Sony TRV22 - first light

[DexterBase 1]

Have you had any problems with riser slaps?

[MattM 0]

I've got about 50 jumps on the trv-22, I've had maybe 5 slaps. None really noticable or that hurt.

Matt

[quade 4]

Quote

I've got about 50 jumps on the trv-22, I've had maybe 5 slaps. None really noticable or that hurt.

Box? No box? L-bracket?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[MattM 0]

Bonehead mindwrap with sidemounted bonehead box.

Matt

[DexterBase 1]

I haven't seen the box for the TRV22 yet, but do you think it would be possible to streamline it? Could Bonehead have built it so it would sit closer to the helmet?

Or, would it be possible in any way to sidemount it but reduce the snagability?

[quade 4]

Ok, tonight I took out the Accu-Chart Log and Rez charts and did some objective testing.

Unfortunately, it's pretty near impossible to translate what was recorded into meaningful .jpg images that are small enough to be uploaded for inclusion in this thread. Besides which, frame grabs wouldn't give the same "feel" as looking at the images on a good monitor. I tried, but nothing I came up with looked obviously different enough between the two cameras tested.

I shot the test charts in full sunlight at about 6 pm (about 2 hours until sunset). My -guess- is that darker conditions would give me slightly different results with slightly more noise from the TRV10, but since this is mostly about shooting freefall footage, I didn't bother.

As far as resolution goes, not much has changed in the miniDV world and we're still constrained by the data compression and resolution limits of the DV25 format (read the faq). As I've said before, there's little room left for improvement once the images actually go to the tape and this was proven to me once again by looking at the images from the TRV10 compared to the TRV22.

I really couldn't see any difference as far as resolution goes.

That's not to say that there aren't differences in other areas.

The gamma of the TRV22 seems much more forgiving and the log chart was a bit closer to what I'd expect to see than the TRV10 was. The overall color balance seemed quite a bit better in the "sunlight" presets as well, with the TRV10 having a bit of a yellowish tint and the TRV22 much closer to "grey" on all levels.

That said, this last weekend shooting 4-way, I can't really say I saw all that much difference. Maybe a slightly more contrasting image from the TRV22 with -slightly- darker blacks on the team jumpsuits, but that's about it.

NONE of this is to say that the camera isn't good. It's quite good! But then again, so was my trusty old TRV10.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

NONE of this is to say that the camera isn't good. It's quite good! But then again, so was my trusty old TRV10.

Thanks! My jealousy factor just went down a few pegs.
The TRV8 and TRV10 on my helmet will do just fine for now...

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[pcalandra 0]

Thanks Quade for taking the time to do this and sharing with us. I was mostly interested in your subjective opinon anyway! I'm glad to hear that our friends at Sony keep giving more for less. I'll put the 22 on my buy list for next year!

[quade 4]

And I think you've hit upon the key here.

The camera is about 0.66 the volume of my previous camera and about 0.66 the price as well.

While there are technological limits to the quality of what can go on the tape in terms of image, we're seeing pretty good improvements in the other areas of size and cost.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Grumpy 9]

What battery does the 22 come with? Does anyone know how the battery life is better or worse than a PC 105? Can it handle 6 or 7 jumps on one charge?

Thanks for the great source of in-depth information.

[quade 4]

The TRV22 comes with an M size battery which is good on this camera for at least 8 jumps in a day in actual practice (meaning that how many I got the last time I used it) and my estimate would be at least 12 in theory. This includes not only jumps, but also at least one dubbing session between each jump.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[oiseau60 0]

good morning to all

i know this is an old thread, but i was reading it as i just bought a trv22 with the BH dbox. I didnt cut the strap and i think it fits well with a bit of extra shims. actually, i think the strap makes for good padding inside the box.

for those of you who did cut the strap off, did you jump with it first or do you know something i dont know? just looking for some extra input before i jump with it, thanks!