cameramonkey

If they are doing 7 or more S/L jumps, there is a reason... (failure) a reason that would have been compounded by the stress of that 60 second freefall. Not to mention its easier to swallow a botched $80 S/L jump than a several hundred dollar AFF. For those AFF trained that are not familiar, its 2 S/L jumps, then moving to 3 Practice ripcord pulls (still on the rope) , followed immediately by a 5 second ff delay. From there the jumps progress higher and higher till they are at full altitude. Many are scared away after a "horrid" level 1 AFF. If they got "scared away" by only doing a S/L, then an AFF wouldnt neccesarily have retained them. (But I do see your logic) True, we should emphasize ff, but the bottom line for me is that AFF/Tandem isnt for everyone. S/L may be inefficient, but it still works for many that otherwise would have dropped out for various reasons. Nobody ever said that training wheels on your first bicycle was efficient, but it worked didnt it? Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

the 6 inches in difference between the side and the top means flying with only my head in the burble, as opposed to my shoulders (or more). I hadnt thought about it till Randy mentioned it. Makes perfect sense. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Not to split hairs, but I have been using this icon pretty much since I started here several years ago (hence the name). Guess I need to post more, huh? I wish I could. Too bad the tandems and team Airtight keep me pretty busy. That isnt even considering the times they need an instructor. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

My vote is for SWC as well... Great facilities, I am sure the DZO would welcome us with open arms, and 4 showers for the guys, 2 for the girls. It also helps that the town, as well as the airport mgr and board all know how much skydiving means to the community (read that lots-o-bucks) and they all welcome us with open arms. Hell, the local Texas Road House has a skydiving mural hand painted on the wall! With enough notice, we MIGHT be able to even get the on-demand water heaters fired up. Guaranteed hot showers no matter what time you take them, or how many people took one before you. Camping and hotels are both an option. Also, if you have it coincide with Richmond "THE" Boogie (aug 27-sept 1) it isnt so big that you cant organize stuff while still having every airplane imaginable. Normally several grand caravans, several super otters, and of course Mikey's King Air. And if its like last year, we'll have a tailgate... Like the C-130 we had last year... THAT was rockin! Is it time yet???? I REALLY need an air bath. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I agree with Kelly. SWC is VERY cool, and just the right size in my opinion. (its my home dz too). We have a full time Caravan, good facilities (old bulidings but everything you need), and GREAT people. Come on out and play! Check out the Indianapolis, Dayton and Cincy markets for a job. Its within an hour drive of each. Unfortunately, there isnt much in the town of Richmond where it is located. I drive an extra 30 minutes farther than I NEED to skydive because I like it so well. I'm from Indy, so I can help ya avoid the scary parts of town when looking for a place to live if thats where ya land a job. But I feel your pain. Been looking for a new IT job here in Indy, and it sux. Doesnt help that the midwest is the worst part of the country for IT jobs. www.skydiverichmond.com Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I got some interesting info regarding my side mount and 4way video, and am strongly considering top mounting my PC5 for this upcoming season. Anyone used one of the PC5 roll cages? Do you like it? is it easy to remove the camera? How does the camera attach? does the camera bolt into the frame, or does it bolt THRU the frame, with the same bolt attaching the combined pieces to your helmet? I figured I would use a stroboframe QD plate to facilitate easy on-off, and wondered if anyone has tried that and how successful it was. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

how is the stability of the frame? I have one of the mounts, but wasnt sure it was as solid as I liked, so I never installed it. Now that I may start mounting my PC5 on top for 4 way in a roll cage, I am considering it again so I can remove it as needed. I figured one for my still, and one for my vid. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I heard the same exact thing as gary. I fear the only choice would be to jump to the vx2000 to get the same 3 chip quality. I have seen a few of those being jumped (crazy mother.... ) although, I wonder if any of those tested had the doors sealed with gaffers tape? I know of a few 8mm sonys that were reported to have the same issues, until properly sealed, then they were fine. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I have one of the pyro kits. isnt the prettiest thing when adding a removeable hard drive cart system. the receivers are about 1.5 inches too long, so they stick out and dont mount right. I didnt care and hot glued mine in. It works, but not well aesthetically. and I was quite surprised with bandwitdth issues. My camera passes thru the drive (camera connected to drive, drive to the PC) and I have NO issues. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

when i bought it several seasons back, it was just prior to the Imacs doing real time. My next editor WILL be a mac most likely. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Custom built AMD Athlon 2100 (by me) 1gb ram 20 gig system drive 80 gig storage drive cdrw Matrox RT2500 hardware encoder I use a Premiere 6.0, and for my skydiving vids, I have NO problems. Of course in order to do this, I had to buy approved hardware, configure it using specific versions of drivers, and not use the PC for ANYTHING else, lest I screw something up. As long as I can dedicate that as a video editor, it works mostly perfect, with few lockups. As long as I remember to reboot several times a day, and save, save, save, I generally have no issues. I also save time by importing the DV by using scenalyzer live, which breaks up my video into scenes by looking at the timecode date stamps. Before, I had to find each scene change, cut it, and add a transition. Now All I have to do at that point is just drop each scene into the timeline, and a trasition between each one. Saved me 10 mins per tandem video.

