My first post

[dragonfly]

Hi,
I just would like to say hello to everybody. I'm a skydiver and this is the kind of picture I use to take.

[swmdrayfan]

Welcome, Dragonfly...looking forward to seeing great things from you. You'll find that we're pretty 'down to earth'
John

[livin4lax09]

haha cool stuff. a little soft, but looks like only to the point it can be brought back in PP. what do you shoot with?

[masdog]

Interesting perspective. Please share more.

[dragonfly]

I jump a Rebel xt with a Tamron 11-18 mounted on my helmet.
I shoot with a switch that i activate with my tongue... I need my hands to flight...

[livin4lax09]

now THAT's cool. truly a spectacular way of photographing. you mount a DSLR on your helmet? man you're brave. what aperture do you shoot at to make sure your subject's in focus?

[SmartWombat]

Another sport with no wheels or balls !
(Except the parachutists of course, that needs cojones)

Looks like a small enough aperture to show sensor dust spots, unfortunately.

[dragonfly]

I use the focus on manual, before the jump I know already at what distance i will flight from the subject and usually use time priority at about 500 or the sport program... the light is always enough up there...

[Photo-John]

Another sport with no wheels or balls !
(Except the parachutists of course, that needs cojones)

Good point about the cojones/balls

Skydiving is one thing I will pass on, although I definitely see the appeal.

[Photo-John]

You know what I'd like? I'd like to see a photo of dragonfly taking a picture with his skydiving setup. That would be a cool picture to have on this forum!

[zrfraser]

Ok so who's going to jump with him...not it.

Z

[JSPhoto]

Yeah, but why jump out of a perfectly good airplane ? LOL....
Definately different from the norm here Dragonfly. But like others here, I'll keep both feet on the ground

JS

[Sebastian]

I would jump! I am TERRIFIED of heights, and find the best way to deal with that fear is to get used to it...

Awesome shot. The light makes it.

[suek596]

Interesting shot - I get vertigo looking at it. Do you have any shots w/ the ground as perspective?

[dragonfly]

I don't have any picture of me taking pictures... but i took some of my girlfriend doing the same thing so you can have an idea...

[ciddog91]

Wow.. Some cojones......Cool pics... I think that it gives a great "new" sport to this forum...

[SmartWombat]

I don't have any picture of me taking pictures... but i took some of my girlfriend doing the same thing so you can have an idea...

Thanks for coming back and posting more.

Is your girlfriend wearing a video camera and still camera on her helmet?
I have a question about that, how does she stop that load from breaking her neck as the canopy opens?
OK I may be exagerrating a little, but doesn't having that much weight on the helmet cause problems at all?

Do you use filters on the lens, or not?
I wondered because of the flare, it's inevitable with the sun (unbstructed by the clouds) anywhere near the frame let alone in it.
I thought that having a filter, even a polariser, might make for too much flare and guessed you don't use one.
Though as I'm not happy with my lenses mounted on cars without a filter to protect them form flies, I suppose you have to protect the lens from flying objects as you fall past them.
Small spiders caught in a thermal coudl easily make a mess that's hard ot clean off!

[dragonfly]

thanks for the questions SmartWombat I really like to tell you more about the sport I love.
You are right about the problem of the weight. What we do is trying to make the helmets as lighter as we can preferring carbon fiber for instance and making them balanced so they don't bend your neck at opening time. The modern canopy open very soft anyway allowing people to jump a lot bigger helmets... imagine for examlple when they shoot for movies with a 32mm cameras on their head.
We use an uv filter to protect the lens mainly from the dust that can scratch the lens when falling at 150 mph. We use filter to avoid another big problem: freefalling from 15000 feet to 4000 in 60 seconds make the temperature changing very quickly creating condensation on the lens and so fog. The most the lens is wide and curved the most the temperature in the center and side of the lens will be different creating this circle of fog right in the middle. Using a flat tempered filter usually solve this problem.
It would be nice to use a polarizer but not being able to look in the camera to regulate it would be a problem... any suggestion about it would be apreciated.
I hope my english is understandable...
I'd like to attach a picture that my tiny girlfriend with her big helmet shoot a couple of days ago... enjoy it

[Dylan8i]

is that the plane doign a nose dive in the background? very awesome

[Rimshaker]

Very cool to see, yesterday my brother did a tandemjump like on the picture where your girlfriend takes a picture. He also booked the cameraman, but he messed up... After landing it turned out all pictures were black, he got some settings wrong. They were still shooting analog though. He'll still receive the video so he gets something to look back on.

[JETA]

This is really cool to see and I appreciate you sharing these with us. It's the first time I've seen parachuting (or what is it proper to call it?).

I'm petrified of flying and the pic of your gf hugging the plane made me feel ill. :yikes: :yikes:

[starriderrick]

Dragonfly,
I can see how you can become hooked on this extreme sport.
Adding helmet cams is taking it to the masses.Thanks for sharing the excellent work. Unique, professional. RADICAL !
stay safe
Rick

[Brian001]

man, i cant wait till im 18.

my father was a skydiver back in the day, he is taking me for my eighteenth birthday (you have to be 18 for most schools, or skydiving places, i dont kno what to call them) but i am excited and it is still more than a year away...cant wait