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Now that I have finally come to terms with the fact that I only base jump for the girls and the glory, I decided to get a camera.



Actually, it's because too many people have been telling me lately that if it ain't on video, it never happened.



Seriously though, Cornishe and I will be producing a new adult movie called "horny basejumpers from outer space" giving new meaning to the terms "hand-held", "pounding in" and "tailgate". So I need a new camera...



All jokes aside, I'm shopping around for a camera. Initially to film locations, the trips, the hikes, the friends, the bullshit, the laughter and other miscellaneous things. However, I imagine I will eventually be topmounting it onto my helmet. Just to get rid of that last piece of altitude awareness I have left.

I did a search on this forum as well as the video and photograph forum, but the information seems very scattered and not necessarily base oriented. So in order to increase the entropy on the internet, here's another thread on cameras, with a focus on base. Here are my requirements:

• Good quality, sturdy, durable


• Small, lightweight, top-mountable


• Long battery life


• Works well in low-light conditions


• Capable of attaching good quality lenses (wide-angle etc.)


• Capable of dealing with hard openings, doesn't break the camera and doesn't intterupt filming too much


• Firewire-able


• Not too expensive


• Don't care much about skydiving. Aside from possible solo jumps to test the setup, I won't be taking it up in a plane ever


• Don't need a crosshair or ringsight. I'd turn it on way before the jump and turn it off way after landing. In between, it shouldn't be more than an ignorable solid block of extra weight on my helmet.

Am I overlooking any requirements?

Is there any brand and model that clearly stands out as the camera suitable for base?

What if price is not a concern? What if price is a concern? Are you happy with your own camera, or is there another camera that you deem more suitable?

I've looked into bullet-cam setups, but they don't seem to have quite the image quality yet.

And while on the topic anyway, what are some of the problems associated with jumping cameras in base? I imagine the weight is a problem, causing neck strain on hard openings. A much bigger problem would be must-get-great-footage-itis causing you to lose track of altitude and other dangers in favour of getting better footage. Anything else I'm overlooking?

Don't worry, I won't be strapping a camera onto my helmet any time soon. I'll make sure I make at least two more base jumps...



Thanks,

Jaap Suter

Count me in Jaap.

Why do you think they call me $kinflicka?

I'll bring the powerdrill and the plastic panties.

Did you read the bullet cam thread? It seems like a pretty good way to go about things.

 

I'm worried about the image quality. However, I just realized that even a bullet setup requires a camera. So nothing is stopping me from getting a camera and then experimenting with a bullet setup.

I guess that adds one requirement, ability to connect external CCD.

Ah Tommy...dear, dear Tommy...You're the perfect straight man...in a comedic sense, of course. Perfect certainly...straight? Well shit. I'd have to check with Yuri.

Speaking of which...has anyone noticed how much Hank Caylor looks like the blond one on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"...uncanny.

LOL, you guys have me cracking up over here! How about this... I came up with this idea for halloween to be a pilot chute. I can wrap a 46" pc around me, and it make a perfect dress. If its got a vented apex, you'll appreciate the location of the mesh. So... its actually me, naked, wrapped in a pilot chute (man that sounds kinky) and I've got heels (believe it or not). Sounds like it meets your criteria, ya?

Jen and I have other ideas too... but thats saved for Hold my Beer's Volume 2 video release

Pictures are mandatory if you're posting descriptions like that.

I think the lesson in this thread is that one should never include references to pr0n if one is in need of serious answers.

So worth it though...

Jaap - just a thought...

Not about the camera but when choosing a mount you may wanna consider the option of being able to mount it backwards.

I just LOVE backward-pointing object-rush shit [drool]

Have fun.

g.

Good one! Top-mounts are always screw-on, so those can be rotated by default, I imagine.

Uh..., second that!

Some top mounts are still fixed (I have one, if you want to see it sometime).

Plus, along those lines, how hard/easy it is to rotate the mount is a good thing to consider. If it's very easy, you can pretty much change it whenever you want (at the exit, say), instead of having to line it all up at home.

