Fast Action Photo Sight by GeoDave

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

This idea came to me a few years ago when I was taking a lot of photos of birds in flight. While thinking of a better way to follow fast flying birds, I was remembering my teenage years of hunting birds with a shotgun. The idea is borrowed from the open sights on guns. It is a lot easier to follow motion with an open sight rather than a scope which is what the viewfinder on SLR cameras is similar to.
I am using the flash Hot Shoe mount on the camera to mount this sight, so you will not be able to attach a flash to that hot shoe or use a popup flash that SLR's like my Canon 60D have. I measure a 68mm offset between the center line of the lens & the bottom of the attached V-Sight.
There are basically 3 parts to create this sight, and take 1 to 1.5 hours to print depending on the configuration you print.
The camera mount that slides in the flash Hot Shoe mount
The Barrel with front & rear sights
The tightening Nut to tighten the sight down.
Optional: 15mm plastic Wrench to tighten the nut onto the camera mount
(You might still need to use an adjustable wrench to initially get the nut threaded on the camera mount)
CameraMountAndTightenNut_rev22.scad is the file to create the Camera Mount & tightening Nut. I initially used the Standard M10 screw thread pitch of 1.5, but found 2.5 pitch worked better for my finished print. I used the threads.scad module from http://dkprojects.net/openscad-threads/ to generate the threads. For the tightening nut I scaled it up 15% (1.15) in the X & Y to get the best fit for my printer. I painted the little orange dots using this indoor/outdoor multisurface paint from Walmart. https://www.plaidonline.com/apple-barrel-multi-surface-satin-acrylic-paints-ou/209/21961E/product.htm
V_Sight_Rev39.scad is the file to create the sighting barrel. This has quite a few variables you can change. The 2 variables that will affect your sighting distance the most which are V_HT (Height of Rear Sight) & Len (Length of Barrel).
There are 3 different Sight types.
SightType = 0; //Simple Bead on the Front of the Sight
SightType = 1; //Drilled for using an inserted sight of your choice. The file FrontSights_Rev1.scad creates sights for this. I print about 12 at a time & choose the best one as some print better than others on my printer. You could also use a piece of 3mm filament if you have it, an M3 screw, cutoff a piece of a nozzle from an air can which is 3mm. There are probably a lot of other things you could find to use. The setscrew I used is a M2.5x10mm, but 8mm length will work.
SightType = 2; //Adjustable Front Side sight. This was my latest idea for the front sight and probably easier to adjust than type 1. You use a machine screw mounted thru the slotted hole & put a jam nut, nut or locknut to hold it at the level you want. If you are using metric hardware, M3 or M2.5 screws with a length of 12mm or more. For imperial sizes, #6x1/2" is probably the easiest to find. #5 or #4 will work if you can find them. The photo shown has a #6x1/2" machine screw and regular nut.
To initially adjust the sight, I would put your camera on a tripod with a lens attached. Attach this V_Sight to your flash shoe, but leave loose enough if you need to rotate it a little left or right. I think the sight should work the same with whatever lens you use. Look thru your viewfinder & the V_Sight to see how close they look & adjust accordingly.
I have included the openscad source files & some sample STL file models. The main V_Sight openscad file I made customizable for 10 of the variables, but there are a few other variables you can change if using the openscad file on your computer.
It might take a little getting use to, but with some practice I think this sight holds promise for getting better fast action shots.