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Blimp?


Jase Ryan

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I'm new cinematography and have a basic question. What's a Blimp? I've heard the word being used before but have no idea what it does or is on a camera.

Can anyone answer this for me?

 

Thanks.

 

Jase Ryan

Edited by Jase Ryan
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A blimp is a camera accessory made of heavy fabric designed to insulate the sound a camera makes. It can go around just the magazine or the whole camera. It can be a custom factory made model that fits particular mags, or it could be shipping pads or heavy blankets gaff-taped on. The idea is to take a camera that is not quite suitable for sync sound due to it being too loud, or a camera that must fit in very close quarters to the mic and walls around it, and to insulate and muffle the sound from getting to the mic.

 

It can also refer to the metal cage that is used to supend mics in foam in high-wind environments. You've seen them, they look just like a mesh-wire zeplin, and sometimes have windsocks and furries on top of the foam thats inside the blimp.

 

See also: Hindenburg.

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Michael

 

The item you are refering to is a BARNEY not a blimp. A camera blimp is a mechanical housing that fits around the whole camera package. The unit that goes around a microphone is sometimes refered to as a Zepplin. A name that I believe was first used by the Sennheiser Co.

 

Chuck

Edited by chuck colburn
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Barneys are used on sync-sound "silent" (i.e. "self-blimped") cameras when they are not quite silent enough, but blimps are used on noisy cameras to make them quiet enough for sound shooting. For example, a noisier-than-usual Eclair NPR or Arri-BL3 might benefit from a barney.

 

The phenomenon of "self-blimped" (quiet enough to not need a blimp) cameras didn't arise until the mid 1960's/early 1970's. Otherwise, people used solid blimps on cameras like Mitchell's, Arri-2C's, Technicolor 3-strip cameras, etc. They made the camera quite huge and cumbersome.

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