strop45 0 #1 April 20, 2009 Background, I’m rapidly approaching 50 and thanks to too many motorbike accidents, have a suspect neck. I’ve jumped with my rebel 300D half a dozen times and while I haven’t had any problems, I don’t really like the weight and the thought of a hard opening. I have been looking for a compact camera with performance similar to a low end SLR (like the 300D) and a built in wide angle lens. The Lumix LX3 is 10M, has a Leica 24mm (35mm film equivalent) lens, great controls and a good reputation, however it doesn’t have a remote connection. I didn’t want to damage the camera to add a remote (but planned to jump out of planes with it ??) so looked around and found some people using them from kites using radio control. A little thinking and some playing around and I produced a mounting and a circuit to operate the camera using a radio control servo and a bite/tongue switch. The servo is mounted using the flash shoe on the camera and uses a rubber band to attach it. The camera is capable of taking 90 odd photos in 60 seconds with a high speed SD card and using it in burst mode with no refocusing between shots. I jumped it the other day and some photos are attached. I was little disappointed with the first jump photos, but think that was more to do with the photographer than the equipment. I have attached some photos and there are a few more here: http://www.nelsonskydiveclub.org/?page_id=362 I initially tried auto focus, shutter 1/250 sec and iso 200. On the second jump I used manual focus and 1/320 sec and got better results. My next modification with be to monostable the bite switch so that a flick of the tongue gives a long enough pulse to ensure a photo (at present you have to hold pressure for ½ sec or so to ensure a photo). Blue Skies WayneThe difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dynamite 1 #2 April 21, 2009 Why didn't you just use the Ricoh GX100/200 or the Canon G10? Both come with remote switches and are much less hassle. I have used the Ricoh (also 24mm) on about 200 tandem jumps now. I tend to prefer a much higher shutter speed, min 1/400 and find that it's grainy above 200iso so it's no good in low light. Great to see you have the LX3 working in freefall though. It's a good little compact. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bliston 0 #3 April 21, 2009 I bought a Kodak v705 from Lazlo (he did the switch mod), and tried it this weekend. It's doesn't get a high volume of shots per jump, but the still camera has a 23mm ultra wide lens, the camera weighs just 4 ounces, and is very snag free. Here's a couple of low res versions of shots I took this weekend. I'm just getting back into video after about a 10 year layoff. I used to fly a big SLR and a heavy High 8 camera and I'm loving being about to shoot video and stills with a setup that weighs less than 3 1/2 pounds. If you don't need to take a ton of shots the v705 might be a good option... BenMass Defiance 4-wayFS website sticks! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
