Post your Nikon D40 setup, please

[JanuszPS 0]

Hi,
there is very limited info in relation to D40. I bought it about a year ago and now I think to buy a proper helmet and install D40 on it.
I know that this camera does not have the port for remote.
In here
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2992014;search_string=d40;#2992014
there is a description what to do with the remote. However as I'm novice in sky photography a few directions will be very welcome.
Where the remote is located?
How usually is connected to the switch?
What type of switch do you recommend?
can you post some pictures of the set-up or the components?
what is the best practice of installing that particular camera?
I'd like to buy a helmet (TonFly or 2kc fusion) with quick release system, as I don't want to jump with either camcorder or still full time, just occasionally. Also I'd like to install a release system on my full face for taking some footage during big-way jumps (camcorder only). Therefore a release system is preferred to easily swap the helmets.
I'll be very grateful for all suggestions and pictures with examples.
thanks
Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[dragon2 2]

AFAIK there is no one jumping a D40 here. Look up directions for jumping a D70, that was the first common pro-sumer nikon it also didn't have a wired remote port so you either got it modded (not offered for D40/D60 AFAIK) or you bought a IR remote and soldered (eh, ducktaped) that to a tongue/bite/blowswitch and then ducktaped the whole thing together again.
The problems with that last setup are that the connection is fragile, the IR remote needs to be held to the lens with rubber bands pointing the right way the entire jump and the camera needs to be (and STAY) in IR remote mode for it to work, also the batteries from the IR can fail at any time without warning. Result: half the time you will not have any pictures from your jump, so this setup is not workable when you're getting paid to shoot photos. So, best practice is NOT installing this camera at all but buying a D80 esp. now since the price is so low because the D90 has been announced.

As for videographing during a bigway, are you sure you'll be allowed as you are both a novice at bigways and at videographing, this spells trouble in my book - look up Billvon's trouble with his camera

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[JanuszPS 0]

That is sad about d40, as it is a nice relatively small and light digital camera.

I'm not intending to make pictures/videos of the big-ways - too responsible job. I'd like to install a camcorder on my full-face making some footage of the big way, but as one of the participants.
I already have some dozen or so 50+ ways which I wish to have my own footage from the sector where I was.

Thanks
Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[dragon2 2]

Yes too bad about the smallest nikon dslrs, if you want the smallest/lightest dslrs to jump you'll have to go canon.

Quote

I'm not intending to make pictures/videos of the big-ways - too responsible job. I'd like to install a camcorder on my full-face making some footage of the big way, but as one of the participants.

Yeah I gathered that, look up BillVon's comments on doing this...

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[JanuszPS 0]

I think I know which thread you want me to refer to:
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2634211;search_string=billvon%20camera;#2634211
But I want to have the camera removable, that's the point - to have that possibility when I decide not to jump with it leave it on the ground. I know how focus in big-ways I have to be. I already participated in two national records (recent in Poland and Ireland) jumping under quite pressure. If I feel uncomfortable with it, I will not jump with the camera as the successful and safe jump is more important than my footage.
thanks
Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[dragon2 2]

This is the post I meant:

Quote

billvon wrote an excellent responce from the point of view of one of those people that isn't really shooting camera as a "camera flyer", but simply "wearing" it as a way of documenting the event.
Quote
Because it absolutely will affect how you fly. You will pay more attention to the camera than to the jump. Two examples of this in action:

1) At about the 2000 jump mark, I built a chestmount camera to use during AFF. A bit later I took it on a bigway at Perris. At this point I was a decent bigway flyer - had a few state records, had a reputation of being a reliable late diver etc. Well, on the first jump I collided with someone, and the second jump I ended up in the wrong sector. Kate told me to get rid of the camera (which I did.) Why was I having a problem? Was it getting in my way? Nope, it just stayed on my chest; I didn't even have to aim it. Was it making the dive more complex? Nope - I just turned it on before exit and turned it off after I landed. It was just that I knew I had a camera on, and was thinking not only about my job on the skydive but about what the camera was seeing (which all camera flyers do.)

I made a bunch more jumps on the system (probably another 100 or so) and then took it to another bigway event. This time I was OK; I could handle the multitasking better. Since then I've taken a similar system on three world records and gotten some good pictures.

2) At Brown we did a demo one day into a golf course. It could not have been an easier demo. Wide open landing areas, low winds, clear day. We took people with at least a C license.

It was a scary thing to watch. A helicopter on the ground - perhaps 1/4 mile from the LZ - waited until everyone was under canopy before starting up, and didn't take off until well after the last person landed. But one jumper saw the rotor start to spin up and freaked out. He landed hard enough to break both his femurs; amazingly he was OK. (The wet grass had something to do with it.) Someone else landed into the only tree in a 500 foot radius of the target.

Why did they have so many problems? Was the area tight? No. Were there immediate hazards they were dodging? No. It was just that they had more things to pay attention to. There was a helicopter that had its rotor spinning! Oh no! And there's a tree! What do I do? I should avoid that . . . WHAP.

It wasn't that these people didn't have the basic skill to land in a big area - it's that there were distractions that they didn't have the experience to manage yet. Camera is like that as well.

I'd wait until you have 200-300 jumps, until you can do RW without worrying about whether you will get there or not, without worrying whether you can break off safely, without ever losing sight of the people on the dive. Once you can do that, then add the camera and do very simple skydives until that is second nature as well.

ciel bleu,
Saskia