Zenister 0 #1 February 20, 2003 finally after much searching i found a brick&mortar store that carried them (on sale even) so i blew the last 2 months travel settlement on my beeeeer DV camera, and the 5 year extended warranty time to start collecting pieces to build a camera helmet and fill out my (currently non existent) toolbox so hopefully i'll be playing junior vidiot at boogies in the future... so off the top of your heads what kind of accessory things should I begin acquiring?? any camera fliers willing to drink free beer & answer (lots of)stupid questions grab the guy in the tiger striped pants wherever you see him____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freakous 0 #2 February 20, 2003 Excellent! That's one of them new fandangled ones with all the bells and whistles... Wouldn't it be nice if one day everything was ready do go right out of the box? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cajones 0 #3 February 20, 2003 Congratulations! First thing you need to buy: Tapes. Don't buy the crappy ones. Sony Premiums are good. Sony Excellence is even better. Next: A wide angle lens. If you are gonna' freefly with it - get a low-profile .3 (like Max's Diamond). And: A good helmet. Try some of those around the DZ, and let the locals know of your intention to fly video. Listen to their advice. Lastly: New, well practiced, emergency procedures. Think about all the possibilities you can come up with, and then ask others about other possibilities. Know what you'll do for all of them. And practice them! The laws of physics are strictly enforced. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #4 February 20, 2003 Cajones, I see what you reccomended for freefly wide angle. Any idea what I should be looking for in the way of an rw wide angle? I've seen from .4 to .6 and have no clue which would be better suited to what I'll be filming. 4-10 way rw mostly, with some FF mixed in to make it interesting. I've got my still ready to go, and am planning on ordering a 28mm fixed for that. What would closely match in minidv to the 28 for stills? I'm thinking .6, but don't want to dish out the $$$ till I'm sure.It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #5 February 20, 2003 I use a .5 lens. Its a great one lens does it all... but does nothing great lens. It lets me fly freefly or tandems or RW but I wish I had a different lens for each purpose. I .5 for RW means you have to stay in close to make the jumpers reconizable on video... and staying in close means you flirt with the burble more and more (I'm going to bite it this summer... i know it will happen yet). I want a .6 for RW, where as I'd rather have a .42 to freefly with and do tandems.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canuck 0 #6 February 20, 2003 The Sony .6 is exactly what you are looking for. For 4-way sitting about 8 feet above with the .6 everything is framed nicely. It's also a resonably small/light/low profile lens, doesn't have any vignetting or image distortion, and is reasonably inexpensive (more than a kenko, less than a diamond). I use mine for freefly too. It's OK for outside video, not great once you start docking and taking grips. Also great for tandems. I find the field is very similar to my still cam set at 28. Canuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lewmonst 0 #7 February 20, 2003 I echo what Canuck says. And I'm sitting here with Cajones, and he also says the .6 will match the 28 mm for stills. Don't forget you might want a firewire cable so you can party with other Soniots. you might want a ringsight and cameye, but they're not necessary. I just put a mark on my goggles for a sight. and to know that it's on, when the door is opened, i switch it to the on position and wait 4 seconds, then hit the record button once. that hasn't failed me yet. but i did get a cameye for reassurance when doing paid tandem videos. Have fun! It's all about the video! peacehttp://www.exitshot.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zenister 0 #8 February 20, 2003 didnt get a firewire cable yet, but i probably will next week (no firewire card on this laptop anyway)..the USB will work for playing with it right now... lucky me the 3 pack i picked up with it are Sony premiums. they dont have the cassette memory features the manual describes, but i'm not sure how useful those would be anyway, any thoughts? i got an extra battery and a better memory stick (since i'll probably be using it for stills more than anything else in the immediate future... a helmet would seem to be the next major wallet diet plan, and i definitely will be bugging everyone about styles, fit etc.. indeed, its time to add a few steps to my emergency procedures…but I imagine the specifics depend on helmet type, cutaway system etc.? I wont be doing much more than funway freefly filming for a while so .3 will be my first lens after that we’ll have to see….1 step closer to cutting away and becoming a semi permanent dz vidiot…and i'm amazed at the number of features on this thing...normally i dont read manuals, but i could tell right away i was missing alot...haven’t even opened all the BT networking stuff… ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #9 February 20, 2003 Unless you are already taking docks for the majority of your freefly jump I'd look at a .42 until your flying skill puts you with in 5 feet of people every moment. From what I've seen recently a high value ($75) Kenko is super close if not wider then the Diamond .3. Its bulkier but its also cheaper.