hot shoe laser pointer?

[dashboardgyno]

I read in a photo magazine that there is a device that mounts into your hotshoe. I do not think it hooks up electrically, but it emits a laser pointer (like what you use in school or whatever) so you can pinpoint exactly what your shooting while using a burst mode. (As some eyepices or lcd's go black after the first shot, while capturing burst pictures...

My question is: with the little red laser light, show up on your pictures??? Has anyone used this??

[PeterP]

Two comments,

1. If you can see it, so can the camera.
2. parallax error.

Peter.

[Gospel]

dg, I think you are referring to a "red dot sight" like used on paint ball guns. If so, the red dot is not shown on the target. The scope (sight) has a red LED inside. A mirror reflects the red dot back at you. Once you have the sight callibrated, you then line up the red dot, the center of the cross hairs, and the target. It is supposed to have take pictures of flying birds are fast moving animals or objects.

you can get a Daisy red dot sight for $10 at WalMart. Then you will need to get rail adaptor that filts on the hotshoe. PhotoSolve makes a rail adaptor called Xtend-a-Sight at:

http://www.photosolve.com/main/product/xtendasight/

I've tried this but it didn't work out very good for me. Because of my vision, I had trouble seeing the red dot. YMMV.

Enjoy life!
Steven

[dashboardgyno]

that is exactly what it is... called xtend a sight.... just wondered how it worked, or if anyone uses it. For me my evf and lcd (sony f828) go blank when using burst mode. So I cannot tell exactly what I am catching I thought this might help

[jhrosier]

Gospel wrote:

<snip>
I've tried this but it didn't work out very good for me. Because of my vision, I had trouble seeing the red dot. YMMV.

Enjoy life!
Steven

Steven,

The low priced red-dot sights work well if you keep them well away from your eye. I had the same problem, the red dot turned into a red furball. What I did was to adjust my neck strap shorter to allow the camera to be about 8" from my face when the strap was pulled tight against my neck. This has the added effect of making the camera much steadier and panning with the whole upper body is smooth.

The results for action shots are gratifying. Check out my photos of sports cars racing at high speed at www.fotki.com/jhrosier (the Limerock Park album).

Jack

[ruchai]

I use it with my Panasonic FZ20. It works very well. You are not looking into the frame but at the wide sky. I can use spot focus by just pointing the red dot to the bird. Perfect for flying birds and fast running birds.

ruchai

dashboardgyno wrote:

that is exactly what it is... called xtend a sight.... just wondered how it worked, or if anyone uses it. For me my evf and lcd (sony f828) go blank when using burst mode. So I cannot tell exactly what I am catching I thought this might help

[phil.williams]

Jack,
The pics look great! I'm impressed with the various pics that folks have gotten with my little invention. Apparently it showed up in Digital Photographer magazine ( I'm still looking for a copy here in Oklahoma)

For some folks, it appears that the larger Red Dot Sight (typically around $30 at Walmart) works a bit better for them as there's more viewing area, but I've got both sizes and they work just fine.

The strap around the neck does work well as a "tripod", and you should adjust it so that it's about normal viewing distance for your LCD; that way the Red dot itself stays in focus and you can "push" the camera away from you and hold it steady.

Thanks for sharing the pics. I've sent you a separate email asking if I could put a few up on photosolve with your name on them of course!

Best,
Phil
--
Phil Williams
CEO/founder photosolve