Is it just me, or is this a repeat, and the original thread deleted? I KNOW I replied to it (along with others) as of late sunday nite. Generally, forget it. My OS, software, and editor chews up over 750mb of ram. add the 1.5gig of raw video file size for a tandem video (7-9 mins), plus the overhead of the preview files and the space needed to recompile the finished video will push your needed ram disk size to over 3gb. IF you still want to try, the software you need is built into windows. do a search for "ramdrive" on support.microsoft.com. Last I knew, what you need is supported natively within windows... no other software needed. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

In a word, YES. SVCD is VHS quality. the only way to keep your DV the same quality is to burn it to DVD or keep it on a DV tape. And bear in mind not all DVD boxes can handle recorded DVD/VCD disks, and even those that do sometimes have problems with specific brands of disks. The best site for info about this stuff is http://www.vcdhelp.com . Anything and everything you wanted to know about burning your own VCD/SVCD/DVD movies. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I dont know about you, but my raw tandem vids are 1.5gb+. My system chews up an additional couple gigs for preview files, transitions, etc. So unless you are working with

Gold would be cool, but IMHO sterling wouldnt look very much different than the standard pin. Also, Pewter might not be too good. Doesnt that have a high lead content? Just what we need, skydivers losing brain cells from lead poisioning Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I agree with Phree. Hell, they even quoted me from my letter of praise on the main page the site. Tape Resources is great for high quality, Pro and IC DV tapes. However if you want cheap tapes, once you factor in shipping they are slightly more expensive for plain old cheap DV tapes than buying them at Wal Mart in the 3x blister packs. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Most reviews I have seen ranks the Epson printers best for photo only printing. They seem to have the best inks and paper for photos, but a bit expensive per page for text. HP was ranked as best all around, by trading off longevity and photo quality for cost per page. Waterproof inks are a nice touch too. My local CompUSA has a demo consisting of a small jar full of water containing a piece of paper with a photo printed on it. The paper is flaking, but the photo is still in good shape. The only problem is the ink MUST be used with Epson papers. Non epson papers (like kodak) causes the ink to bead up and look freaky. I almost went out and bought a new printer thinking mine had died (it was given to me in trade by a fellow vidiot). I tried it with Epson paper, and voila! I need a new one, because I am starting to see faint pass lines, but its been a good printer for me. Defanitely going to buy Epson again. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Been there, done that. built a power supply from a bunch of AA rechargeables generating the 12v needed. It worked just OK. I'd only recommend it for novelty shots, as the quality as compared to the current DV standard is lousy. (I was recording to my DV camera tucked away in a belly pouch) Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

Sorry its late, but here is my .02... I had a similar problem. Turns out most of my problems were with the media. Some DVD-R disks work better (or not at all) in certain set top boxes. Also, quite a few older boxes cant handle ANY recorded media; only mass produced disks. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I actually found that for overall longevity and quality, Go Epson. HP prints nice, but uses water based inks. Epson based inks have an archive life of 20+ years. The only trick is you ABSOLUTELY MUST use Epson photo papers. I almost threw away my epson because I thought the nozzles were bad. I was printing to Kodak papers and was seeing globs of ink, and poor colors. When my teammate bought a new epson and mentioned it to me, I tried a sheet and magically the "problem" was gone. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I have been flying my bat rak for a season now, and I want to put in an audible. I tried cutting some foam on the outside of the liner (so the audible was between the liner and the helmet) but it was hard to hear. so hard, I missed it a couple times. I have a skytronic pro (yeah, they suck, just waiting for it to die so I can justify a new one), and considered buying one of the mounting systems for the paraspory Z1 helmet, and cutting it into the side for a semi-permanent mount, accessible from the outside. The only problem I see is making a hole in the liner from the hole on the audible to the ear area without it collapsing when I clamp down the helmet (it would be a diagonal hole that could/would be crushed). Unfortunately I cant make a straight hole, as the ear fits almost directly under the chin cup bolt. has anyone successfully put an audible in thiers? any tips? Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I found a GREAT software package that has cut my editing time TREMENDOUSLY. I shoot mainly tandems, and use premiere to edit the video. The software is scenalyzer live. http://www.scenalyzer.com There are two versions. A free version (scenalyzer) that takes raw avi files and detects scene changes and writes them out to separate files. For only $33 you can upgrade to scenalyzer LIVE, which reads from the cam and saves out in separate files. I have been using the live version, and it has saved me TONS of time on my tandem videos. I shoot my tandem videos pretty much as they will appear in the finished product, so not much editing overall was needed. I used to dump the footage to premiere, then sit for 15-20 minutes finding the hard camera cuts and replacing them with a smooth transition, such as a cross dissolve. Now, I just drop each scene from the scenalyzer output and put the transitions in between. I HIGHLY recommend buying this software, its a perfect add on to premiere or other PC based NLEs. And you really cant argue with such a reasonable price. you can download a demo copy and try it out. it just adds a random scenalyzer logo every once in a while into the finished files until it is registered. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

in Premiere, get the pic you want in the preview window. click the image. go to export, frame. save it in bmp. open it in photoshop LE (it came with my copy of Prem.) go to filters, video, deinterlace. save it, and you should have a good pic. if its still blurry, it could be you arent shooting your video in sports mode. hope that helps. Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

I echo the sentiments on taperesources.com. Great pricing on quantity and DV with chips. without chips they have pretty much the same pricing as wal mart (after shipping). Just be careful. Flying a camera is tricky stuff, and adds ALOT more danger to the sport. As I am sure you will hear from others, Raw jump numbers alone doesnt make you qualified to jump a camera. I know you have a few jumps under your belt (possibly more than I do now) but your time in sport is relatively short. I started early, and got ALOT of odd, as well as the "you are gonna kill yourself" looks. Quite a few didnt want to be in the air with me at first. But with careful mentoring, lots of practice, and alot of luck I was able to do it safely. When in doubt, ask another vidiot at the DZ, and keep your brain open to suggestions from others around you. They sometimes know more than you do about your skills. blue skies and soft openings! Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!

my .02... Practice Practice Practice Two wrongs don't make a right, however three lefts DO!