blimping a camera

[Nigel]

I made one out of foam and "pleather" that works great. It is looks good too! Good Luck

[rollemfilm]

most of the sound from cameras come from the front though the lens. by using a mat box with clear glass filters, it will help. it will also make you pictures look so much better. as far as the mic goes, you can cut a whole in a fairly large piece on plexiglass and place your mic so the head is as close to the surface without creating off axis noise. this will help reject noise comming from the rear only. try using some cardbord first. maybe about 1ftX1ft. i used an 814E for some sync shots and was able to reduce the camera chatter by wraping the camera with dense foam rubber. i also stayed way back and had the mic as close as i could. still had some noise though. we removed what we could with filters in post. if you are shooting fiction, you can always replace the dialoge in post or on location if you have two good recorders.

[rollemfilm]

now if i could learn to write english, what a wounderful world it would be.....

[ulrichsd]

OK, here is an update on my progress...

I wrapped the camera with a t-shirt and then wrapped a layer of cardboard around this. Then I put this heap into a box and seperated the two cardboard layers with plastic wrap with air trapped inside. (the ones you get from Amazon, similar to bubble wrap, but with slightly bigger bubbles). Then I cut a hole in the box so the lens could fit through.

The result?

The sound was reduced probably 75%. It can still be heard very softly when the camera is close (about a meter away). I 'll have to do more sound tests, but I think if I film about 3 meters from the mic for most shots, and modify my blimp setup, the camera sound will be inaudible.

As for the discussion between Rollemfilm and Roger, I guess you could say you are both right. Without a blimp it seems like sound comes from all around, perhaps mostly from the back because that is where the film compartment is. But, with the blimp on, most of the sound comes from the front, because that is the most exposed and there is only one layer of cardboard, because I have to be able to access the exposure and zoom rings.

Thanks to everyone for all the info and advice!
Scott Ulrich

[ulrichsd]

Oh well, I just hooked it up to the tripod and now it seems louder, probably only decreased the camera noise by about half the volume. bummer.

Anyway, at least I have what looks like a huge box sticking on top of my tripod! Woohoo!

But really, it doesn't look all that bad, I stuck a t-shirt around the box, and you can stick your head under it and it looks kind of like the way the older still cameras you see in the movies. And it makes it look like there is a big camera under there!

Scott Ulrich

[ulrichsd]

OK, final update:

I heard that in Clerks, Smith just throuhg a bunch of leather coats on top of the 16mm camera until the noise was gone. So I tried this and it really works pretty well. I still wrapped a t-shirt around the camera first because I think that this really helps.

Scott

[MovieStuff]

I don't remember if I mentioned in my previous diatribe, but putting a rubber pad between the camera and the tripod will go a long way to keep vibrations from being transmitted.

Roger

[rollemfilm]

oh yes, it's rolle"m"film...ya know, rollem! www.netfxcafe.com/rollemfilm

[jocko]

Rollemfilm,
It looks like you have a nice film there..what did you use(Equiptment,film stock.etc..local music artists are a great subject for a film...now on the Blimp/barney question..a quick barney can be made from the removable hood of a big down coat..I've used it in a pinch..works pretty good..as for a blimp..I used a underwater camera housing..that was made for a canon 1014XL-s(the camera I was using)..and surrounded the inside of the housing with foam that they use in recording studio's..It cut the camera noise by about 85-90%..and with the underwater housng you have all the controls avalible. this was in the 80's so I don't know were to get one or how much they cost now..I know they make them for camcorders.

P.S the Arri BL has a blimp for the lens

Neil

[This message has been edited by jocko (edited August 05, 2001).]

[MovieStuff]

Hi, Jocko!

The underwater housing idea is terrific! I never thought of that (I'm a really bad swimmer). If there was a place that listed all of the different underwater housings for Super 8 cameras, people could pick and modify for their particular camera likey you did.

Again, terrific idea.

Roger