It's all been done before of course, but I thought I'd show one specific to the gripped D700 that I made. For anyone that might be interested I'd be glad to answer any questions. (Apologies in advance, for the watermark on the photos).
The body of the blimp is a Pelican 1200 case, and the lens tube parts are made from 4" PVC pipe fittings. The 'standard' lens tube seen here is for the 85 mm lens. The tube is glued permanently to the case using a collar and short inner tube arrangement.
As most folks here know the D700 with grip is quite tall and there is almost no clearance between the top and bottom of the camera, and the inside of the case. Luckily, the function of the blimp does not seem to have been adversely affected in this case. The depth of the camera is also potentially problematic, as the D700 pentaprism is quite deep and it almost touches part of the lens tube which protrudes slightly into the inside of the case. The remote I use is the Phottix Strato - it is single shot only and I cannot shoot bursts.
The 'standard' lens tube is a regular 4" female adapter PVC fitting. Instead of gluing a piece of glass directly to the end cap, I opted to use a 82 to 77 mm step-down ring. This lets me use regular 77 mm filters which I already have, and can use on my lenses when I don't need them on the blimp. A less obvious benefit is that by removing the filter I can get a good grip on the end cap when I need to transfer it between the short and long lens tubes.
The back of the blimp is very simple as I decided not to attempt making a cutout for the rear LCD display. The viewfinder eyepiece is simply a 30.5 mm UV filter which I screwed into the appropriately-sized hole I made in the back of the Pelican case.
The long lens tube is made from a male adapter PVC fitting (the centre piece in the photo) glued to a female adapter with spigot end (avoiding the need for an additional length of pipe to connect the two together). To use it, the male adapter end is screwed into the female adapter thread of the 'standard' lens tube. Here you can also see the tripod mount, which is an Arca-Swiss type plate bolted onto the bottom of the short lens tube.
jmcfadden wrote:
thanks for sharing this I love DIY solutions!
Thanks. I have two left hands when it comes to being handy, not to mention being woefully under-equipped as I don't even have a bench drill. I was lucky it turned out as well as it did.
Kittyk wrote:
hah cool, awesome! Paint the tubes black!
would not be better some alu case? not sure if plastic reduces the sound enough...
I wanted to paint them black as I thought the white made it look toy-like. Funny thing is, I think that got it a lot of (positive) reaction from theatre patrons. "Is that a camera? It looks really impressive!"
Someone made prototypes of a thin-material blimp to be marketed as the Fat Boy blimp. Not sure if it was aluminum though.
workerdrone wrote:
Nice work! Curious why go with a remote instead of a wired release?
Pretty nifty that you can just fire off hundreds of shots now and not have to change rolls
I vote to add an LCD port later, maybe with a magnetic cover to block unwanted light?
Partly I wanted the Strato for other purposes, the rest was just laziness TBH. Also, when initially testing before cutting the lens hole I was disappointed at the sound reduction and determined to avoid cutting additional holes if I could (though in reality I don't think it would have made any difference at all). Ironically, once I added the lens tube the sound muffling seemed to actually improve...
ct8282 wrote:
Looks very cool. Having never seen anything like this before I'm curious to know what applications you use this setup for.
Thanks. This was for a dance company that needed pictures during live performances. I will try to post up some samples later.
SoundHound wrote:
Start selling them!
I should, even though with my execution speed the wait would probably be longer than for the first D800s.
Rodolfo Paiz wrote:
Damn, that's a ton of work right there. Nice craftsmanship and execution, too.
Any idea of how much the sound is actually reduced using your setup?
Thanks, Rodolfo. Now that you mention it I would have loved to try for measurements if my Radio Shack SPL meter hadn't gone mysteriously missing (probably lent to someone who forgot).
I will say that initially testing in the quiet confines of the house, my heart sank because I could still hear the shutter as a dull thud - all be it a far cry from the usual clap of the D700. However, in the relatively open space of the concert theatre, with the crowd around was a completely different story - as from the sound no-one could have guessed I was taking photos. It may not be good enough for a film set...
I always love a good DIY job. You sure put in a lot of effort in this one, nice! Looks professionally made
I think there's a SPL meter app for the iphone...
The lid to case should be well sealed, but I'd look into sealing any cracks or joints with silicone or something for further sound reduction?
There's also a product used in car audio, dynamat, very similar I think to the roofing product ice 'n water shield - it's self adhesive rubber sheeting, which could be applied to the interior of the case with the foam out, or even the exterior and the lens barrel if you want further sound reduction.
the first image is so frame worthy, not sure how you did it hiding in the crowd (probably just good old school waiting for the moment) but to get eye contact in performance shot is awesome feat.
as for sound reducing, when we were shooting on film set we had F4 in concrete brick with heavy wooden plate in front. it removed all the noise. I had the 180/2.8 fixed there then, cord release and zone focusing. Was not really portable, built by our teacher.
Kitty, there was a bit of timing but in truth there was also luck. The great thing about the blimp is that I can be in the seats shooting right next to the audience (as in this case) and be closer to the stage which I find ideal. That arrangement you had sounds like what I would call 'industrial strength'!
@workerdrone: Thanks for the suggestions! That dynamat sounds familiar, I think the guys on the FJ Cruiser forum that I used to frequent were using it or something similar. I'll probably look into it at some point, although it's working 'good enough' for now.
yep it was used on pro set, our school was involved in real film industry. It was completely silent as far as i remember. Didnt really cared back then except that i was thinking a way how i can take the poor body out and run away with it. Tried to run with the whole 15or so kg setup but being 50kg tiny chick they catched me fast.
Wow, that's a pretty neat little deal that you made. The images are excellent, so it obviously is working well for you.
I'm not familiar with the remote that you said you're using with this setup. I just wanted to mention that there are wireless remotes available that will allow continuous shooting, if that's something that would be helpful.
Kerry - Thanks. In the back of my mind I think I debated switching to a remote that could do that but in the end I felt better off shooting singles and timing it, for dance. Of course, come to think of it now having the option wouldn't hurt at all...
Thanks for looking...
