Videos of 4-way camera flyer exits

Had our second weekend training, so got 10 more jumps of practice with them.

I feel pretty good with the general freefall bits, and I know what I have to do there. Exits is where I'm after the most feedback.

I've editted a clip together of just the 10 exits. First 5 were sat, next 5 sunday. Some things are very obvious to me - have to react faster, keep my hands/arms out of the way of the camera, but anything else that can be noticed from the video will be appreciated.

I tried to the things that were mentioned earlier in this thread, but don't think I was successful in all of them! The team's count is changing a bit from jump to jump, so getting used to that too.

http://youtu.be/SUW-IBz_7Bo

Any feedback would be appreciated.

They do not look that bad. I had my first training jumps with my team and then our first competition. I had some issues but worked them out so in competition I had my best jumps. I have decided on a following exit that is easiest for me to stay with the team. I will try to post the two competition videos with two practice outside videos we were able to get. The comp. videos are short due to clouds the day of the meet. We have only made 11 jumps as team at time of comp. with two more practice jumps with fill-ins...The team is doing great and I am trying not to hurt them, and so far it feels good.
Tom
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=247295648745574&set=vb.100003954212649&type=2&theater¬if_t=video_processed

Overall it looks good. "H" (Bow) was an exit I struggled with as well. The problem lies with tail trying to drop super low. In the end I decided following on the "H" was just cleaner. Your team seems to launch a little flat on the "H" as well, which lends to doing a following exit also.

Overall really good! some feedback-
jump 1- the proxy (shoe checks as I like to call them) with tail is usually caused by 2 things- Not getting far enough back on exits like H's and A's, and also by stepping out (left) too much, and not back enough. If you exit at the same time like that and think step BACK, not OUT, it also helps prevent the second problem of you getting in their burble. If you let the team go left, and take the clean air to their right, and then make a 90 degree left turn when you get on top of them...you are in clean air the whole time. If you are inline with them and pop over them, it is easy to end up right on top and in the burble like in that video.

Jump 2- a leading exit, overall not bad if that's the style of exit you want. Maybe a hair early...but not bad.

3- not bad (esp for a blown exit). If you can, might try letting go of the left hand right before you think it is time to exit. Usually not hard if you have some wind break out there. Also, might try looking down (many say to look at the wheel) before exit. This exit shows the 90 degree turn over the top noted above very well.

4. over all good. same risk as jump one by exiting more left than back, but you flew it just fine.

5. not bad
6. might have left early...but hard to tell how it would have looked if they didn't blow the exit.
7. hair early but not bad
8. nice. I keep thinking to exit BACK and not Left...but that's just the way I like to fly mine. Looks like what you did worked for you there
9. ok... it didn't work for you on this one :) again, think about getting BACK on the step and with your arms. letting go of the left hand right before exit might help you get back a little more. also just think exit back, and not out/left. take the clean air next to the plane and let the formation rotate out of your way to the left. Ideally (for me) on H's and P's if you go back and not left, 1 second or so into the exit the entire formation tail/inside center should be a few feet to your left and not inline with you

Overall you are doing better than most video guys out there! Thanks for posting these, and I hope the tips help. I know everyone has different styles and different advice, but hopefully you will find something that works best for you and your team.

One other thing... you are doing GREAT for exiting a Caravan. I still usually trail exits from 208's because I can't get as far back as I like to...and on many exits it is hard to go one handed unless you are getting a major break from the prop blast from Tail/OC.

Believe it or not I've been thinking BACK and been told to go back on every jump!! I just can't seem to make myself go straight back for some reason. More practice I guess.

And definitely having trouble letting go with one arm. I struggle enough holding on with 2 and it does feel like I'll lose my grip if I only have one holding on. I did almost get blown off on one exit, both feet were off teh step and death grips on the bar kept my holding on!

I've been trying to leave at pretty much the same time on each one, some more successfully than others, but I'm still not 100% in tune with the count yet.

We got another training weekend coming up this weekend then our first competition the weekend after, so hopefully I do my job well enough and get no camera busts! But my focus is definitely going to be to go back and get the clean air.

Thanks for the feedback.

No videos just of the exits to show from recent tries (not made one... yet) but I've had a bit of a change of position on exit now, which has resulted in much better footage of the team on the hill.

Before I was trying to go straight back and be in the clean air between the formation and the plane, but I was having very mixed results. Whether I'd successfully film the exit keeping everything clear was quite random. I wasn't "seeing" the exits and was sometimes early, sometimes late...

So, I happened to see footage from another cameraman filming a team that was training at the same time as us, and saw that he wasn't going between the formation and the plane, but out further beyond the formation into the clean air there.

Gave it a try and my results have now been MUCH more consistent. So that's what I'm going to keep doing for the time being until I find exits that it doesn't work for, or my experience grows and I get even better ideas.

Hopefully what I said here has been clear, if not i've attached a shit sketch of what I mean!!

You know, I have thought about that for some exits....but never tried it. Some exits dont "roll out" very far (like an A), and it seems like doing almost a front float style big jump to the left exit would be possible.

I'm a little nervous about that exit though, as some exits roll out really far as they keep momentum from the Inside Center who can be leaving from pretty far inside the plane. (E's and B's for example)It seems like the risk of ending up right in the middle of them or in their burble might be high. Seems like if you were late, it be double jeopardy.

I'd love to see some footage, and love to hear how it works out for you

I think "currently", the team I'm filming don't really get that far from the plane, which is why this exit has worked well for me so far, and was a contributing factor to why staying near the plane wasn't working so well.

There have definitely been some exits where OC has literally just hopped a tiny amount and presented, with no room for anyone else!

