Martin Cornally (Again)

I recently posted a video of Mart's riding from our trip to Laax earlier this year. There's now some additional stuff in the friends section of this site - photos and questions etc. Check it out...

It's Been Too Long

It's been 5 weeks since I was last on my snowboard, it feels too long. What's more, it's probably going to be another two weeks at least until I get to ride again.

It's dissapointing.

Back in April I set myself a target of riding somewhere between 2 and 4 times each month. I'm not miles away from that, but I'm not riding as much as I'd like to.

The problem is that I've made a few too many commitments and one in particular, is a big one. It's a shame because I really think I can progress this summer. The kicker at Halifax is excellent; I've been getting a little better each time and each session has been a lot of fun.

Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of time between now and next season (I don't think I'm actually wanting to prolong the Canada-wait am I?), I'm just hoping to turn the situation around some.

It's like this. Each year I come home from riding somewhere and at the end of the season when I'm watching some of the video I always think: I wanna be able to spin off there next time, or, I reckon I'll be able to pull a backside 3 off that... That's what I target my progression at.

A couple of things have started to become more natural since April and I really want to keep it going. Damn, the best I've managed over the last few weeks has been thinking about a shopping list for Fernie! :)

Mid Summer Stoke

A couple of weeks ago we decided that we're going to Fernie next winter. Fernie was amongst the handful of resorts in Canada that we were looking at. In the end it won out due to its steep and deep terrain, the catboarding opportunities, Fernie town, and its proximity to an airport. Not that I know about any of this first hand; the two main sources of information being the good old Internet and my chief partner in crime on this subject - Simon.

Since then we've been looking for somewhere to stay... all the while flight options seem to have been getting worse. So last night four of us sat round a table and decided to either book a package, or book a flight. It ended up being the first option: we're set to stay in Cornerstone Lodge, right at the bottom of the slopes.

Once things were set I was fairly excited. The piste map came out. We started talking about some of the good areas, the backcountry, new kit we'd all like to get our hands on, drinking in the bar... it was like we were going next week, but it's still only July.

With all the talk of powder I started to think about some of my off-piste gear. I'd kind of like to get a new rucksack for next year because mine is a little on the small side: with a shovel, some water and my camera bag there isn't much room left. I also took a look at Simon's transceiver. I just borrowed or hired last Season in Laax, which is probably what I'll do next year too, but sooner or later I'll get one.

I can't wait. I'm even looking forward to the flight - but that's probably because the drinks are going to be free :)

To round it off, fresh from the More DVD case, Scott Sullivan made it into the car for this morning's drive to work. He's got some great music - keeping me in a snowboarding frame of mind...

Panasonic NV-GS300B: Camcorder Review

Although I wasn't knocked out by the "3 chips", image quality is good for the price, it's simple to use and excellent to hold on the hill. However, I don't think I've really benefitted from some of the expected key features and lack of AV-in may be a problem for me.

A while ago I made the decision to buy a new MiniDV camcorder, rather than a camcorder with a hard disk drive. With MiniDV in mind, I chose the Panasonic NV-GS300 with the Sony DCR-HC96 being in second place. Since then I've used the camera fairly extensively over a two week period in Laax, a little bit during a trip to Avoriaz, and a handful of times in the UK. This review will look at my experiences of using the camera to date. If you want a more detailed review of the cameras technical ability, I'd recommend this review.

Handling
How the camera handled was a key consideration when choosing which one to buy. I wanted something that was easy to grip with one hand, from above, as this is my preferred method of filming while on the move, "follow cam" style. The Panasonic is excellent in this regard. The unit's size and shape make it easy to hold from above, and there aren't any camera controls that you accidentally touch when carrying it in this way. Excellent.

Point and Shoot
The camera's automatic mode makes point-and-shoot really easy. This is probably the same for a lot of cameras, but it's worth mentioning. Everytime I've used the camera I've literally just hit record and then pause. On one particularly sunny day I changed to one of the pre-set scenes, "surf & snow", and the automatic exposure took care of things. Again, this is probably quite common, but it does make it easy if that's all you want to do with the camera and it keeps things simple on the hill; you don't need to explain the controls to your friends.

One slight criticism that I do have, and this should probably come under handling, is that the funtion wheel can be accidentally knocked when pulling the camera from you bag/jacket. The wheel has quite good resistance, but it has happened to me once of twice, each time I think I had the camera inside my jacket while on a lift. Unfortunately this can result in accidentally changing from record to play back... leading to the dreaded 'lost' footage. It's easy to get around though - you simply check the mode before starting - but it's annoying if it catches you out.

Image Quality
I'm happy with the image quality; some of the shots look really good and I personally like shooting in 16:9. I've got to say though, I think I was expecting a little more from having 3 CCDs. Maybe that's an unfair criticism given the price, especially as I do think that the quality is good - it just doesn't stand out as being the best thing about the camera to me.

