Eighty Dollar DIY Sound Blimp Doubles as a Poor Man’s Underwater Housing

A couple of days ago, we shared a great little DIY project by Phoenix-based photographer Dan Tabár. Since he sometimes has to shoot on quiet soundstages where camera noise is not an option, he created a makeshift sound blimp for his Nikon D800 for only about $80 — a professional sound blimp would have run him closer to $1,000.

As it turns out however, his DIY creation has another function. As you can see from the test video above, it doubles as a poor man’s underwater housing!

Now, we wouldn’t go testing this in deep water by any means, but for photos taken near the surface (while snorkeling, perhaps) it seems to work quite well. How well does it work? Well, Tabár trusted it enough to toss about $4,000 worth of equipment into a pool without a second thought — that’s good enough for us.

Here are a few test shots he took with the sound blimp underwater:

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soundblimptest2

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In addition to the underwater use, Tabár also points out that this would be a great makeshift case for any weather. Fine dust, mud and even small bumps are all a lot less likely to ruin your camera if it’s housed in one of these.

Check out the full video at the top to see the case in action, and once you’re done, head over here to read the full write up on how he created the sound blimp and how you can build one of your own.

Underwater test of the DIY Sound Blimp [Dan Tabár Blog]

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