chuckakers

My hunch was correct. You have nothing better to do. By the way, isn't it also common courtesy to write with real words rather than incorrectly spelled, made up slang? Maybe I just don't understand "netetiquette".

Welcome back, Tony! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Actually, I didn't find it necessary to search before making a comment. After all, new vidiots come along everyday, so I don't think sharing something I found is so bad. Don't you have anything better to do?

Might be useful to someone. Russian made 16mm wide angle and 8mm fisheye for Canon EOS DSLR's. Much cheaper than name brands. Manual focus and aperature only, but could get by w/o those anyway at these focal lengths. Might be fun to have a fisheye. Of course, cropping will still happen on anything less than full frame cameras. http://www.rugift.com/ Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Cowboy and Thronton were very good friends, even traveling the country together with their coke queen girlfriends on the Cowboy's Caravan boogie circuit. As for whether Cowboy was on the fateful load that killed Andrew and coated some guy's yard with dope, that's never been shown. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Putting a new vid system together and would like opinions. I'm side-mounting a PC100 on a Bonehead Optik. Thinking of leaving the video camera angle in line with top mount to make alignment with still camera easier (still is already mounted). Do you think that angle will be high enough? I'll be doing AFF, Tandem, and some creative stuff, but probably not a lot of FS team stuff. In the past, I've always used a fairly high angle relative to the helmet, but this time around I'll likely do more sitflying for upward shots. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Skydive Houston - 3/30/08

I'm glad he chose to pursue the sport. Fits him like he's been around it all his life. Oh wait...he has been! They are the next generation. Let's hope we taught them well. Thanks John, for your positive influence on Justin, Heather, and many other "DZ kids". Chuck

just cuz. This is my kid Justin at Skydive Houston this weekend. He's come a long way since his days dumping the trash and sweeping floors at the family DZ. Chuck

If you think jumping from an aircraft is "incredibly safe", you should consider bowling.

>>>>Rex had trouble flying stable because he was 6'3" tall but only had a 29" inseam. Even in all his tunnel work at Eloy this was a problem.

Depends on who the course director is, which is a problem in itself.

His name is Roger Reynolds and he lives (or did) in Indiana. I forgot to mention his Golden Knight status in my reply http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_threaded;post=3163260;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;. By the way, at the time of the accident, Roger was the youngest person ever selected for the team at age 19. If I remember correctly the demo was into a high school convocation of some kind. And yes, he landed in a doctor's yard. The BIG story that the press focused on (beyond the amazing fact that he lived) was how the doctors first said he wouldn't live, then that he wouldn't walk, and made the decision NOT to try to rehab him. His buddies (GK and SF) snuck him out of the hospital at night to the gym and helped him get back on his feet. Chuck previous reply: >>> Roger Reynolds had a highly publicized double mal during an intentinal cutaway jump in the late 70'. After a year of recovery, he appeared on the tonight show, made People magazine, etc. It wasn't a double total, but it seemed that way in the whuffo press. Roger couldn't get a capewell to release after jumping from 1800agl with a packed streamer, and had to dump the reserve into a main trailing by one riser. Years later, Roger taught me how to do PLF's, so I've got that going for me.

The internet and a credit card.

Roger Reynolds had a highly publicized double mal during an intentinal cutaway jump in the late 70'. After a year of recovery, he appeared on the tonight show, made People magazine, etc. It wasn't a double total, but it seemed that way in the whuffo press. Roger couldn't get a capewell to release after jumping from 1800agl with a packed streamer, and had to dump the reserve into a main trailing by one riser. Years later, Roger taught me how to do PLF's, so I've got that going for me.

>>>It was a bit easier when all students were using hip mounted plastic ripcords. You could suggest they follow a leg strap up to the handle if they had a problem. You can't really do that with a pud in a BOC. >>Another problem stems from the fact all ground practice, either standing, or prone, involves the student unconsciously using leverage not available in free fall.

