first handies on cx12 today.

[skydiveoc 0]

1st two vids today...pretty sweet. Nice and wide, and very light .2 royal still soft on edges. shooting in sd for now and editing in Vegas Plat. 8.0. No size issues...flies better than a vertical pc1000.

Drawbacks so far...no eyepiece monitor to verify recording. Hypeye in the mail tho.

Still not sure if I should be shooting in HD, 16:9 or 4:3 or dubbing w 5-1 surround.

Any thoughts?

[majestik666 0]

What kind of jumps was it for ?
Any shaking , etc if it was freefly ?

and side/top mount ?

Thanks :)

[parachutist 2]

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1st two vids today...pretty sweet. Nice and wide, and very light .2 royal still soft on edges. shooting in sd for now and editing in Vegas Plat. 8.0. No size issues...flies better than a vertical pc1000.

Drawbacks so far...no eyepiece monitor to verify recording. Hypeye in the mail tho.

Still not sure if I should be shooting in HD, 16:9 or 4:3 or dubbing w 5-1 surround.

Any thoughts?

For tandem vids, I recommend shooting in SD HQ, 16:9. That creates MPEG2 files that are handled very fast by Vegas (fast to edit and fast to render). And there are a whole lot of widescreen monitors out there now, so 4:3 seems outdated

I shoot some segments in HD: for example if a TV crew is there & wanting a copy, or if it's a fun jump that I want to save in my archives.

Please try some high speed sit-flying with this camera and post some footage if you could. The BIG drawback to your camera's predecessor was that sit-flying caused shaking in the image. It'd be nice to know if that problem is still present or not :)

[Fast 0]

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Please try some high speed sit-flying with this camera and post some footage if you could. The BIG drawback to your camera's predecessor was that sit-flying caused shaking in the image. It'd be nice to know if that problem is still present or not :)

You and half the skydiving community I'm sure! We really need a good HD quality camera that doesn't shake when freeflying and also uses flash media.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[skydiveoc 0]

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1st two vids today...pretty sweet. Nice and wide, and very light .2 royal still soft on edges. shooting in sd for now and editing in Vegas Plat. 8.0. No size issues...flies better than a vertical pc1000.

Drawbacks so far...no eyepiece monitor to verify recording. Hypeye in the mail tho.

Still not sure if I should be shooting in HD, 16:9 or 4:3 or dubbing w 5-1 surround.

Any thoughts?

For tandem vids, I recommend shooting in SD HQ, 16:9. That creates MPEG2 files that are handled very fast by Vegas (fast to edit and fast to render). And there are a whole lot of widescreen monitors out there now, so 4:3 seems outdated

I shoot some segments in HD: for example if a TV crew is there & wanting a copy, or if it's a fun jump that I want to save in my archives.

Please try some high speed sit-flying with this camera and post some footage if you could. The BIG drawback to your camera's predecessor was that sit-flying caused shaking in the image. It'd be nice to know if that problem is still present or not :)

Im hand camming the cx12 for tandems and probably wont have it set up for a helmet mount. Im noticing capture from the mem stck is taking almost as long as a tape capture? Whats wrong here? Also noticing that after an hour or so after being on, my new computer isnt recognizing the memstick drive. I have to restart to get it to recognize the drive. what up here?

Was proud to leave the board behind in my tainted past...now im not so sure! I think I need to fly out for a full day lesson with DSE.

One step beyong clueless...

[DSE 5]

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[Was proud to leave the board behind in my tainted past...now im not so sure! I think I need to fly out for a full day lesson with DSE.

One step beyong clueless...

You could also do a class with Parachutist, he's got this stuff down tight now....
Anyway...
Is your reader connected to USB1 or USB2 port? Are you running anti-virus? If so...GET RID OF IT. Consumer-grade antivirus should be illegal, IMO. The good stuff doesn't get in the way of production. Phree can comment further.
What are you copying to? Are you sure you're not editing from the stick (you can, with some systems).
Xfer *should* be in the 4:1-6:1 range.

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[parachutist 2]

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Im noticing capture from the mem stck is taking almost as long as a tape capture? Whats wrong here? Also noticing that after an hour or so after being on, my new computer isnt recognizing the memstick drive. I have to restart to get it to recognize the drive. what up here?

I had a slow transfer problem with my internal card reader, which plugs directly to a USB header on my motherboard. Then I bought an external card reader and it's smoking fast:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820300103

I'd try a different card reader to see if that corrects your 1-hour issue too.

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Was proud to leave the board behind in my tainted past...now im not so sure! I think I need to fly out for a full day lesson with DSE.

