New Digital Rebel... this one's gonna be a hit

[pbwing 0]

I knew that would come back to bite me!!
What I was trying to imply was that if you look back 5 yrs, there wasn't really anything remotely close in being able to take video as well as acceptable stills...

Today, we are seeing a variety of devices that are specifically targeted as being able to do both.

I'm thinking that it's only a matter of time before we have one device that can deliver the quality of both levels that is acceptable to the average camera flyer.

I know that if I had one system that gave me the video quality of a CX100 and the photo quality of a XSi - or even a high quality P&S, I'd be using that for the vast majority of my jumps.

[velocityphoto 0]

Like Dave has said this isn't even close to being a solution to a one box camera setup for everything. I strive for my photography to be the best and i want the best equipment for the job . I think it's a pretty simple concept here guys! :)

Even if you can get the video to shoot stills your only going to get what about 4 or 5 photo's of crappy quality in free fall if your lucky! Do you really want to sell that to a customer?

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[pbwing 0]

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Like Dave has said this isn't even close to being a solution to a one box camera setup for everything. I strive for my photography to be the best and i want the best equipment for the job . I think it's a pretty simple concept here guys! :)

Even if you can get the video to shoot stills your only going to get what about 4 or 5 photo's of crappy quality in free fall if your lucky! Do you really want to sell that to a customer?

I agree completely. I still jump both video and stills ($2500 just in still gear sitting up there!!).

I'm just saying it's only a matter of time before there is an acceptable solution. I think it will be sooner rather than later - just my somewhat educated guess...

[vdschoor 0]

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Like Dave has said this isn't even close to being a solution to a one box camera setup for everything. I strive for my photography to be the best and i want the best equipment for the job . I think it's a pretty simple concept here guys! :)

Even if you can get the video to shoot stills your only going to get what about 4 or 5 photo's of crappy quality in free fall if your lucky! Do you really want to sell that to a customer?

I agree completely. I still jump both video and stills ($2500 just in still gear sitting up there!!).

I'm just saying it's only a matter of time before there is an acceptable solution. I think it will be sooner rather than later - just my somewhat educated guess...

Actually, I think it's still quite a ways out if you want an "SLR capable" video camera.
I'm sure the photos that come out of the CX100 are comparable to shooting on auto on the little digital Elph cameras (not to beat those down by the way.. ) but it will be a long time before they build something that has the same resolution as the current lines of DSLRs, along with all the different exposure modes, attachment possibilities etc...

Honestly.. get the right tools for the job, that means:

- the best video / film camera you can afford / justify
- the best still camera you can afford / justify

Those together will produce the best results.

[billvon 2,990]

>Even if you can get the video to shoot stills your only going to get what
>about 4 or 5 photo's of crappy quality in free fall if your lucky! Do you
>really want to sell that to a customer?

The attached photos are the sort of pictures I got from the CX100. For tandem customers, most 4-way teams, they'd be OK. Get the speed up to 1 per second and you'd have a viable solution.

[ChangoLanzao 0]

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>Even if you can get the video to shoot stills your only going to get what
>about 4 or 5 photo's of crappy quality in free fall if your lucky! Do you
>really want to sell that to a customer?

The attached photos are the sort of pictures I got from the CX100. For tandem customers, most 4-way teams, they'd be OK. Get the speed up to 1 per second and you'd have a viable solution.

I think those are very acceptable images. In many cases, the composition and lighting trumps the technical quality, especially for tandem customers who mainly want images they can post on the web for their friends to look at. There are many, many examples I've seen of lousy photographs taken with high quality cameras ;-) ... and that's just in my own "private collection"

My wife can't figure out how to use the DSLR so she mainly uses a 3.3 Mpx point and shoot. But she has an eye for composition. While I was jumping at the Puerto Rico Freefall Fest a few years ago, she made a trip to a childrens petting zoo and took the attached picture. A few weeks later, she sold a print of it for $175 at a charity benefit . Really pissed me off.

[alge 0]

To get the thread back on track: Rebel T1i / EOS 500D.

One of my geekier friends dismissed the Rebels as "plastic toys". Can anyone comment on the general quality of these cameras? (Will they stand up to the hard life of a skydiving accessory?)

[BMFin 0]

Well basically hes right. They are made from plastic and the build quality isnt as good as it is with the better magnesium body models. On the other hand they are smaller and lighter which ofcourse is importand in skydiving. IMO skydivng isnt as hard on the equipment as you might think. Most likely you will damage your camera in the plane. Keep the lens cap on and dont leave the camera on the floor.

[bdazel 0]

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Can anyone comment on the general quality of these cameras? (Will they stand up to the hard life of a skydiving accessory?)

These are already tried and proven to work fine in Skydiving. MANY skydivers use them.

[velocityphoto 0]

No one can beat the crap out of a still camera like a skydiver.I shoot all canon camera's ,skydiving and out side of skydiving.

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................

[vdschoor 0]

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No one can beat the crap out of a still camera like a skydiver.I shoot all canon camera's ,skydiving and out side of skydiving.

I agree.. there's not a lot of photographers who have the opportunity to drop their equipment from thousands of feet up and have them impact the planet...

All sarcasm aside, as BMFin said already, skydiving isn't all that abusive to your equipment if you take care of it.
I see many people leaving their cameras laying around without lens caps, bumping it into stuff, all sorts of things.
Of course I've done the bumping into things with the helmet, but in the airplane, I protect the helmet like my life depends on it.. Anytime I am not using the helmet, all lenses have lenscaps on them.
a scratch or smear on the lens means EVERY shot you take will have a smear / scratch on it.

I jump the 20D and the 40D, I switched to the 20D after having the original Digital Rebel, the only reason I did was for the frame rate at the time, since the rebels weren't keeping up yet.
If I had to buy a skydiving camera today, I'd get the latest in the Rebel series. The sensor is pretty much as good as whats in the "semi-pro" bodies, and if you put the right glass on it it produces very similar amazing results..
I do a lot of shooting on the ground as well, and for that I would NOT buy a Rebel.. I don't like the smaller bodies to hold on to.

Iwan

[velocityphoto 0]

I agree. I shoot a 30-d with a vertical grip for my ground shots.
I'd trade up for a newer 50-d but i can't justify the money for it at the time.
XSI is great for free fall. I'm planning on picking up a mark 2 5 d later this season for my studio stuff . It'll be nice to utilize the full frame sensor with my lenses.

A friend will bail you out of jail , a REAL friend will be sitting next to you in the cell slapping your hand saying "DUDE THAT WAS AWSUM " ................