I have seen many times when a student can reach a p/c on the ground (even in a prone position) and then have trouble getting it in the air. As you should know after 8 years in the sport and obviously plenty to say, student rigs don't always fit very good, even after proper adjustment. In freefall, the rig can shift in a variety of ways, putting the p/c in a different location relative to the student's muscle memory (I assume you are familiar with that term). This doesn't always result in missed pulls, and a more experienced jumper may not have a problem getting a p/c after it changes position. But I have seen (and surprised you haven't) many students have trouble getting their hand "back" far enough to find the p/c in freefall. In my experience, less flexible people seem to have the problem more often than others. (bigger guys and older folks in particular). Performance anxiety may be a factor - or even THE factor - but this DOES happen and it's very real. Chuck

I'm just getting back into video work, so I'm anxious to hear some input from others. My experience with booties is that they do what you want them to, but I was only belly flying. I'm thinking of going no-bootie this time around to accommodate backflying, etc. Be careful if you go with the max wing with the velcro sandwich. My first function was a horseshoe after pulling my p/c through the wing. The velcro can strip out if you let it get too worn. I was even familiar with the problem and still put my hand through the gap, which is a foot long with max wings and stripped velcro. I was 5'10" at 200lbs at the time. If you're not a beefy guy, you likely don't need that much wing anyway. I like the idea of wings that attach to the legstraps or are fixed on the suit above the legstrap. The fixed type are especially nice, as it's one less thing to hook up (and one less thing to break or cause problems). Chuck

Picked up a PC100 on ebay (mint condition, $267 shipped)

sure hope they answer

The whole line was total crap. Sluggish flight and thumpy landings, even for the era. Humm now chuckie, I had 169 jumps on mine and never had any problems landing it, nice and soft. Now I wont argue that sometimes quality control became an issue, and I do agree that they werent the best canopies but the price was right. Ok, ok, ya gotta point. I don't remember the price hurting the wallet too badly. Oh, those were the daze... Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

The whole line was total crap. Sluggish flight and thumpy landings, even for the era. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Keep in mind that megapixels is just one (small) measure of the quality of the photo. You are still dealing with a miniscule sensor (compared to even the low-end DSLRs), and a lens that just isn't up to par with what most people are putting on their SLRs. Not to mention no where near the control over how (and when) the picture is taken (shutter speed, f-stop, etc.) IMHO, the stills from these video cameras are of fairly poor quality, and are not really marketable. If it is just fun jumps with the buds, and you just want some 4x6s to put up with thumbtacks, then fine. Anything more than that and you need a real still camera. That was my initial thought. Thanks for the confirmation.

QuoteHard drive cameras are not an option for freefall. The hard drives do not work well in altitudes over 10k and frequently fail leading to complete drive failure and a new paperweight. >>>Thanks for that. I had no idea there was a problem like that (I know, I know, there's a thread about it somewhere in here).>According to the guys at "The Sony Store" the SR11 will shoot 10.2 mp photos while shooting video, limited only to the amount of storage in the memory card (it stores stills there when shooting video to the hard drive).

I've been out of the video game for about 7 years and thinking of getting a new system. The gear has changed a bit here and there, so I'm looking for opinions. I'm looking at the newer Sony hard drive HD models (SR10, SR 11, etc). The SR11 has a 10.2 mega-pixel still camera. Does anyone know how good those still shots actually look from these or other cams with large mega-pixal capabilities? I like the idea of getting rid of my 35mm on the helmet. Does anyone know if a cable release can be made to operate the still shot mechanism? Would also like opinions on hard drive HD's in general. I'm also looking for an alternative to a traditional camera suit. I've always hated the cumbersome and time-consuming requirement of hooking up and then undoing a bunch of junk before and after each jump (booties, swoop cords, wing attachments,etc). The vast majority of my shooting will be student and tandem vids, with some fun-ways and preplanned photo shoots thrown in, but won't be doing committed team vids. I also plan to get a bit more creative from a flying perspective, so I'm considering going to a freefly style suit, or maybe a multi-suit. Opinions?? Please feel free to throw in anything you might think of for a veteran vidiot that's getting back behind (or under, or beside) the lens. Chuck