DSE has taught me a lot about how to produce quality video fast with Vegas. If you'd like to attend a class, I can pass that info along and we can send you home with some templates ready for new video clips. Having templates ready for Vegas and for DVD menus makes things go smoothly.

Chris

[webracer 0]

I am considering getting a CX12, and am also curious if the shake problem is over. Also, I use Apple for my editing, and is it possible to take the vids in a format I can get into Final Cut? I believe if they are MPEG formats it isn't really a problem, I can just take them off the mem stick and process in Final Cut.
I really need an HD camcorder soon for a project I am doing, and would like a flash memory unit over miniDV. I normally use a PC330, which I have a couple of, but our project needs to be in HD. Most of this is belly flying, but I may use the HD for other sit/head-down jumps later. I plan to continue use of the side-mount PC330 for work jumps.

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[skydiveoc 0]

Im not sure if Imall that into my new cx12. It had a glitch where it was reverting back to auto focus / auto scene setting randomly after 5-10 minutes. I have reset the camera and completely taped over the focus wheel. I even taped a washer over the wheel as there is a button which reverts the cam to auto focus when pressed. That wheel will burn you! I would love to lock that wheek.

Captured clips take about 1/2 the time to download as minidv and they load with no thumbnail image. Minidv for some reason loads with a thumbnail. This sucked as I downloaded about 15 of my vids of the day and had to manually preview each one.

I'm new and inexperienced with working with vid editing so Im sure its some setting somewhere is off.

Im not recording in HD. Just SD HQ. Seems like a waste of time when the image is going through a .2 royal anyway.

Any opinions would be great. So far I like my pc1000 better...might be growing pains tho.

[DSE 5]

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Captured clips take about 1/2 the time to download as minidv and they load with no thumbnail image. Minidv for some reason loads with a thumbnail. This sucked as I downloaded about 15 of my vids of the day and had to manually preview each one.
.

I'd submit it's growing pains...
The thumbnail is a Windows thing; AVCHD isn't supported directly in the WMP, so it can't read the header to give you the thumbnail. M$oft hates AVCHD; they want the world to embrace VC1.
As far as the focus wheel, this is the first I've heard that particular complaint. I don't have a CX12 close by anymore, but have another coming soon. Lemme see if there is a model-problem (I didn't have this issue in my few test jumps).

[cutaway500ft 0]

The CX12 shoots in AVCHD. From what I have read, it seems like the AVCHD acts strangely on macs and the latest final cut pro version. Attached is a link from apple discussing this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305997

Has anyone experienced or heard of any problems with AVCHD and Macs? Also, has anyone experienced the CX12's OIS (optical image stabilization) shaking in free fall (especially freeflying)?

Thanks.

[DSE 5]

It's very unfortunate that Apple has elected to not support AVCHD at much of any level, even though iMovie and FCE do enjoy limited support.
It's gonna bite em' in the ass if they don't get with the program. As of now, only Apple and Avid don't offer AVCHD support. Premiere will shortly release with impressive AVCHD support.

Apple users will simply have to deal with a significantly slower workflow regarding AVCHD. Expect this to change, but not at any near point in time.

AVCHD is the new DV.
Haven't freeflown the CX12 as of yet. For tandems and wingsuiting, it's fine.

[cutaway500ft 0]

Thanks DSE for your input. If AVCHD is the future, hopefully Final Cut will get with the times soon.

If anyone does hear anything about the cx12 in freely positions I'd really like to know. Take care.

[LouDiamond 1]

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Haven't freeflown the CX12 as of yet. For tandems and wingsuiting, it's fine.

Slightly off topic but related to the 12. Recently I got the flutter on my 7 during a wingsuit jump. I think the issue arises and may arise with the 12 possibly when the airflow around the camera is from the rear of the camera body. In my case I was over top of the formation looking down and back between my legs when I encountered the flutter. Likewise the airflow while in a sit directs a good deal of air over the jumpers back and head. My gut guess is that unless something was changed in the internals of the 12, it too may be prone to exhibit the same flutter when in a sit.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[bomb420 1]

I'll have my hands on a CX12 this weekend that I plan on doing a few sitfly jumps with. Monster makes me shake anyway, but the flutter is noticeable beyond that. I'll get my TG1 back from Terry and see how that works too. Mike has been giving me a ton of crap since I have not jumped it yet.

On scott's note, I've had an idea for a few weeks but have not tried it out. All of us were trying to squash the air hitting the CX7, I think the opposite might be true. Perhaps forming a small "ram air" directly onto the camera may help make the burble there disapear. I'm not a aeronautical engineer but its worth a shot.