So as I get more experienced, and as my team do more exits I'll hopefully start to learn where works best for each exit.

I imagine I will be re-evaluating when/if the team start making distance from the plane.

Here are links to the exits I've done in this way so far from my 1st ever attempt in chronological order: edit: shit, the time links don't seem to be working. will try and fix that... Seems to work for me in Firefox, but not chrome or IE...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=221s Go to 3:40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=292s 4:52
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=365s 6:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=442s 7:22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=503s 8:23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=649s 10:49
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=717s 11:57
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rziIEHlusAk#t=788s 13:08
That last one wasn't quite as successful! All the above are on the same youtube video, I've just linked directly to the exit.

And my last 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2jU8ram0ai4#t=8s 0:08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2jU8ram0ai4#t=84s 1:24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2jU8ram0ai4#t=178s 2:58

I certainly feel a lot more confident doing this exit at the moment.

I may have done, quite literally 4 or 5 more, but I don't have them on youtube.

Do whatever works for you, and it is awesome that you are trying new and different things!

I was thinking about you and your exits a few weeks ago when we had a full training day out of the caravan. You inspired me to try to do my standard "otter" exit as much as possible from the Caravan. Many turned out better than I thought they would...and I still ended up trailing a few. My team launched an F out of the Caravan, and I was going to mention to you on here that that exit had almost the whole team outside of the plane and very far to my left (on climbout). It made the standard "back" otter exit easy.

You are doing really well, esp with the Caravan.

Last weekend we had quite a few caravan training jumps, and due to your inspiration I was doing my standard exit all day. Most of them worked out just fine.

We had an A exit that I was worried about because they don't "roll out" much, and Tail is so low and far back in the door. Ready, set, go, and the exit frame was perfect...couldn't have asked for better.

next load, repeat of the same jump and I think I was just a hair late. Two seconds of surfing the burble "I got it... I got it....nope, I don't have it!" I didn't take out the team but I did get an up close shoe inspection of my inside center. I'll see if I can post the vids soon. Good times!

Awesome!! Look forward to seeing the video!

Unfortunately my team aren't training again until August, so got quite a bit of 4 way filming down time to do the practicing in my head! So any vids to watch and learn from would be great.

Hey,

A lot of this = depends.

Factors:
Exit (what point, what does the formation look like and fly off the door)
How the team flies of the door – some are steep and some teams are relatively flat (steep is generally easier to shoot)
Aircraft (How close to the door and what handles do you have)
Your preference, how far you can reach, etc.
What wide angle that you are running

I messed around a lot with a bunch of different exits, but ultimately it is up to you in terms of what is most comfortable for you to exit.

For high performance teams (say over 16+) I use a mix of leading and trailing depending on the exit point that the team are going through.
For less demanding stuff I will usually go with leading as it is a more interesting and useful camera angle, but you can do anything provided you get the shot.
Ohh and peeling is easier to get timing but generally easier to bust on grips. You can use it on teams if you have no confidence on the exit cadence but it is generally less useful to debrief in terms of the exit.
With intermediate teams I will generally lead – as it is more important to see the exit and the relative plane of each of the people. Generally you can just ask the coach what they would prefer. Whatever you choose, they are generally slow on the transition from the first point so if you muck it up a bit it does not matter.

When shooting – steeper is generally better vid, but more risky in terms of burbling. Don’t do this with junior teams as they can be all over the place. With my old team I was always very steep and in the burble but they were very good and I knew where they would be moving. With good teams you should almost always be in the same place. Occasionally I would shoot a bit flatter and on some blocks I also tended to move slightly to minimise the potential of centre point busts, but you don’t have to worry about this!

Judges generally prefer a static point as well - well that is what they have told me.

Well, season is now basically over. Nationals was the weekend just gone.

Was filming the team I'd been doing training with over the summer, and another team I picked up just for the nationals.

Ironically, my exits were better with the latter team than the team I'd been filming in training too!

For some reason, I just didn't click as well with my main team as I had been in the latter training sessions. As a result over the course of the 8 rounds, they had camera busts on 2 of them, two points in each. I wasn't happy with myself for that, as I should have been better, and I don't understand why I wasn't. Fortunately it didn't affect their placing. That team was in A.

What was weird was that the other team I filmed were in AA, started turning points on the hill very quickly, yet I didn't have a single camera bust with them and all the exits looked better.

Oh well, has been a great learning curve for a new skill. Still wish I was in the 4 way rather than observing it, but while I'm not rich enough to fund a 4 way habit, camera work will have to do.

Hopefully next year I'll progress more and do better!

The better the team exits and flies... typically the better your video will be. Just getting cut in a little, or going from the perfect hill presentation to being a little bit steep or a little bit flat, can make your exit frame go from "easy money" to.... "fuck". The exit is a 5 person process. The better and more consistent all five are, the better the outcome.

If one team is good enough to start cranking early on the hill, it might help explain why your video of them was better.

Zlew

The better the team exits and flies... typically the better your video will be. Just getting cut in a little, or going from the perfect hill presentation to being a little bit steep or a little bit flat, can make your exit frame go from "easy money" to.... "fuck". The exit is a 5 person process. The better and more consistent all five are, the better the outcome.

If one team is good enough to start cranking early on the hill, it might help explain why your video of them was better.

Cheers for that. Makes me feel a bit more positive about the short-comings in the footage. But I'm not one to settle for mediocrity, I'm definitely going to focus to get it better next year.

It has been fun. Has made me enjoy the canopy ride more too. When I was in the 4 way, the canopy ride was just a journey to the ground, trying to be quick and safe to the ground, to get debriefed and packers working. Now I can actually play around a bit more, so my canopy stuff has been improving too!

Looking forward to next year!