vdschoor

I am not going to attack anyone here.. I just wanted to say congratulations to ALL the flyers and all people involved with that record. I don't care if it's official or not, it is the biggest wingsuit formation flown to date for sure, whether people were 3m apart or 1.5m or 4m I really could care less. This accomplishment is another HUGE step in our sport, that will give us all sorts of amazing exposure. Yes I do have questions about "how the hell do you judge this?" but that doesn't take ANYTHING away from the achievement of this record.. Again, congrats to all the flyers and everyone involved.. Keep it up. The bar was set VERY high for this record and you guys did it! Looking forward to the real money shots in Parachutist / Skydiving Magazine.. wherever they may end up being published. Congrats! Iwan

DSE.. look at teh username.. its "EGO Mike".. our local badass in Byron.. I do have to say that is a PIMP helmet stand!

I'm somewhat in the area as well...

Yeah they might be curious, but that is not something that belongs on video. When accidents happen while the camera is running there is a standard response "the camera was off" or I am filming the other way.

Well this fits right in with the "I'm getting paid so I guess I am professional" doesn't it? I agree the show must go on, the tandem passenger paid a lot of money for the video, and they should get what they paid for. But as you said make sure the background does NOT show some accident or anything like that..

:6:1 Yup.. it's been a LONG time since I had to buy beer.. but I did again this Saturday... my first tandem as a real tandem instructor.. It only took me 11 years in the sport and 4 years of "thinking about maybe getting a tandem rating"

Memories.... http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf4b014deff1 That was a badass boogie Spence! I hope to run into you again one of these days..

I've done the same, in fact my first ever published photo is still on my wall.. I don't care if it has someone else in it, I'm proud of that shot! What I call that kind of "giving away shots" is customer building, marketing.. nothing wrong with that.. I do the same when people ask for photos, go ahead and order them from my site. Even for coach jumps, if I bring the whole setup, they get a dub of the video, I don't care about that.. the photos, they can buy from me..

Same here my friend.. I've given many photos away, but those were never "asked for" I would get an awesome shot, and figured: you know.. that person would probably REALLY love to have a print of that. Hell I've even given some 20x30s away! But what happens when you do this? Your work gets seen, and.. next time they WANT a photo you get asked to shoot it for them.. There's difference between free and free.. some stuff you give away to people, but that is not because they asked for it. It's because you want them to have it.. If they ask for it, they pay for it..

Dave.. even though I can see where you are coming from, I'm going to give you some thoughts: - You are an amateur: Are you really? You have your own smugmug site to sell photos online, you have professional camera gear, invested a lot of time and money into getting better at photography, at skydiving... and occasionally you get paid for a couple of photos. The other shots, you just take because you like taking photos.. right? Why not get paid for those? It's not like you are putting less effort into those. You're not doing this for money: Neither do I, I have a good dayjob, I do this because I love it. Because if I did it for the money, I would have quit a long time ago. Unless you're involved in major productions or custom photoshoots, there is no money in skydiving photography ( I don't call 30-40 bucks for a tandem video "money" .. that's just a tip in my opinion ) The only reason there is no money in skydiving photography is because "everyone can do it" if you have a still camera on your helmet, you're a photographer right? And most don't need the money anyways so they just give it away. We should all start shooting weddings with that attitude and see what kind of riot we'd unleash amongst the photography industry... If people want the photos for their webpages, that's totally cool. They should be happy with a 72dpi 4x6 size digital photo then, for a minimal fee of 5 bucks. Check out what stock imagery costs for websites.. most of them start at $1 a photo (iStockPhoto), or a monthly subscription of $249 for 750 images (Shutterstock) that's not too much right? Those pics were just taken because the photographer liked them.. and then put them on there for people to use on their websites or whatever.. Really.. I totally understand where you are coming from, but I just want to put things in perspective.. you jump with x pounds of cameras worth 1000s of dollars on your helmet, paying for your jump ($20+ these days) why should you not get paid? Every jump your potential risk is: $3500 (camera gear + helmet) $25 (jump) $65 (repack in case of reserve ride) So.. when I walk back to the packing area after a good jump I took a 2100 dollar "business risk" to get you a free photo? Happy Friday, and happy jumping for everyone this weekend.. be safe, and make your friends look pretty on film!

yes you do need to jump more Or you're just not as busy during the day as I have been in the last 6 months.

Think about where the relative wind comes from when you're exiting : from the prop / front of the airplane When you're sitflying, you're flying with your feet into the relative wind right? Think of that body position when you leave the plane, feet towards the prop. So for the front floater: Head towards the tail, placing your feet into the relative wind (towards the prop) Rear floater: step off, and fall on your back, feet towards the prop. The front floater is "more" responsible for the exit, as you have to jump forward and up a bit (towards and over your exit partner..) It's a tricky exit for sure.. but that's roughly how I can explain it best I think..

