Bad Thoughts to have

[Longwatcher]

I have to do this properly,

No SH*T there I was at 12000feet riding with the Golden Knights jump team, My trusty 1DsMkII with a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II and a 28-70/2.8L mounted. There was no door (as in had I had the strange desire to I could have stepped outside). I had two very sturdy straps holding me in and one very tiny strap holding my camera by the hand strap.

Then this thought came over me.

You know there is only this little tiny strap (it was thinner and skinnier then the hand strap strap with a little cheap looking plastic snap lock keeping it attached to my seat belt) holding what took me, in total, 11 months of my life to pay for. And I need to stick this camera into the doorway to get the shot I want.

I will let you form your own mental picture at this point of what was going through my head. But the main thought was If it happened I KNOW that State Farm is really not going to believe this one. For additional impact you would have had to have seen their most recent commercials.

[Tom W]

They really ought to make parachutes for Cameras. :)

I'd be aweful nervous myself, and not just for the camera. I think that if the camera decided to fall, I'd jump out after it.

[PacAce]

They really ought to make parachutes for Cameras. :)

I'd be aweful nervous myself, and not just for the camera. I think that if the camera decided to fall, I'd jump out after it.
:lol: Reminds of that Budweiser (I think) commercial where a parachute trainer tosses a 6-pack of beer out the plane to lure the petrified trainee to jump after it. But instead, the pilot of the plane jumps after the 6-pack without a parachute! :shock:

:lol:

[MTalley]

I can hear the claims agent now: "You dropped your camera where?"

[CyberDyneSystems]

So where's the shot?

[Sydor25]

So where's the shot?


He has to find the camera first. ;)

[Tom W]

He has to find the camera first. ;)

CF cards are pretty durable. :)

[Longwatcher]

Okay so you want to see some pictures,
Give it about an hour since I just started to upload them (so around 1700 EST) the images should be available on my web site. Actually it may be going faster then Ithink.

Please take into account that by exception, I have done nothing other then resize and convert to jpeg (so expect a lot (and I do mean a lot) of sensor dust spots (got most of them when I cleaned sensor between 13th and 14th).

http://www.longwatcher.com/event_p_04.html
http://www.longwatcher.com/event_p_04B.html
http://www.longwatcher.com/event_p_04C.html (this one is my favorite -can't touch this)
http://www.longwatcher.com/event_p_04D.html

[cyclone]

I love the red baron pizza squadron picture!

[Tom W]

Wow! A couple of the parachute images made me just a little nervous just looking at them!

[Merle]

LONGWATCHER,

The camera repair shop where I take my cameras for servicing has a Hasselblad on display which free fell about 8,000 feet and landed without the aid of a parachute.

It makes your heart sink to see what remains of such a great camera.

The skydiver had rigged this camera to a helmet so he could photograph skydivers as they are free falling. His parachute got tangled up in the camera apparatus and did not open. He had to remove the helmet/camera so he could deploy his reserve chute.

End result is the skydiver cameraman is still alive to tell about it, but the camera is not ! ;) :) :D

Good Shooting To Ya !!
Merle

[Citizensmith]

I have to do this properly,

No SH*T there I was at 12000feet riding with the Golden Knights jump team, My trusty 1DsMkII with a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II and a 28-70/2.8L mounted. There was no door (as in had I had the strange desire to I could have stepped outside). I had two very sturdy straps holding me in and one very tiny strap holding my camera by the hand strap.

Then this thought came over me.

You wished you'd got a 1Dmk2 and a 24-70 instead?

[Longwatcher]

You wished you'd got a 1Dmk2 and a 24-70 instead?

No, I thought that at about 5000 feet when I was chimping the shots I had taken.
:)

[jboyd]

Cool pictures!

The Chief Photographer from EAA gave a presentation to my local camera club ealier this month. He had dozens of pictures he took that he shared with us; mostly plane to plane shots. No jumpers, though. He also told us that each year at the EAA convention he has a group of volunteer photographers that come in to shoot the convention for the week - looks like I might get a chance to do it this year! And, Canon is one of thier sponsors so they will have a tent set up there with equipment you can "borrow" for the day for shooting. I hope it works out for me to do it!