Deuce

Renaud, do you have a helmet where you can't get to the camera? I've got my 120 in a D-box, and I turn it on by hand, get the standby light and go to video while we're doing the spot. In a GPS spotted plane I turn the on-camera switch on at "door" and then go to video when the first group stages. I think the camera goes to standby at 5 minutes. If you've got a camera helmet that completely encloses the camera, I guess you'd just have to cycle it on and to standby more often than that.

So who's riding bitch?

Uh, so Muenkel's not going? Whooo-hooo! Another Muenkel-jump! The last one was great!

Hey, you're more than welcome. It's nice to be giving here for a change. I do find it kind of hard to hang in that position for very long, and you're committed to it once you're down there, cause pretty much the next hand movement and you're off the plane. I start at the top of the door frame and walk my hands down as low as I can go while the tandem pair gets into the door. Good luck with it!

Yeah, Vivaldi at 11. "Why don't they just mark then '10' and have '10 be just that much louder?" "........these go to 11." "the dwarves are trampling on it" I love that film

Great pictures! I'm looking at those open nose hatches on the Otters and I'm thinking it might be cold, but you could get two more people on the formation!

What do we need to post for? All the cool people will be in Eloy already!! F*ckin eh! Lisa, the Norcal Posse (Half of it anyway, I don't know where Sebazz and Lummy are staying) will be right down the hall. Things go sideways we'll be there for you. But it sounds like your roomates are going to be sleeping naked facedown in the landing area anyhow! You up for your first Skyvan step-hang on load one Friday morning?

I went through that too, with my new rig, but with the riser inserts the mechanical advantage is very small.

yeah, the micro's don't have the lanc port.

Renaud, are you shooting from outside the door? I shoot tandems from a KingAir with a .5 on my PC 120. If you have a step outside the door you can put the ball of your left foot on the edge of the step, trail your right leg, and grab the lower third of the doorframe with both hands. My video camera is on the left side of my head, so it's out far enough to get a real good "panic shot" of the TM and passenger before they rock out of the plane. Without that step, you end up being too high if you're grabbing the pegs or rail and your shoulder can get in the frame.

A fundamental issue is remotely releasing the shutter. I don't know if those ELPHs have the ability to do that. Plus that film format is a pain compared to 35mm.

I jump a N70, I think it's the next step up. I've said this lots of times, but I'd recommend the Canon just for the convenience of the prewired conceptus shutter releases. I'd get a Rebel 2000 if I had to do it again, with a good Canon lens.

I disagree. People may have a visceral feeling about a topic before they learn more about it. If you insist that they know all about all sides before they express an opinion, you will force them to keep their opinion to themselves. If they open their mouths and expose their ignorance to you, apparently you will attack them for being ignorant, when they are actually attempting to address their ignorance through discussion. I've found the smartest people to be the ones who invite others to tell them why they are wrong about something. I abhor the tyranny of experts.

I've got the BOC pud handle on both my Wings, I really prefer it. No exposed bridle at all, and the handle is in exactly the same place each time. Damn Dave! Nice looking getup! That rig must be the same size as my first one, with a PDR 176, and a 170? Looks kinda teenie on your big Texas self. Cool pics. Is that you with the banner?

Can't we do drunken posts from my laptop from the bent prop? Heck, I bet Viking or somebody could set up a portable web cam and we could do e-BA's!

I'm in awe of that move. Clay Bonevito, the concession owner can do that 2 feet from the passenger's face, keeping them perfectly framed throughout the roll. The roll takes a fraction of a second. Awesome, and great freakin video.

I'm bringing Cornholio, so he'll have some teepee for that bunghole!

It's a real interesting discussion. We have a real good freeflyer on the DZ who just couldn't video to the standard of the concession owner without a wingsuit. The way we do edits requires two close-up "money shots" of the customer's face. A typical tandem video for us is the exit, close-up, pop-up shot of the pair and the drogue from above, back down to another close up money shot, and then a tight shot of the opening sequence, rollover and toss. The pop-up and drop down wouldn't be possible without wings, for me, and for the super-good freeflyer I'm talking about. Even Kurt Issel, freeflyer extraordinaire, wears wings when shooting tandems (Kurt's featured in this month's Parachutist). I see what you're saying about camera suit flying being kind of two dimesional when you do it on your belly, but I also fly mine in a sit and stand. Assimetrical inflation is a huge pain ! I wonder how I'll feel about it in 500 jumps too, now that you mention it. But for now, I'll video the way the boss wants, cause I get paid for it, and it's by far the best job I've ever had!

CAN ANYONE LEND ME A VIDEO CAMERA!? I SWEAR I'LL POST THE VIDEO Dude, for that one I'll lend you the video helmet with the stills camera on!

So Lisa, you got one of the bunks, or one of the beds?

I'm 6' 195, ( I'm no bodybuilder, but I have very low body fat, no gut) I have the Tony Camera suit with the D wing, mine is modified a little bit to come further toward my wrists. It looks quite a bit like Quades. Q has a write up on his on this website, and has posted pictures of it and the mods done on it on his website. I think there's a camera suit thread. I know I begged for information and got great feedback prior to ordering mine. I think you'll have to get some mods done locally no matter what to get it just right. The hand/thumb straps for the swoop cords need to be made just right for you.

Muenkel, you are insane. Keith, I couldn't agree with you more about liking myself more and more as I get older. I think it's actually more about caring less and less about what other people think of me. It's an absolute joy to have friends who like you, but my desire to work for that acceptance/approval is about zero. It's great when it happens, but I don't cry in my beer anymore that some individual doesn't take a shine to me. I used to get heartbroken when somebody I liked didn't like me much. Now I have the confidence to know they are the one's missing out. -I'll be glad to put 40 behind me and move on

hehehe...You old fucken bastard Keith. I'll be 40 in August. And I really am in shock over it. I couldn't believe when I turned 39! It was like...huh...where did all the years go. 39 is old!...NOT! I have been told I look like I am in my early 30's and also that I look the best I have all my life. I'm not fat. I'm not bald. I don't have gray hair. Of course, I can't really confirm whether or not these compliments really happened. It could be Alzheimers. Damn, there's a pile of us about to turn 40!

I'm lost. B-squared: Are you really not going to be there? A little advice: Never bring a knife to a gunfight.

Well, I did make an exception for featherbutts The camera flyers I work with use the bigger wings, except one very small, very light guy who uses the medium wings. The wings not only allow me to stay floatey with light pairs, but let me dive down in a cannonball body position to right over a formation and WHAM I can stop right where I want to be. Without the wings I would have to get big sooner and slowly close to the top of the burble. The big wings also let me get directly over 4-10 ways. When I feel the turbulence I get really big and I don't crash the formation. You can pull big wings in, but if they're too small and you end up low, it's over. Phree I agree that they have to be sized right. It sounds like medium wings do for you what big wings do for me. I had the C wing on my Tony camera suit, and it wasn't big enough. I sent it back and had the D wing put on, and now it's fine. Sorry to hijack this lens thread to camera suits, but the equipment issues are easier to address than the flying ones. If you can't get close, the difference between a .3 and a .6 is sucky vs. very sucky.