Heres Carson from the QEFTSG show...
and Hanky

The best most dialed in helmet camera set up that I have ever seen is being put out by a company called Go Big innovations. I use one and I am very pleased. THey will be selling cams on their sight shortly, but not til the fall. I think you can still buy em though. You can check them at www.igobig.com or email them at info@igobig.com They rock the lipstick cam, but they have eliminated the excess wires and made use very easy when in conjunction with a small backpack worn on the chest (easy to find)... you can see the helmet cams at www.igobig.com their prices are good. Remember, if you are gonna choose lipstick cam over direct mount, the quality is only as good as the lipstick lens, so you might as well choose a cheap video cam because it is really just yer recording unit.

I just got my new camera and I highly recommend it...Sony HVR-Z1U. Once you see yourself in 1080 lines of resolution you'll never want to look at yourself in the mirror ever again.

I'd say it's worth $5,000 price tag and at only 4.5 pounds it's easily helmet mountable. It's a little bulky, but oh well. I'll post a picture soon so you can see the setup.

I'd recommend a pretty bomber full face helmet. Rear entry, you know the type.

late,
jimmy

Nice one Jimmy...I like your style!
pope

One of our local jumpers has the new Samsung SC-X105L cameras with the external bullet mount. It's very easy to use and set up & is apparently water-resistant. The really cool part is that it uses no moving parts.

That said, I think you need to give it a year or two befoer the memory capacity and video quality get up to speed with mini-DV.

Comparing video clips between his camera and my PC-101, the video quality is OK, and probably fine for showing you friends, but it really isn't high enough to put together a video. Plus the memory stick capacity doesn't give you a whole lot of recording time.

The one I'm really looking forward to are the HDTV cams that are just now starting to become affordable. They're still a bit bulky, but give them another year or so and I'm sure they'l be down into the mini-cam sizes.

In fact, check out the new Sony HDR-HC1... verrry tasty.

I've seen some HD stuff that was pretty impressive, all right, but for my money I'll take three regular chips over one HD chip anyday. Once you've seen 3CCD, single-chip looks like badly colourized black and white... Though I have to admit I'm curious about the colour on the unit you cite, which claims to be an improvement on the usual single-chip quality.

I've been jumping Panasonic's first consumer 3CCD camera (the PV-GS70, now superceded I think by the PV-GS65). The colour can only be described as amazing, though admittedly the low-light performance suffers a little.

It looks like both the HVR-Z1U and HDR-HC1 shoot only 1080i. I've often wondered about interlacing, as it strikes me that in high-motion video such as what we might shoot, progressive video looks better than interlaced.

I imagine it will be a while before we see something that would shoot 1080p and mount on a helmet (ordinary mortal helmets, not Jimmy's helmet). Can someone comment on regular consumer (i.e. not HD) cameras which shoot progressive? Some of the cameras I've seen, when you switch to progressive mode it still looks like interlaced video. What's the scoop?

Michael

As I shoot more with this camera, I'll be able to answer more of these questions, but my first impression is...HOLY SHIT!

About the 1080i vs. 1080P question? I think the answer will come when the networks decide whether or not to broadcast footage shot with this camera or stick with footage primarily shot with the pricier HD cameras; over 50 grand.

It does shoot in the 24p mode which looks more like film and was Panasonic's brainchild with the AG (DVX?) 100 series cameras. All the product reports I read before deciding to buy the camera called it a slam dunk by Sony.

And as for the colors shot with this camera compared to my 3 chip DVCAM PDX-10. No comparison. When I watch it on my buddy's HD monitor, it almost brings tears to my eyes. Now I have to reshoot every jump I've ever made.

However, I've been having trouble capturing the footage into Final Cut Pro HD. So far I've had to downgrade it to DVCAM in order to get it into the program. Since that just won't do, if anyone has some advice I'm all ears. Obviously I've already tried everything with the capture settings.

Now if I were Jaap, I'd go on ebay and bid on a sony PC-9. It uses the good batteries which was the main problem with the PC-5, and it doesn't have the spendy features that the new PC's have. you don't need 'em.

No problems with losing focus on openings on the HVR-Z1U ? I'd have figured a high-end Sony camera would have optical stabilization...

I'm curious about the colours. Can you post a frame grab?

anyone know if the JVC dx77u is worth anything?

Hey Jimmy--
I don't think you CAN capture HDV footage to FCP HD. FCP Express HD can do it, or I beleive that FCP5 can do it.
Have you helmet mounted it yet???
can't wait!

pope