload the pics on the site and maby get a few bucks now and then when someone changes their mind afterwards. I just include the web address on the video DVD and they have no trouble finding their pics if they need to.. I see you guys havent done this. Have you thought about it ? You think this might be an idea ?

I just took a brief look at the smugmug site. The idea seems intresting. What I couldnt find though was how you buy Files only. Personally I woudnt want prints nearly as much as I would want files. (I guess this apllies with a lot of other people also) When clicking "buy this photo" at smugmug, I could only choose prints in the list.

well, as I have understood, you get a world wide warranty for objectives and accessories and such. (if its not a "grey market" product without warranty) The body wont be under world wide warranty. Only US warranty or no warranty at all. (depending do you want to buy one with warranty or not) For some products like compact cameras, canon offers a "semi trasferable warranty" It means that you may change the national 1 year warranty for a half a year warranty at another warranty area where canon does offer warranty. (UK for example) In order to have this done you need to visit canon office (somewhere) and change the national warranty card to this other warranty card. This is how it is at least in the warranty conditions in Hong Kong. I can only assume it might be someworth similar in the US also. And note that this only applies to compact cameras, not DSLR´s like the 5DMII If you want to find the terms of warranty definitely, check out the warranty terms of canon US. (most likely to be found in their web site) Someone suggested asking canon itself, I wouldnt. The person answering to you might not actually have a clue about what he/she will tell you. I actually asked canon Finland about the warranty "exchange" from hong kong and they first tried to deny it even exists. After a series of emails they finally agreed that this is possible. If you ask, I suggest asking canon US since, more likely canon UK will try to be protective towards their market area. On a second note, I would suggest getting rid of any evidence that suggests you bought the products in the US. Just in case you get searched in the customs. Thirdly I would suggest making sure the retailer has the items in stock at the time you visit..

BTW. How long has this rule been in effect in Zhills ?

Where did you buy the canopy from ? Have you tried contacting who ever you bought the canopy from ? The retailer should be the one responsible towards you in this case.

You tell me, your the "multi-Emmy Award winning producer, Peabody and DuPont recipient" Thats pretty much the point I was making. Those top of the line cameras dont necessarely have auto focus.. So what ? Yeah.. and thats why I was saying it wont matter that the video mode doesnt have a decent AF. The still camera it self has a pretty decent AF however.. That was exactly my point when we started to talk about the meaning of not having AF optimized for video.. Still you havent, nor anyone else, been able to tell me what exactly is wrong with the video ? So far theres not a single thing said in this thread about whats wrong with it, other than the line of : "I dont like the idea of having them both together, that just isnt right" or "If you wanna use it, Fine use it.."

I'm told by Xmas season, which is Thanksgiving or sooner Here in finland it was announced by one retailer that the 1st ones will arrive 19.10.2008

Im sure you are very competent videographer, but what I didnt know is that you have already seen it. Did you shoot video ? How did it perform? Care to post a sample ? What made you decide you would never consider using it as a video camera ? Mostly I agree. I wouldn´t use it everyday either. Not so much because of the weight. (comparing my current 400 D + 10-22 set up to 5DM2 + 15mm canon it would be only 250 grams heavier..), but mostly because I would be too afraid to break it or otherwise jeopardise an expensive piece of equipment only for some tandem customer to whom we hand away the pictures for free anyway... (20-50 bucks a set of such unique fotos is ridiculosly cheap) No you misunderstood me completely. This is what mnealtx claimed: "AF system not optimized for video use" In other words hes claiming that 5DM2 serves no purpose as a video camera BECAUSE it doesnt have a proper auto focus. Now my answer to that was: Not all proper video cameras have autofocus. It doesnt mean its a micky mouse camera only because it doesnt have auto focus. As I have understood most of the big production movies (filmed with panavison equipment for example) are more less filmed with using autofocus. Does it mean they were shot with mickey mouse cameras only because theres no auto focus ?

I stand corrected. However, the mainpoint with what I said still applies. It doesnt matter even if the video AF is not optimized for video use (like mnealtx claimed), since a lot of REALLY pro video cameras dont even have autofocus. May it be that the newer HD cameras have AF, it doesnt mean that you could no longer call a videocamera without AF as a pro camera. Do you agree ? Yes, you are right. However, that someone happens to be a pulizer price winning photographer. I would be suprised if he´d be totally clueless about video industry in general and still making such predictions. If you have predictions, opinions or reviews on the 5DM2 made by someone who you consider as a accomplished videographer, please post them I would love to hear more.. If you mean the 1D(s)Mark IV, I assume it will be a sweet camera, though perhaps not so intresting in my point of view mainly because of the price and size+weight..

