RonDexter.com
Title
RonDexter.com
Description
I have been involved with two homemade blimp projects. The first was putting an Arri IIA in an aluminum box with a 200-foot magazine. First we made a 60-cycle sync motor with an 1800-RPM surplus sync motor geared down to 1440 (24 x 60) rpm on a homemade flat base. We lined the box with Barifoil (foam with a lead liner) and it was reasonably quiet. The viewfinder was extended out the back by changing optics in the viewfinder.
This was in the days before Mitchell BNCR reflexes. There were Blimps for the Arri and Éclair, but we couldn't afford to rent them for the job the above blimp was designed for. Fortunately we never had to use this dog but we learned about blimps in the process.
Carroll Ballard wanted a blimp for his CM3 Éclairs, which are not the quietest cameras. They sound (and work a lot) like a sewing machine. Éclair had a blimp in those days, but it was heavy and I think only took hard lenses. Carroll wanted 1000-foot mags. and to accommodate a zoom. Carroll designed and built a clamshell fiberglass blimp that was really quiet. The quietest model had honeycomb spacers filled with sand. All had layers of Barifoil and were airtight.
Contact
- Michael Dexter
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- PORTLAND OR
- US 97219-7738
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- 503-977-0987
