I'm looking for a sound blimp for work on movie and TV sets. Is there anything out there other than the Jacobson? And the Camera Muzzle isn't dead-silent, I've read.
What are my options?
or...
Have you made your own? How and how well does it work?
I've seen blimps constructed in the same style as the Jacobsen out of a Pelican case. Same idea... case just large enough to hold the camera, pull out the pick and pluck foam, route a cable release in through a hole drilled in the side of the case (and sealed with silicone), mount cable release to outside of casing.
Probably gets you 90% as quiet as the Jacobsen for 20% of the cost.
Jonathan H wrote:
I've seen blimps constructed in the same style as the Jacobsen out of a Pelican case. Same idea... case just large enough to hold the camera, pull out the pick and pluck foam, route a cable release in through a hole drilled in the side of the case (and sealed with silicone), mount cable release to outside of casing.
Probably gets you 90% as quiet as the Jacobsen for 20% of the cost.
I have a Jacobson and made another one made from a Pelican case. The beauty of the Jacobson, other than superior sound suppression, is that they sell lens tubes that allow you to use your zoom lens. The tubes rotate which move the zoom ring on your lens and also don't interfere with moving the switches on your lenses. You would be hard pressed to make something like that.
The Jacobson also has two buttons, one to lock the focus and the other to trip the shutter, another plus. They are expensive, but they are made very well by hand, I drove to their shop and met the the guy who makes them and it's not like a factory, basically a very small shop making them one by one. If you are serious, you will buy the Jacobson.
The homemade one took some time to make, not as easy as it sounds. A lot of drilling and measuring to make something that will basically only work with fixed focus lenses. The homemade one will do if you need it for non-critical work, not for a paid job on a professional movie or television production set. You could make it as good as a Jacobson, but the time and effort that would take would cost you a lot.
Even the Jacobson is not totally silent. You can't just hold the shutter button down in continuous mode. If a microphone is within 4-5 feet from the camera in a dead silent room, you will hear the shutter. On a set with some ambient noise, its barely audible.
One nice thing about the Jacobson is that if you never use the thing again and want to sell it, it retains most, if not all its value. My local rental house in LA charges $80 a day to rent it, so buying it for $1000 with one lens tube was worth it for me. Other uses for the blimp besides movies and TV are shooting classical concerts, in courts, radio interviews, and golf.
