Camera or Danger Is the new breed of flight recorder as safe as we think? Skydiving is a sport in its infancy. It only became possible in the twentieth century, so is still changing at a tremendous rate. With this comes parallel development in peripheral areas such as rigging, training, DZ management, camerawork, marketing and more. We've all heard of the 'good old days', that's when we had cameramen - irrespective of sex, ability or format, that's what they were. They filmed on 16mm, super 8, video and stills; the really brave used 35mm and had large necks. They used belly mounts, wrist mounts, arm mounts, top mounts and side mounts and were available for hire and reward (if they were smart). Then a new breed emerged, of cameraflyers, who became part of a team and portrayed their partner in an artistic manner for competitive reasons and for an audience. Then Sony re-wrote the rules through miniaturisation, they invented the PC7. Now anyone and everyone can bolt on a camera and record their skydive - their flight. I call this new breed the flight recorder.

Here I have defined three distinct categories, although there are obviously blurred lines between them.

How do we differentiate and what are the skills required?...

Cameraman
These guys effectively take video, film and photographs for hire and reward. Their main function is to capture the skydive for a specific audience. They include tandem photographers, film-makers and general photographers covering everything from AFF to fun jumps. In all probability the competition team cameramen (FS & CF) belong in this category. They are fairly interchangeable between teams though some will argue that their cameraman will offer competitive advantage to their results, especially at high level.

Technically they usually work with video and stills. Typically video is moving from Hi8 and most serious cameramen will be using digital. The very serious will be on 3 chip digital cameras and possibly DVCam rather than mini DV. This category used to be the entry point into camerawork and we see a wide range of abilities. The better cameramen have fantastic flying skills and good technical skills with knowledge of light, depth of field (and all the inputs that effect it), lenses, film, jumpsuits, camera-mounts etc. Many will even have sales and marketing skills to enhance the revenue from their work.

They become very self efficient in the air, aware of the dangers, canopy openings, safety systems on helmets and of all things that can and do go wrong technically and during the skydive. This knowledge is all part of the trade and should be learnt.

Cameraflyer
These are the guys you see with the skysurfers and freeflyers. They make their parteners shine and add to the aesthetics of the skydive for the viewer. Creativity is shared between cameraflyer and performer. As pointed out above, a Formation Skydiving competition team may claim to have a cameraflyer and it is likely that a cameraflyer will end up as a flight recorder or cameraman on another kind of jump.

The best cameraflyers have arguably the best flying skills of all the camera people; they can fly in any position with gear on their head. Technically their primary medium is video, 1 or 3 chip cameras with wide lenses, though you will often find them using a stills camera on occasion. They are very aware of their partner and of the dangers of flying in close proximity, especially with surfboards. They use full face helmets and are very air aware, especially at break-off and dump time.

Flight Recorder
This is where we hear the warning klaxons, danger is everywhere. At worst a flight recorder requires absolutely no flying skills and no technical skills. It is the new, cheap entry into flying with a camera and rarely regulated. Against this is the advantage that the sport has gained from these new toys. Because it is now so easy to strap a small palm, digital pc to a lightweight helmet, many are doing it. Add a super wide lens, forget the sight and off you go. It is not uncommon to see everyone on the dive with a small camera. In terms of training and available footage to the media, the benefits are just fantastic. They make our sport come alive and are ideal for use:
* by AFF instructors
* inside competition teams
* inside big formations
* for POV (Point Of View) shots
* to show all angles of a dive for training purposes
* for editing into a production as they provide
a huge volume of footage.

At this point you can leave the plane with zero flying skills and zero technical skills.
Hence, the dangers:-
* lots of low experience freeflyers
* usually no checks as to the suitability to jumping camera or the equipment used
* often no safety system on the helmet, and I mean much more than a Fastex snap fastener
* often protruding camera mounts that can catch risers and lines
* out-of-control flying with metalwork on the head makes for painful dockings!
* lack of knowledge and thought of what to do when things go wrong
* camera helmets not strapped in for take-off are effective projectiles in crash situations
* it's the other jumpers on the load who are often at risk.
I appreciate that this is at one end of the spectrum but let's remember a would-be cameraman normally has a thirst for the knowledge, they want to take pictures and make videos and will go to some lengths to research and learn the trade. The cameraflyer and flight recorder may not be as aware of these dangers unless taught. 

Summary and Conclusions
The invention of the mini digital pc is without doubt one of the best things to happen to our sport. We now have a wealth of high quality footage from all aspects of skydiving. As in other areas we are developing specialist skills under a single umbrella and I think that within camerawork we have:
* Cameraman - portrays the subject as required
* Cameraflyer - part of a creative partnership
* Flight Recorder - the camera sees what they see
All improve the image of the sport.

On the negative side we are creating new dangers for ourselves. I call upon the manufacturers of helmets and camera-mounts to develop far safer products for the evolving specialist market, especially the cameraflyer. Whilst we have one or two great examples of engineering we have many that are potential death traps.

On the drop zone, let's encourage all forms of camera work safely. I'm not after minimum jump numbers and any restrictive practices, I'm advocating we aid, coach, encourage and keep safe the new breed of camera person as they help to bring our sport alive.

Article by Simon Ward
sward@pobox.com 

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