As far as a view finder, you can always plug a small LCD into the Debrief jack on the HYPEYE D PRO. I have not searched for something like this yet, but sure its out there.

-Trunk

HYPOXIC

[tripleflip18 0]

let us know how it goes :) Good or bad...

[idrankwhat 0]

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On scott's note, I've had an idea for a few weeks but have not tried it out. All of us were trying to squash the air hitting the CX7, I think the opposite might be true. Perhaps forming a small "ram air" directly onto the camera may help make the burble there disapear. I'm not a aeronautical engineer but its worth a shot.

Has anyone been keeping track of which helmet/CX7 combos seem to be most prone to the shake? I'm no aeronautical engineer either but I'm guessing that the FTP would have a larger burble. I'm just curious if other "more exposed" designs are less susceptible.

[cj1150gs 0]

I've seen Rawa + CX6 on top: shaked like hell in sitfly.

It's not a cosmetical/minor issue: footage was useless. It wouldn't work. Not even for debriefing purposes.

Edited to add: we should move this to the CX6/7 discussion.

Carlos Martins
Portugal www.cj.smugmug.com

[idrankwhat 0]

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Edited to add: we should move this to the CX6/7 discussion.

I thought about it but then figured that it might apply to the CX12 question as well. I need to know what to buy and by the time I'm ready the CX12 will either be within my price range or obsolete. I really appreciate you guys working out all of these issues for me

[beowulf 1]

Has anyone tried side mounting any of these CX cameras? Like with a 2k Composites helmet?

[Trevor 0]

I am jumping the CX-7 in a cookie box side mounted. The flutter in the head-up orientation is horrible whether I am in a sit or a stand.

Two weeks ago I did some 20+ way head-down jumps and got an unacceptable amount of shake in some of those videos as well. It might be because of the much higher formation airspeed compared to an 'regular' undocked head-down jump. I don't know.

I do believe that AVCHD on Flash storage w/ OIS may be on all of the quality cameras we want to jump in the future so I definitely want to find a fix. I don't think the CX-12 is going to fix it.

I am going to try a two more aerial tests this weekend. If I don't make any progress, I am going to have to take apart the CX-7 and glue the stabilizer.

[AHoyThere 0]

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If you'd like to attend a class, I can pass that info along and we can send you home with some templates ready for new video clips. Having templates ready for Vegas and for DVD menus makes things go smoothly.

Chris

I'd like to attend the class too! When & where?
I've just started jumping the CX12.
But now I've to to learn a new workflow for creating DVD's. I've just ordered Vegas Platinum. Should be here in a day or two.

I don't know anything about templates in Vegas yet, all my past experience is w/ Premiere. Any help, suggestions, (sharing of templates if I ever learn how to use that feature) is appreciated.

later.

[skydiveoc 0]

Let me know what you come across...Im getting to like Vegas and have editing time down to 5 minutes...rendering and dvd burning takes about 5 more. My growing pains are waning...thumbnail images are found in the pmb software bundled with platinum but I trouble navigating the thumbnails thru windows.

[skydiverton2 0]

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I am jumping the CX-7 in a cookie box side mounted. The flutter in the head-up orientation is horrible whether I am in a sit or a stand.

Two weeks ago I did some 20+ way head-down jumps and got an unacceptable amount of shake in some of those videos as well. It might be because of the much higher formation airspeed compared to an 'regular' undocked head-down jump. I don't know.

I do believe that AVCHD on Flash storage w/ OIS may be on all of the quality cameras we want to jump in the future so I definitely want to find a fix. I don't think the CX-12 is going to fix it.

I am going to try a two more aerial tests this weekend. If I don't make any progress, I am going to have to take apart the CX-7 and glue the stabilizer.

A box is still relative open for airflow. Perhaps a rubber (neoprene) cover might help somewhat as it dampens the airpressure fluctuation in the camera somewhat.
I'm not sure, just an idea

Using your droque to gain stability is a bad habid.
.
.
Also in case you jump a sport rig!!!

[cj1150gs 0]

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Perhaps a rubber (neoprene) cover might help somewhat as it dampens the airpressure fluctuation in the camera somewhat.

Forgot to add: this CX6 on top of Rawa was tried with and without neoprene condom, to no avail.

(I don't believe there's a solution other than glueing the optics... and kissing the warranty bybye on an electronic device worth almost a thousand €.)

Carlos Martins
Portugal www.cj.smugmug.com