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #10 February 20, 2003 Thank you Lew and Canuck. That was the info i needed to make an informed decision. Much appreciated, and i'll buy you guys and gal (Cajones too) a real beer at Rantoul this year for helping out! Firewire and a CamEye won't work for me right now though, damnit. I'm using an old JVC (yuk) with no firewire, usb, or LANC ports. I have no options other than capturing directly to a vhs or my hard drive. I'm hoping to have a good Sony by WFFC time though. The JVC GR-DV1U is something I picked up for a hundred bucks, and I don't worry about trashing it while learning. The EOS (the one I hotwired) was given to me, so the only investment I'll have in that is the lens. The DV cam came with a roll cage, so all I need now is a blow switch and a good top/side mount helmet. I've been checking out a few helmets and so far I'm leaning to the Hawkeye LT.It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Deuce 1 #11 February 20, 2003 Yeah, I have the Kenko .5 and I use it for paid tandems and RW work, and anytime I'm "outside" the action. I have the .3 and I use that for my personal video work. I'm using a PC120BT too. With the .3 on, in a RW 4way with high (shoulder) grips, you can get the other 3 members of the 4 way in frame with just a little side-to-side head movement. I really like the .3, and when Max put's out a .5 I'm gonna get one. The .3 is an arm's-reach lens, though. This can either motivate you to get close, and improve your video, or it may discourage you cause it's seeming like forever to get close enough to get recognizable faces. And you know how brutal skydivers can be. "That's either a fisheye lens you filmed that with, or you're 10 stories above that formation" Ouch. Sometimes you gotta erase the video, so that it NEVER happened Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #12 February 20, 2003 QuoteI echo what Canuck says. And I'm sitting here with Cajones, and he also says the .6 will match the 28 mm for stills. Eeek! Hold the phone! Numbers like ".5" and ".6" are COMPLETELY MEANINGLESS!!! Manufacturers have NOT come to a standard definition in terms of what these numbers actually mean! In some cases, they mean different things even within the same manufacturer!!! For example, LtDiver's Sony .6 is about 30 degrees wider then my Kenko .5. Do you believe that? We got witnesses! Also, within the Kenko line of lenses, there's cheap ones, and there's expensive ones. The expensive .5's are again about 20% wider then the cheap .5's. The wide discrepancies in the meaning of ".X" numbers is so bad, I really think we need to start recomending lenses by model number. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #13 February 21, 2003 OK, Andy, so what model number of a reletively cheap (I'm learing, and would not like to dish out mega $$$ for gear I may very well trash while learning) wide angle would you recommend to match a 28 mm. I'm looking at a 24 mm too right now, by the way. .6 seems to be about right, so could anyone identify the .6 lenses that are not wide enough, so that I could avoid them?It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #14 February 21, 2003 The only way somebody could answer knowledgably is if they've evaluated every lens on the market. That said, It think Sony only makes one .6 with the correct threadwidth, and like I said, ltDivers Sony .6 is significantly wider then my Kenko .5 I think the Sony .6 will most definately be wide enough for RW use. A search at www.bhphotovideo.com for kenko .5's, show : SGW-05 37mm 0.5x Wide Angle Converter Lens - for Sony TR Series Camcorders @ $24.95 SGW-05 Hi 37mm 0.5x Hi Wide Angle Converter Lens @ $49.95 SGW-05 Pro 37mm 0.5x Pro Wide Angle Converter Lens @ $79.95 The one that I have isn't even on the list. I got my .5 kenko from http://www.pia.com/skydance/accessor.htm. Kenko has 4 ".5" lenses, at 4 different prices. I don't know the difference between all of them, but I know there's at least two different fields of view. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDogg 0 #15 February 22, 2003 AndyMan, When you did this wide angle test with LtDivers Sony .6 against your Kenko .5; was LtDiver using the 30mm threaded Sony VCL-0630, or was LtDiver using the 37 mm threaded VCL-0637 with a step up ring on the camcorder? Just trying to get a handle on all of the variables involved. Regards, SkyDogg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #16 February 22, 2003 I dunno. Lori? Paul? _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
