Zip line with camera??

[golfing1960]

My wife and I are booked on a zip line tour with the Original Canopy Tour company on our cruise leaving on Jan 2nd. Are you allowed to carry a camera while zip lining? And what do you do with your personal belongings (backpacks, etc)?

[Randy & Kathy]

My wife and I are booked on a zip line tour with the Original Canopy Tour company on our cruise leaving on Jan 2nd. Are you allowed to carry a camera while zip lining? And what do you do with your personal belongings (backpacks, etc)?

 

I had a cam corder with me and I opened the strap up wide open, slid it on my left wrist then tightened up the strap tight. I would hit the "record" button just before leaving the platform and attempt to aim the camera as I went down the wire to the next platform. I have no idea how you could do that with a still camera though as you must use both hands on the cable slide apparatus. When we were all finished we learned that the staff was taking pictures of us all during the time that we were there and offered us a copy of the DVD for $20, they make the copy of it right there while you are having a bite to eat, which we bought. Their name is "Brisas de la Jungta", I now have some clear pictures of us (see my signature line and go to the smug mug link for the pictures that they took, if you look closely you will see the camera on my left wrist in a few shots) and some very shaky and "bouncing around" video that I took.

We had brought a beach bag of various things with us on the tour that day and we just left them on the mini bus with the driver, everyone else did the same each time that we got off the bus and everything was still there just fine. Relax, enjoy, this is going to be a day of adventure that you shall not forget.

Randy

[lisad63]

Randy,

 

I'm golfing1960's wife. Thanks for the information and the pictures to check out. Looks like you had a blast!

 

Lisa

[Randy & Kathy]

Randy,

 

I'm golfing1960's wife. Thanks for the information and the pictures to check out. Looks like you had a blast!

 

Lisa

 

You're welcome Lisa. Most of us were comparing notes later and all agreed that by about the 3rd platform we got over the scary feelings and started to look around more during our "flight" and began to have more fun with it. The basics are, as they will instruct you in the beginning, lean back and keep the arms straight (not bent at the elbows) and allow your upper body to hang from your hands. This will keep the arms from becoming fatigued. They also advise you to keep one ankle crossed over the top of the other as you are about to land on the next platform. That's about all there is to it, gravity will take care of the rest. If the place that you are going offers the DVD be sure to buy one, you will enjoy it a lot (plus it helps with "bragging" proof to your friends and relatives that you really did do this, ha). The DVD has a lot more than what we put on our link, there were pictures of the surrounding country side and also pictures of other people that were engaged in this adventure at the same time that we were.

We decided to do this before too many more birthdays go by and it might not be something that could be attempted in the future. You are going to enjoy this as much as we did, you'll see very soon.

Randy

[Patdmoose]

here is a different twist on the camera question

 

can you take your still camera or video camera and take shots of the next person coming down the zip line?

 

Can one person stay on the platform and take shots of everyone in the group, or do you have to keep moving down the zip line in single file?

[Randy & Kathy]

here is a different twist on the camera question

 

can you take your still camera or video camera and take shots of the next person coming down the zip line?

 

Can one person stay on the platform and take shots of everyone in the group, or do you have to keep moving down the zip line in single file?

 

What we did was that I had a camera case hanging from my belt in case the cam corder plan didn't work out, I would still have a place to secure it. My DW had a fanny pack that she carried a digital still camera in. When arriving on the platform she would get it out and get a few shots, time permitting, and then place it back in the fanny pack and go on her next zipping "flight". Yes, you do need to keep moving along sort of in single file. You can only stand on the platform briefly as you must make room for the "incoming" people to have room to also land on and then stand on the platform. It worked out very well for us. It gave us both still pictures and video in addition to what the tour place offered us. We have a nice collection of pictures and video to remind us of the great time that we had there, good luck to you.

Randy

[Patdmoose]

Randy,

Thanks for the quick reply

I have several pairs of shorts with those huge button top pockets. I was planning on keeping my video camera in one and the digital camera in the other. I figured that a fanny pack could come off, but I'm pretty sure that I would not lose my shorts LOL

If I could figure out out to secure the video camera where it could be going entire time, I will do that.

[Randy & Kathy]

Randy,

Thanks for the quick reply

I have several pairs of shorts with those huge button top pockets. I was planning on keeping my video camera in one and the digital camera in the other. I figured that a fanny pack could come off, but I'm pretty sure that I would not lose my shorts LOL

If I could figure out out to secure the video camera where it could be going entire time, I will do that.

 

That's what I was able to do with mine. I loosened up the strap to the cam corder to the "wide open" position. I then slid it down my left wrist and then tightened up the strap as snug as I could get it. I then had it all ready to go, I just had to hit the record button to start/stop recording. I would start it just before leaving the platform, I could control it a bit by rotating my left wrist a little to get some left and right video. Once arriving on the next platform I would stop it and wait until the ready to go sign was given and hit the start button again. I could not do much up and down aiming though as I had to keep both hands on the cable devise (that kind of seemed to be more important at the time, ha). It actually worked out pretty good, although it came out a bit shaky and not always aiming where I might have wanted it to be. It's certainly worth a try, you might get some unforgettable video out of the experience.

 

Randy

[Patdmoose]

Randy

I just tried that with my Digital Camcorder. The hand strap only allows me to secure less than 1" of the velcro when it is around my wrist. That is a little scary. I will have to come up with a secondary cord that I can loop through the camcorder and then attach to me, but leave plenty of slack for manueverability. I read somewhere that if you drop something, it cannot be retrieved.

[Patdmoose]

Randy

 

I just viewed you photos and video

AWESOME, and cannot wait!!!

[Randy & Kathy]

Randy

I just tried that with my Digital Camcorder. The hand strap only allows me to secure less than 1" of the Velcro when it is around my wrist. That is a little scary. I will have to come up with a secondary cord that I can loop through the camcorder and then attach to me, but leave plenty of slack for manueverability. I read somewhere that if you drop something, it cannot be retrieved.

 

Yikes, I would not want to try that either. Even if you could go back and retrieve the camera from the ground you may find it smashed to pieces. Some of those cables are about 80 feet in the air.

Maybe you could go to a place that sells things for sewing. You could get a long piece of Velcro and wrap it around the wrist and camera and then secure it to itself. I think that it is sold in bulk lengths so you could make it any length that you feel comfortable with.

I just checked my camera strap and with it done up the same way that I used it then ,the Velcro measures 2 1/2" long where it was attached to itself and it worked just fine, never even loosened up with all of the activity that I put it through. The strap only measures 3/8" wide so it really doesn't take much to secure it. Another thing you might do is to get a nylon string and tie a tether, like people on a surf board do, from the camera to your arm, then if the worst happens and the Velcro lets go, the camera will still be connected to you by the tether.

I'm sure that you can come up with something that will work, good luck.

Randy