First camera suit

[freeflyfree 0]

Hi, I would like to buy a camera suit to start shooting tandems, but I have no idea about what to get. I'm 6'' Ft tall and weight 210 out of the door?
There are so many options out there small, medium and large wings, booties, no booties, baggy freefly style, skin tight, type A, B and C style, man there is plenty of stuff...
I just want to shoot tandems...help please?
Thank you.
Blue Skies
Felipe

[prost 0]

There are many different combos that will work. It depends on how you want to fly. I will share with you what I have and maybe it will help you out. First of all I am 6'2" and 211 lbs. (235 out the door with camera helmet). I fly a tony suit. It has no booties, C wings, and has a nylon front. I wanted a suit that would let me go fast or slow. With the nylon front, I can pull my arms in and really fly fast but I still get enough lift with the arms fully out to stay up with anyone. The C wings have little clasps like the ones on a RSL that hook to your leg strap buckles. I like this because there is no gap between the wing and my body for air to spill through or for a pilot chute to go through (I actually watched a guy do this). Other manufactures have this type of wing with clips in the groin area. I would suggest wings that hook up in the center of the leg. You might have to adjust the wings to get them tight enough when you first get them. The C wing also attaches to the front of the arm. This gives you the option of filming on your back. This is a great shot because you can get way underneath the tandem and look up. However: you can not do this if you have booties. In my experience booties are not that helpfull for video and without them you can fall faster with everything tucked in.
This setup works very well for me. Let me know if I can help in any other way.

[DanG 1]

What you should get also depends on what you are used to. If you are a freeflier, and have never flown booties before, maybe flare legs would be better. I fly RW when I am not flying camera, and use the heck out of my booties on both suits. As far as wing size, I feel a larger wing is more flexible. I weight 215 out the door, and am about 6'2". Without my big wing (I have a Windline with their largest wing) it would be very hard to do a good video of a 100 lb. girl dressed in baggy sweats. On the other hand, if you need to go faster, you can always collapse the wing, arch hard, and take your arms and legs out of the wind. I can keep up with drougeless tandems for quite a while on my belly if I have to.
Lastly, realize that flying a wingsuit safely (not to mention proficiently) is harder than you might expect. Whatever suit you get, make a few practice solo jumps with it. Do simulated deployments, turns, swoops, orbits, etc. Everything you might want to do with a subject in the air in front of you, you should try by yourself first.
Most importantly, relax and have fun.
- Dan G