BMFin

When a DZ has a swoop lane. It is ment for the use of swoopers. It is not there for people to hang around. This simply means that swoopers have the right of way. I agree with you that you should abort your swoop if you see someone occupying the swooplane and that it might endanger your and the person standing there. After that I would definetly go and talk with the person who caused me to abort my swoop and let him know that while there are canopies in the air, the swooplane is stricktly off limits..

No but they'll abort if they are unable to make a safe landing. And I bet they will make sure this person occupying the runway will understand what he did was WRONG. Adam is actually quite a good swooper. I've had the pleasure of watching him compete. I would say he's quite knowledgable on the subject. Blues, Ian On those competitons did he have to dodge people occupying on the swooplane ? (in this case most likely swoop pond) If he did, was he totally ok with people ruining his run ? EDIT : And further more, did he actually feel like he ows an apology to the cameraman he almost hit on the swooplane ??

So do you think its ok if you just go and stand in the middle of the runway of and tell all the airplanes wanting to land : "You are in control of the faster moving more maneuverable vehicle." Please don´t tell me you are the type of person that goes having his sunday picnic on a swoop lane and actually considers anyone swooping the lane offending your privacy and endangering your ass...

Doesn't matter who's right or wrong, you'll both be dead or seriously hurt if you collide. If the pilot doesn't have the skill to avoid obstacles then they shouldn't swoop them. Period. Even then, remember, anyone can make a mistake, it only takes one and it's happened to better pilots than most of us. Blues, Ian I thought we werent talking about whether the ones involved would be hurt or not if a collision happened. I was mostly talking about who is responsible in this kind of scenario and what kind of action is to be expeted from each to prevent any such possibilities...

On regular dropzones? Hardly ever. Most places i've seen it's just like the beer line - not far from spectators and not clearly marked. And just like the beer line the old timers move it to their liking. If its not separated, I wouldnt call it a "swoop lane" I simply call it a landing area. To me, swoop lane is an area that has entry gates and blades more less running on both sides of the lane, hence the name "lane"

I dont know what kind of lane was in question, but most of the times swoop lanes have blades separating the lane from the surrounding area. Therefore exiting the lane and aiming for someone outside the lane would mean the swooper would have to carve to the side between the blades (or hitting the blades) then I could call the swoopers actions questionable.. Though this was hardly the case..

Agreed, but if its not the previous swoopers who didnt have time to collect their gear, I would most likely talk with these people about keeping the swooping lane clear of obstacles. Agreed, I would most likely swoop the lane too but I wouldnt want to hear any bitching from the camera person about swooping too close. I have the right of way. perioid.

Inside the swooplane the swooper has the right of way for sure.. (unless you have agreed on it otherwise with everyone involved) You did the right thing when you chose not to say anything to the jumper.

It seems at least Fuji has been developing a bit similar technique. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0301/03012202fujisuperccdsr.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_CCD

Lazlo, I would be very intrested to see some results.. Thanks !

I agree that using multiple exposures will yield to better results. (as I already said earlier) However I definitely do not think 1exposure HDR images are useless. Even with one exposure HDR you can definitely bring in a lot more detail to the picture. I added here a JPG conversion of the original RAW from which I made the tonemapped image. No changes has been made to this photo. It may be a matter of personal preference weather you like the tonemapped one better or not. Decide your self. I like the tonemapped one way better than the original. Sure the outcome on this particular is not completely realistically looking, but it never was my intention to do so either.. Also I should maybe add that if I would have been shooting with a better camera the results would be better, since better cameras will allow you to adjust the exposure correction manually without bringing up so much noise into the picture. Mine is a 400D and a lot of times I get too much noise with it IMO..

You dont have to take more than 1 exposure to create a picture using HDR thecnique... Sure more exposures will yield better results, but its not necessary. It is possible to convert multiple JPG´s from a single RAW with variable brightness.. I just bought my camera during this winter and I havent shot any freefall pics yet, but I have been praticing some HDR I shot on the ground... Uploaded a few of mine as an attachement... Both are 1 exposure shots., This is the biggest question. Are there any situations where we could benefit from the HDR imaging technique ? I suppose there might be.. Digital cameras dynamic range just isnt nearly as large as human eyes range is. In some situations a little bit more dynamic range might be needed, to bring out the details in shadows. Also you can create very natural looking pictures using HDR imaging if you want. Not all HDR pictures are as surreal as the ones I posted here.. If I remember correct Lazlo said in another post he has used HDR technique on some pics.. Maby he could tell about those a little more...??[email]

What are those ?

Thats nice.. So vidiots get 75 bucks for the whole deal ? A little off-topic, but how many tandems do you jump at your DZ in a year ?

You forgot to mention that the TI has responsibility over the passangers life who most likely pukes on the TI´s suit under canopy. Plus.. I do think its a lot more fun to freefly with a tandem plus swoop your own main canopy, rather than buttslide with the bigass tandemcanopy.. (we do this for fun anyways am I right ?) If you arent satisfied with the sallary, try tandemmastering. But if money is what you are after.. Maby seek work at some other area..

Have you tried a Battery Grip ?

Lazlo ! I think your pictures are great. I have no doubt that your lens is a good copy and it performs well. I only pointed out that some of the reviews I have read suggest that sigma has some poor copys on the market also. I havent heard that being said about canon lenses though.

NICE !!! Relative to these kids body size the tunnel seems much bigger in diameter. Thats a big advantage for kids as well.

I second that.. He makes it look EZ !! Noone else I have seen comes close when talking about freestyle.

I noticed it has been reported that sigma has some quality control problems. I chose canon 10-22 over sigma 10-20 mostly becouse of these quality control issues. For example in this review the 12-24 sigma being reviewed most likely was a bad copy. (read also the update in the end of the review) Now the most important point is that even the folks doing these reviews (more less professinally) didnt realize that is was a bad copy. They simply thought it was how the lens is.. Its impossible to say how common these problems are but I know there has been much more talk about sigma quality control than this.. Im just too lazy to dig those out.. So most likely there are people shooting with bad copys of sigmas and havent even prehaps noticed that theres anything wrong with their lens.. EDIT: fixed the link

I think he ment the 3x Mark III setup But actually with "slightly" smaller lenses it wouldnt be nearly as impossible..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AuyVz89AXg

A couple years back around Zmasboogie there was a guy in Zhills flying his bodyboard pretty frequently. I had the impression the bord flew really well and wasnt that difficult to control. Im not sure about the details how he was attached to the board. I suggest you talk to someone whos done it before, before you go and try it..

Do you shoot with that 50mm in freefall ? If you do, I would be intrested to see some results..

I flew an hour at the tunnel on the 20th of january. The staff was very nice and professional. They were pretty laidback and it was nice that they let me freefly without doing the kind of slow progression what you might have to do somewhere else.. (belly-backfly-sit-HD..) After about 5 minutes of warming up I was sitlying (or trying to) I felt the tunnel wasnt powerful enough to freefly comfortably. Though im relatively light weight I had to fly really slow sitly to stay up. (with a baggyish suit) Propably carving HD is possible, but the tunnel is pretty small so I felt I wasnt skilled enough to try it since theres not much room. The diameter is 11 feet i think. Definetly worth a visit if you are in the area. It is the cheapest tunnel there is I think. Less than 6 USD for a minute.