Flashlight to aid Camera focusing.

Occasionally I will plan for a night macro shoot. The problem I face is the lens will go into hunting mode due to the inefficient amount of light from my flashgun's focusing aid to achieve focus in the dark. I got fed up and came up with this setup. I've yet to test it out in the real world, have anyone tried this method? ( I dun wanna look stupid among my shutterbug friends ) Fyi, I'll still be using my flashgun to illuminate the scene.

The reason I'm mounting the RRT-0 on it is for the varying output. This is to prevent any hotspot from showing up in the pic.

The setup







The mount consists of a cheap L bracket, Small Giotto's ball head and Half a Fenix Bike mount.

Any comments????

I would personally put a diffusor on that, and have it actually lighting things up.. but, wow! great setup..
and nice L glass

It does not really look like a macro lens.

When using a flash to light the scene, you do usual not have to worry about the light from a flashlight, it is to weak to register.

For longer range I usual use a much brighter light than the RRT-0.

I think it's a very clever and elegant solution. I really like it.

Heh, I did something similar

Olight T25-Tactical with a tape switch...

@ Csshih
Diffuser... Hmmm... good idea. Time to hunt for one. Thanks.

L Optics Rocks !!!

@ HKJ

You're right, that's not a macro lens.:laughing: I use this fella to shoot bigger subjects. ( Frogs, lizards etc )
I'm using the 180mm f3.5L for close up work.

For throw, will the TK 12 suffice? Too bad I cant mount my Cat on it.

dodge_911 said:

Heh, I did something similar

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That's one sick setup!!! I wish I got the dough for a 1MKIII. Can you still mount it on a Mono / Tripod ?

Funny thread. I was shooting the other day and strapped the Petzl Zipka Plus I keep in my camera bag on to the prism housing and it provided exactly what I needed for focusing purposes. Certainly not the nicest light but it did the job. I've been meaning to work up something a bit nicer to solve that problem but I haven't decided what/how to do it.

Since I use a Kirk L bracket on my camera I'm thinking perhaps finding a way to mount a flashlight on a bike clamp or something and attaching it to a bracket clamp might work nicely.

Not high on my list at the moment though, right now i'm trying to find high CRI LED lights for light painting!

For those interested, I have a picture I took of the setup (with my cellphone) here: http://www.thecolorblindphotographer.com/2010/04/25/another-use-for-a-petzl-zipka-plus/

Has anyone thought about doing something like this?

Scuderia said:

You're right, that's not a macro lens.:laughing: I use this fella to shoot bigger subjects. ( Frogs, lizards etc )

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I looks more like a 70-200 lens, but I do not know Canon lenses. If it is a 70-200 you must have some big frogs around, for my 70-200 f/2.8 I need a diopter in front of it, to use it for frogs.

Scuderia said:

I'm using the 180mm f3.5L for close up work.

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Nice long macro lens, I only have some short ones (60 and 90 mm).

Scuderia said:

For throw, will the TK 12 suffice? Too bad I cant mount my Cat on it.

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This depends on the distance, when I do my long distance beam shots I need more than a TK12 to get reliable focus.
My flash can also project a red grid for focus, but I only uses that when I am doing flash photos.

Rod911 said:

Has anyone thought about doing something like this?

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You can get the rings from DX or a complete unit, I have not tried any of them and do not know how good they are.

HKJ said:

I looks more like a 70-200 lens, but I do not know Canon lenses. If it is a 70-200 you must have some big frogs around, for my 70-200 f/2.8 I need a diopter in front of it, to use it for frogs.

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Nah.. No big frogs. The following pics were shot with the 70-200 in daylight. Just need a little cropping. May not be Macro enough for some.

HKJ said:

Nice long macro lens, I only have some short ones (60 and 90 mm).

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Thanks. I'm looking at the 100mm f2.8L. Must resist buying flashlights first. But i'm weak :mecry:

HKJ said:

This depends on the distance, when I do my long distance beam shots I need more than a TK12 to get reliable focus.
My flash can also project a red grid for focus, but I only uses that when I am doing flash photos.

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Any recommendations for a long and lightweight thrower? Might be using it with a 400mm for birds at night. My flashgun does emit the red grid, but only usable within a short distance. Fyi, I'm using a flash extender which makes the grid useless.

I am looking for a flashlight which could support my Video Camera.
Which could be recommended without making blind ? :huh:

smithman said:

I am looking for a flashlight which could support my Video Camera. Which could be recommended without making blind ? :huh:

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I would recommend you get an actual on-camera lighting unit for continuous lighting in video - it will yield much more even and, well, better results. B&H Photo has some awesome multi-LED lighting arrays for just such purposes - they start out affordable, and move into drool-worthy expensive.

smithman said:

I am looking for a flashlight which could support my Video Camera.
Which could be recommended without making blind ? :huh:

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Video needs a LOT of light due to the short shutter speed. Put a bright emitter(s) behind a diffuser to have a larger apparent source, that's about all you can do.

I see some nice cameras being talked about in here. Do none of them have the little green light that turns on to help with focusing like my Canon G9 has (which isn't even a SLR)?

TriChrome said:

I see some nice cameras being talked about in here. Do none of them have the little green light that turns on to help with focusing like my Canon G9 has (which isn't even a SLR)?

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We're often shooting far away, or requiring very precise focus (bright light). Heck, I'll be taking moonless-urban-night pictures and manually focusing. Maybe someday I'll get the laser pointer trick to work...

Scuderia said:

Nah.. No big frogs. The following pics were shot with the 70-200 in daylight. Just need a little cropping. May not be Macro enough for some.

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Nice photos, but the frog picture looks like the macro would have been better for the job (Giving more resolution).

Scuderia said:

Any recommendations for a long and lightweight thrower? Might be using it with a 400mm for birds at night.

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Would the flashlight not scare the birds?
What about the Catapult or Jetbeam M1X, maybe in short configuration?
If you get fix the aiming an aspherical might do it (The Dereelight is rather small). I have a comparison with it here.

Interesting thread and nice pics - I'm moving it to the Dark Room.

Rod911 said:

Has anyone thought about doing something like this?

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Already got a ringflash adapter for my 580EXII

Scuderia said:

That's one sick setup!!! I wish I got the dough for a 1MKIII. Can you still mount it on a Mono / Tripod ?

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Nope, you can't, in this setup, but I've got some L-brackets if the need arises... And not to make you jealous : either a 5DmkII of an 1DmkIV is coming soon, just have some weighing of options to do

TriChrome said:

I see some nice cameras being talked about in here. Do none of them have the little green light that turns on to help with focusing like my Canon G9 has (which isn't even a SLR)?

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Sadly with most pro-bodies, no... Most consumer-DSLR's use their own pop-up flash to aid AF, but on the pro bodies you're gonna have to put a flash (or remote transmitter) to get that AF-assist pattern.

TriChrome said:

I see some nice cameras being talked about in here. Do none of them have the little green light that turns on to help with focusing like my Canon G9 has (which isn't even a SLR)?

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While most DSLRs have some form of focus assist light, on some it's a rather annoying strobing of the pop up flash. Pro cameras like the Canon 1 series I show and others are using have no focus assist light (and generally their AF systems are so sensitive it's less of an issue) but when it's extremely dark they need a little help.