darklow

Alongside already known "Wing Loading Calculator" I'm launching an update soon and brand new tools for skydiving community on PureSkydive. Looking for beta testers, PM me if you would like to get an invite! The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

I could add IQ slider as well :) Each person and case is different and there is no perfect calculator and there is no need for one. To make final decision there are instructors and guys with more experience than you to talk to. Someone learns faster than others, someone slower. Somebody can make 500 jumps in 2 years, someone in 10. There are so many canopy designs available now. Some dropzones have obstacles, rivers and wood near, some are based in desert. So I can end up with more than 10 and more different variables that you need to consider before choosing canopy size. As it states under the calculator - it is informational only. When choosing canopy, you must also take into account other important factors like canopy design, jumps last year, etc. There are also good resources under calculator on how to choose your next canopy. Calculator is good starting point or nice tool if you're an expert and want to see how adding a digital camera of 1kg will affect your wing load on your 79ft2 canopy. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Setting minimum wing load something like 0.5 or 0.7 makes sense, thanks for suggestion. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Improved ranges visual proportions and made up to 4.0 WL. Thanks for suggestion. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Recently updated calculator by adding "Tandem mode" which increases weight and size ranges and also improved mobile usability. Have a safe flights and choose your canopy wisely! ;) http://pureskydive.com/canopy-wing-loading-calculator/ The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

See some side mount examples here: /cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4636174#4636174 The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Sony just announced two new action cameras in CES2015: 1) Sony AS200V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhDlBJ6veTI Published on Jan 5, 2015: Meet the NEW Action Cam HDR-AS200V, the highest image quality of all Full HD Action Cam ever. As successor of HDR-AS100V, the new model HDR-AS00V enhanced HD video performance with upgraded stabilization and image quality. Scope of movie shooting is expanded through newly added manual settings (white balance, AE shifting) and Loop Recording. 2) 4K Action Cam FDR-X1000V More promo and 4K sample videos here: http://bit.ly/SonyACsub There are also news about new helmet side mount that will be available: VCT-HSM1. But i haven't found any photos yet. New cameras should be available sometime in March, 2015. Read more about details and pricing on Sony blog post: https://blog.sony.com/press/sony-introduces-new-4k-and-full-hd-action-cams-at-ces-2015/ The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Some more news revealed / rumored: http://petapixel.com/2014/09/25/gopro-hero4-revealed-4k-video-30fps-first-built-touch-display/ The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Would you mind sharing some photos from freefall with this lens and A6000 camera? Maybe some close tandem and some group of skydivers? I am also thinking of moving from my Sony A55 (DT 11-18mm F4.5~5.6) to A6000, to have something bit lighter on my head. But i was thinking more of E 10-18mm F4 lens. It would be interesting to compare and see how wide are these 16mm lens which are lot cheaper than 10-18mm. Thanks. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

I just launched my personal skydiving photography blog and portfolio website: http://adventure.lv I am finally so satisfied with the website engine, that i would like to suggest it to other skydiving photographers. Website is based on "koken" engine: http://koken.me/. Engine is free and written in PHP language (uses MySQL database) which means there shouldn't be any problem finding hosting solution. As a programmer, i've tried lot of different solutions, but none of them was so good for photo portfolios. One of best features is synchronisation with Adobe Lightroom, which is my primary software for organising my skydiving pictures. You just create collection in Lightroom and it automatically uploads photo album to your website. As soon as you change any of photos in your album, all you need to do is sync it again. Some other nice features: * Automatic watermark plugin * Auto read exif data * Lot of free themes * Very intuitive admin interface * Also blog platform * Possibility to make your own theme and many more The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

I don't have any advise other that is never too much to check your handles again. Especially if you bend or brush against someone more than any regular jump, or this is some special event jump which in some way differs from regular jump. Even though i do toggle check before every jump and not just once, even then such thing can happen and here is the evidence. In normal conditions my reserve toggle is very hard, tried it on the ground and experienced on two cutaways. And by some strange reason, in some strange bending position and by accidental help of my hand/suit, cutaway handle just slipped out! Tried to repeat what happened on the plane later on the ground and couldn't. This was special event jump with special costumes and additional smoke. Look after each other and be safe! This time i got lucky - my friend noticed release is out, before i jumped. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO56xSmy3zo The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

I have jumped two years with CX115 - i always used SteadyShot: STANDARD. (There is also ACTIVE option, which is maximum stabilisation, which also crops picture) I jumped one year with Sony ActionCam AS15 and always used steadyshot ON. Had no problems with these two cameras and now with the same helmet, same Cookie ActionCam sleeve mount i am experiencing jello effect on Sony AS100 with stabilisation ON (not always as i have mentioned before in this post). Also if you saw drone video example, looks like jello effect disappears if stabilisation is OFF. Will try to turn it off in next weekend and see the results. I just really like steadyshot option, while recording on ground, going to the plane and so on, picture looks so nice and steady without extra shaking while walking etc. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Maybe I need to add a piece of wire or like in front of the camera to get rid of jello :-P - Petri @realpet - i posted jello issue report on Sony ActionCam community site. Hope you don't mind i provided you video as one of the examples. Let's hope, technical staff will respond and give us some comments: http://community.sony.com/t5/Camcorders-Action-Cam/Stabilisation-jello-effect-on-Sony-AS100/m-p/396194#U396194 The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

Tried extra filling as above but it doesn't remove the jello effect. I'd say there is something wrong in the steadyshot algorithm (very visible on this video): http://1drv.ms/1jSovMY Yes looks like the problem is still there and i was just lucky, slower tandems maybe, or less movement in picture, therefore less jello. I also found this video, where camera is attached to drone. What is interesting, that when there is steady object in the frame, then there is no jello effect. But as soon as you turn on steadyshot (in video starting at 1:00) and picture has a lot of movement, jello effect appears. It looks like it is steadyshot algoritm that fails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wcyrsmumeg DSE: Maybe you have some Sony contacts you can forward this information and these two video links? With such an awesome video quality (my tandem videos look awesome, even on late evenings) it is such a shame, that stabilization algorithm cause such jello effect. Hope it could be fixed by firmware, it should be i think. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/

I also experienced jello effect even in slow and stable tandem jumps and also few of my friends who are jumping in full face helmets, so no way problem is helmet. But i think (hope) i found a solution, maybe not 100% solution, but i think i reduced jelly effect by some 90%. I think the problem is because of housing. Put in your camera into housing and try shaking it in hand a bit. You will feel that camera is shaking inside of the housing. I think this is because of two things - 1) These side pads that holds camera ar too soft or doesn't push too hard. 2) There is quite large gap under the front side of camera. I filled this front gap with a piece semi-hard foam plate (from some equipment packaging material, see attached photo. just make sure it is not too soft, so it actually stabilize camera) and looks like jello effect minimized significantly and few jumps it is gone completely. Give it a try and see if it helps you. If it will, then probably i am right. If not, it might be some issue in stabilization algorithm and i am just lucky with my recent jumps. The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness http://adventure.lv/