Helment-Cam
When I bought the camera I wasn't bothered by the lack of 'video-in'. I didn't think I was interested in attaching a helmet camera. However, that's changed now; I think using a helmet-cam is something I'd like to try. Models designed to feed into a camcorder will not work with this Panasonic.

Other Features
Optical Image Stabaliser (O.I.S). Optical image stabalisation is supposed to be significantly better than the digital kind. Because I knew I was going to be riding around with the camera, this seemed like a really good feature. Looking back over the videos I've posted here recently, the images do appear fairly smooth, certainly no complaints.

However, the manual lists the following cases where the O.I.S function may not work effectively:

• when the digital zoom is used
• when a conversion lens is used
• when the camera is shaken greatly
• when you record a moving subject while tracking it

The second and fourth points don't give me much confidence: most snowboarders are moving and I'm using a wide angle conversion lens. I just don't know if I'm getting any benefit... could it even be making things worse? I should really try a few things out to test this feature by filming the same thing with the O.I.S both on and off, lens on and off etc. If I get around to doing this, I'll update this review...

Manual gain adjustment. My major criticism of my previous camcorder was that it was rubbish in low light. According to the review I mentioned above, the Panasonic could do better in low light - but manual gain control can help you out. I haven't used the camera in low light yet, so nothing to report here.

Overall
Would I recommend this camera? If purchased for a good on-line price, less than £400, I'd happily recommend the Panasonic as a solid all-round camera: ergonomically great for snowboarding, nice images, despite the inability to attach a helmet cam. But I wouldn't kick up a fuss if a friend was considering a different model.

Martin Cornally, Laax March 2007

Martin has put together some video of his riding from earlier this year, in Laax/Flims.

I met Martin towards the end of 2006 at Castleford. It wasn't long before he was signed up for our trip to Laax. There were eight of us out there for a couple of weeks; we shared the camera around on the hill, it was a lot of fun...

Enjoy the smooth style and the sweet tune, which is El Caminos in the West by Grandaddy, from their album Sumday.

UK / USA

Saturday Afternoon Skate

I went for a skate this afternoon with Grant and James. To be honest I was kinda hoping to get down to Halifax this weekend, but that didn't materialise, so it was skating instead.

I really should have taken some pictures because it was a nice afternoon and I quite like the park as Silksworth (sk8 city) - and there's nothing to be found on the web, picture wise. There is something about the way all of the bowls are put together which could be better, but it's still fun, and there's loads to do.

I was pretty please because I started to stall and grind properly today on the coping. It's something that I've been failing to do for a while now and it felt good getting it right. Hopefully this should open up some more tricks.

I dropped into the largest part of the big bowl, which is apparently 2.4 meters, that felt sweet. I also started to drop in switch a few times; I'm gonna need to be comfortable with both ends of the deck to progress to better tricks, so this is a start.

Grant was starting to get the drop in dialed too. Way back last year I posted this, showing Grant's first attempts. It was cool watching him nail it today. Maybe we will get some skating in this year after-all...

Speaking Of Snowboarding Videos...

I've just ordered MDP's Follow Me Around from Magic Seaweed .com. It's one of the DVDs that I'm still interested in checking out before next season's goodies arive, and after re-watching the trailer (on Jumping With Jussi), I decided to get it. The decision was also helped by the sweet sale price that Magic Seaweed have on offer...

Absinthe Films: Optimistic

Simon sent me a link to the trailer for Absinthe's next snowboarding film: Optimistic. But it's not the first time that I've been pointed towards it, and seems as though it looks pretty damn good, I figured it's about time I mention it here...

You can check out the trailer and the blurb on Absinthe's site, which is currently undergoing some work; but, as you might expect you can also watch it on YouTube, so I'll happily embed it below.

The trailer does look great - I'll certainly be getting hold of a copy as soon as it's available. I've been really impressed with Absinthe's films over the last two seasons: Futureproof and More. I know that many people feel that Vivid and Pop were great/better - but not me. I became attracted to Absinthe's style more recently.

Here's the trailer...

Riding Footage From The 2006/2007 Season

I've put together the video I've taken over the 3 weeks of winter riding in the '06/'07 season: Avoriax, Flims/Laax and a little from the backcountry in Lenzerheide.

I'm pleased with what was taken, but I want to do more next season. I want to hit more features off-piste, and if I'm in the park I want to go a little bigger and land some smooth rotations.

You'll see at the end the first barrel rolls I attemped in Laax. That was a fun day; I think those attempted backflips set the ball in motion...

There are two tracks playing. The first is Haiti (iTunes UK / iTunes USA) by Arcade Fire and the second is I Feel It All (iTunes UK / iTunes USA) by Feist. Hope you enjoy it...