Besides size/weight ? answer: ISO performance and picture quality in general. Those are the two major factors. what more would you want ? I think theres a lot of times you need a high ISO value. I will give you a few examples: Take a look at this photo and this photo that a friend of my took of us back in 2006 I can tell you they were shot with a 5D and the exposure time was 1/400 sec. How much noise can you see in them ? I dont see much at all.. Secondly: Not only being able to shoot clean high ISO is important but also being able to digitally correct the exposure afterwards with a low ISO value. Now a good sensitive censor will allow that also without adding much noise at all. Third thing: A crappy sensor like the 30D or 400D or similar, will produce a lot of noise even at low ISO values. I will also provide you an example : Now take a look at this photo I shot with ISO400 The outcome is prettymuch horrible in terms of noise. Not only that it also applys in day light. Take a look at thisphoto I shot this summer with my 400D. It was shot in the middle of the day with 100 ISO and it still has a lot of noise in it. The whole picture is filled with noise. The photo in question is cropped to some extent, but less than 30% was cut out. Now Im positive, that a sensor like in the 5D would produce a beautifull clean nice and smooth picture with pretty much a non-existant level of noise. Yes. And as I have said earlier in this thread, 1D series propably and most likely is superior to the 5D in terms of AF. However, in skydiving photography AF is not nearly as important. Lots of people use manual focus anyways. Thats why I dont consider this as an issue at all. Again, while this is correct it has no argument in this conversation. The main reasons for the 1d MIII being superior in sports photography is the AF and the 10fps speed. Two factors that arent NEARLY as important in freefall photography. Well first of all being Full Frame isn´t an absolute value. Some photographers like bird photographers for example prefer a cropped censor for its advantage with the focal distance. FF has its drawbacks and advantages. Personal preference does vary. Secondly including the better AF, pretty much every other thing is also superior in the 5D than in the 30D. Perioid. This thing is pretty much self evident. The only thing where the 30D outperforms is the price. I already brought out a few arguments conserning the ISO performance. I guess I need not to copy paste that here anymore. I know plenty, thanks - I've done portrait, landscape and sport shooting for a few years, now. Now you didnt answer my question. did you actually even read the blog by Vincent Lafarette I posted. I also asked if you have actually seen any footage shot with 5DM2 where you simply answer : "I know plenty, thanks" which is IMO quite a weak argument trying to prove he is talking bullshit when he says this is propably the most exiting thing happening in the industry in a LONG time.. but if you have seen the footage shot with the 5DM2 PLEASE OH PLEASE tell me if you can do that with the 30D and if theres any flaws or things you dont like in the quality of the 5DM2 footage PLEASE point them out.. My experiense is very short. I bought my 1st SLR in the beginning of this year and so far I have only shot about 9000 (more less well selected) frames with it. I might also ask you what is your experience in freefall photography, but I doubt anyhow it has any relevance in this question neither does my experience. If you think I am mistaken or wrong with any of my opinions or facts, please feel free to disagree and prove me wrong. The only thing I see as relevant here is to reason your arguments with facts and logic rather than just saying: "i know plenty, thanks" or " I've done portrait, landscape and sport shooting for a few years" .. To me it has no argument value at all.. Ummm.. ok... What you personally like isnt really relevant here either. What would be relevant would be that if you would reason your statements suggesting the low quality of the video. On top of my head I guess you could turn off the live view if you dont want it. According to my knowlege, REAL video cameras dont even have AF. They are full manual. (some one may correct me if Im mistaken) However, the 5DM2 has AF for video if you need it, and the technique is based on contrast. So your guess about it interfering with the DSLR AF is a miss.. In a nutshell, most of the reviews I have read so far says that the picture quality of the camera is best among the canon lineup so far. Also the video feature is being predicted to revolutionize the whole industry.. Hows that ?!

Amen !!

ISO performance and weight. Those are the two major factors that make 5DMII much better. Can you think of anything that makes 1DsMIII better in skydiving enviroment ? Are you kidding ? Even the old 5D beats the crap out of the 30D. It seems obvious you dont know what you are talking about, if you are calling the video feature: "wanna-be-a-webcam stuff" Did you even read that blog ? Have you seen the quality of the video ? I have noticed a lot of photographers simply cant stand the fact that the 5DMII has the video feature. They are just saying videocamera is a videocamera and stillcamera is a stillcamera perioid. No arguments behind these statements.. Well if you dont want to use it.. then dont. If yo want to point out flaws in the video feature, feel free to do so. But please state reasons for your statements.

It is true that the Mark III perhaps has a better autoforus. (which by the way have been reported to have problems with it) On some other areas 5DMII wins. Thats why I didnt say its better. Thats why I only said it performs in the same category. Some of the reviews I have read about the 5DMII have stated that it is the BEST canon so far in terms of picture quality. It largely depends on the users needs, what he/she values most among the specs. From a skydivers perspective 5DM2 is definetly MUCH better than 1DsMIII.

umm.. yes.. but with the 5DM2 you can do them both.. how cool is that ? For the D90 you are right.. It seems the video feature in that camera is more less a BIG joke. See for your self: http://s477.photobucket.com/albums/rr134/jamesmel9/?action=view¤t=DSC_0012.flv It has some serious shuter lag.. Not that it ever looked good on paper either being interlaced and the list goes on... Well would you buy it if you found out it performs in the same category with the 1Ds MIII and costs only 1/3 of the price. Hell, If the things that have been said about the video feature of the 5DM2 are true, I bet a lot of people will buy the camera ONLY because of the video feature.. This camera will sell for approx. $2,700 - and perform better than many $100K plus video cameras out there… -Quote from Vincent Laforet´s blog- EDIT: it seems they are also making a video-firmware for other live view cameras like 40D. Im not sure if this is a hoax but here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlKywUVFJW4

If your interested on the video feature go check this out: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/ "However what is entirely exciting is that the 5D holds the “holy grail” of all independent video producers, which is film-like depth of field and organic, film-like imagery. No longer would you need to buy or rent expensive 35mm lens adapters for the hand-held HD cams or, use painfully expensive HD-cinema glass. " The frame grabs look simply stunning !!!