I've been jumping more, and talking less smack.. 1.558928571

I charge the price of an 8x10 print for a digital photo, at "windows desktop quality" (72dpi) The photo will be watermarked. Just because it is easier to give files digitally, doesn't make it cheaper or "easier" to get that shot.

After a couple of years.. I got some love from one of the other camera guys.. The last photo (bling.jpg) is one that HAD to be taken.... I "stole" the videodubber's glasses.. I wish I could have seen her face when she dubbed that tandem video!

That's good to hear! I'm saving up for a camera like that for sure

It's interesting to read that they still seem to be building high end cameras with tape... I like it.. I'm sticking to HD on tape for now reading about all the issues people are having with the solid state cameras.

And this response (Phil vs. Laszlo) is exactly why sometimes you just won't like what gets published! There's the person responsible for the photo selection and there's the artist (you / me) what looks like an awesome shot to me, might look like an average or even bad photo to someone else. The editors at Parachutist work exactly the same, some have a similar eye for beauty than we do, others have a different look at it, which is why some photos that are "below quality" to you are still getting published. I've been through the same experience, last year was a very good publishing year for me, for the simple reason that I was going to a lot of boogies, so when I submitted photos, they were of current events. This year I've submitted at least as much as last year, but barely anything has gotten published, not because they were bad photos, but they were not related to any events. So now I just have to wait for these photos to fit in somewhere... which could be a while. I've had photos published that had been in Parachutist's posession for over a year, and all of a sudden they show up in the magazine. Iwan

you know, from a videographer standpoint all of you are completely correct. Having been flying tandem videos for about 4 years now (which is still pretty short) I see behavior like this a lot.. It seems that standards have gotten lower and lower, now that we have this great thing called DSLR. [SARCASM]It takes a bit more of an investment to get into flying camera, but he.. if you land with 100 photos of which 30 are sellable, why not put you in the rotation and make money for the dropzone?[/SARCASM] I'd like to think that I take pride in my work, in my investment (of both time and money) and if I am not feeling 100% on top of my game on a working day, I do pull myself off the rotation for 1 reason only: the customer is paying a LOT of money and deserves a top notch product and if I feel like I am flying below what the customer deserves, I will not work. To newer camera flyers: know your limitations, just because you got "lucky" with some photos / video does not mean you are a videographer / photographer. If you exits are not consistent, dont work yet. If you can only film the tandems if they fall at a certain speed range, dont film them. etc. Ok, done venting

If I am correct, the 24mm is not a very fast focussing lens, you might have run into some issues because of that. In your situation, shooting full frame with a 24mm lens, I'd say use the DOF calculator and figure out where your focus point should be and use manual focus. On my film body with the Canon 28mm I used manual focus all the time too, and the pictures came out fantastic. When you do use the hyperfocal distance though, I'd suggest going for an aperture of about F8 to F10. For Shutterspeed, I found that specially on tandems, I don't even go faster than 1/320th. Tandems fall down very fast, but they don't move very fast compared to the camera so a slower shutterspeed will work just fine.

Exactly. And that.. is why I recommend people that are looking for a HD camera to go on eBay and find yourself an HC-1 I think to date that is still the best HD camera, yes it's tape based, but he... Tape has worked fine for the last 10 years.. whats a couple more right? I have almost 800 jumps on my HD camera and it runs like NEW.... I have to admit though I am waiting for the next camera that has solid state and holds up to freefall abuse fine, but until then.. I'll get my HD footage on tape using the HC1

Including me! Just booked my tickets this afternoon..

Ok.. it took some twisting of my arm.. and looking at last year's boogie video again... and I just booked my ticket. I'll be arriving with the rest of the NorCal crew..

you dont use that argument because most of us are not wankers. YOUR best does not imply the best that is available to the professional market. When conditions warrant is not what Iwan stated either. I'm well aware that in general jumping the condition may not warrant a flash, but Iwan's post does not imply a condtion on ambient light only on finances I am all about the money Squeak, you know how the Dutch are When the conditions do not allow me to get a nice shot (weird lighting / back light) I will put the flash on my helmet. My customers deserve the best, and I take even tandem videos very serious. 125 bucks for photos and video is serious money and they deserve a serious product. I do however, let the customers know they are getting "special treatment" and why, and they are usually VERY happy when we get back to the ground and I show them the photos. Like Phreezone said, I can't afford (physically) to jump with all that stuff on my head 12 times a day for 40 bucks a jump. I've done it, and I will do it when needed, but not every day every weekend.

I agree Tony! I don't use it for bigways or for tandems (unless they are friends or willing to pay more for the photos) but for all other stuff, I LOVE flash. It just "finishes" the shots I think. And as you pointed out with those links, in tricky lighting conditions a flash will get you the "impossible" shots Iwan