RingSight Help!!!

[AirMan 0]

I'm a new videographer setting-up my helmet & cam, and a just added that inexpensive tinted (orange circle w/ dot) ringsight. Anyone else using this particular ringsight? Can anyone provide me some advice/insight on exactly how to align/use a ringsight? Thanks!

[freakydiver 0]

Do a search - Quade has great info on setting up a sight. I don't personally use a sight and get above average results.

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[quade 4]

http://futurecam.com/sightingIn.html

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[prost 0]

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Can anyone provide me some advice/insight on exactly how to align/use a ringsight?

Hold it in your hand like it is a dart. Aim towards the closest trash can. Shoot for the center.

Why do you want to use a ring sight and what are you shooting?

[AirMan 0]

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Can anyone provide me some advice/insight on exactly how to align/use a ringsight?

Hold it in your hand like it is a dart. Aim towards the closest trash can. Shoot for the center.

Why do you want to use a ring sight and what are you shooting?

Haha, so I should just trash it huh? I give up...WHY do I want to use a ringsight? Like I said, I am new to video and I figured I would need one for accurate footage...of RW and/or Tandems. I'd hate to shoot a tandem video of a paying customer and screw it up. I know free-flyers dont use ringsights, and I've seen videographers shooting RW and Tandems without a ringsight, but I'm not sure how. Do I just use a DOT on my goggles?...One of them paper asshole things?

[BlueSBDeath 2]

Just start jumping, check your footage, then decide if you need a point of reference to get the subject in footage the way you want or not. Most of us just need a point of reference, from there we adjust for size of subject, and how close they are. Dot or site, just jump and work it out.

BSBD...........Its all about Respect,

USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499

[mr2mk1g 10]

For me, I assessed the snag risk a ringsight created and decided that I would want a significant benefit from it to warrant the increaced risk.

From what I understand from reading here, the sort of ringsight your talking about simply doesnt offer enough of an advantage over goggle based sighting methods to warrant taking that increased snag risk.

For me! Your risk - your assessment.

Therefore the if I were going to use a ringsight I'd only go for a Newton concentric ring ringsight to give me the maximum possible benefit for the same added risk as one of the lesser ones. I don't want one yet though... hell, my camera helmet hasn't even been finished yet so take my advice as it is - from a newbie.

[prost 0]

If you are good enough to do paid tandem videos you will be good enough to know where your video camera is pointed. You just need to train yourself to be able to look in the direction you want to shoot and not move your eyes without moving your head (exceptions like glancing at your altimeter without moving your head from the video). You can use the dot on your goggles trick to help train yourself but in the end it is easy to aim without a sight. If you are trying to perfectly frame a big way it might be a different situation but your dot aimer isn't going to cut it there anyway.

[jseiverth 0]

Allan, Take that ring sight off. It is just a big snag point for you. At this point you really don't need it. You can easily learn to shoot tandem video without it. Come talk to me at the DZ and I will give you some help. Jeff

[Pulse 0]

I've never really understood why we got rid of ringsights. Are they a snag factor? Yes, anything could be, you know, like even a camera.

I will agree, there is a point where you can shoot reasonably without one. But that works mainly if you're just keeping something in the center or even 'somewhere' in the frame with little regard to the position.

If you're using a lens with a 180-degree field of view and just strapping the camera on your head on jumps sure, it will work. But that's not exactly 'camera work'. When you zoom in your camera the more you're going to want some reference to the center. As long as you know where the center is you then have your reference to frame your subjects using thirds, tilting, etc.

The easiest way I have found to set up a sight is to zoom all the way in on something that touches all edges of the picture. Have someone look through your viewfinder, and hold your head steady while you center the target. Even if it's not spot on, it will be fine for most of the stuff you'll probably be shooting.

"Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled."

[The111 1]

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I've never really understood why we got rid of ringsights.

Depends who "we" are. Many of us haven't. I don't have a camera on my helmet for messing around... it's for taking nice pictures, and a precise aim is one very fundamental part of that process. Do ground photographers use viewfinders? Yes... and I use a ringsight.

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Are they a snag factor? Yes, anything could be, you know, like even a camera.

Correct. I know one VERY big name who jumps a Wes Helmet with a ringsight, lots of cameras, and no cutaway system. Would I do that? Probably not... I like my cutaway, even though I never expect to use it. But I'm not going to call him out for it either.

There are plenty of things just as likely to snag lines as a ringsight is. The bottom line (pun intended) is that if you have lines coming at your face at high speed... you have bigger problems than a ringsight.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com