Fast Action Photo Sight

thingiverse

This concept hit me about three years ago when I was capturing numerous photos of birds in flight. Remembering my teenage days of bird hunting with a shotgun made me think of a better way to track swift-moving birds. The idea is inspired by the open sights on guns, which are significantly easier to follow than scopes like the viewfinder on SLR cameras. I'm using the flash Hot Shoe mount on the camera as the base for this sight, so you won't be able to attach a flash or use a popup flash that comes with an SLR like my Canon 60D. I measured a 68mm offset between the center line of the lens and the bottom of the V-Sight attachment. This sight consists of three main parts: 1. The camera mount, which slides into the flash Hot Shoe mount 2. The Barrel, featuring front and rear sights 3. The tightening Nut to secure the sight in place Optional components include a 15mm plastic wrench for tightening the nut onto the camera mount (you might still need an adjustable wrench to get it threaded initially). To create the Camera Mount & Tightening Nut, use the provided file "CameraMountAndTightenNut_rev22.scad". I initially used a Standard M10 screw thread pitch of 1.5, but found that 2.5 worked better for my printer. To generate the threads, I employed the threads.scad module from dkprojects.net/openscad-threads. For the tightening nut, I scaled it up by 15% (1.15) in X and Y to get a perfect fit on my printer. To paint the orange dots on the sight, use indoor/outdoor multisurface paint from Walmart, available at https://www.plaidonline.com/apple-barrel-multi-surface-satin-acrylic-paints-ou/209/21961E/product.htm. For creating the sighting barrel, use "V_Sight_Rev39.scad", which has several variables that can be adjusted. The two variables that affect your sighting distance the most are V_HT (Height of Rear Sight) and Len (Length of Barrel). There are three different sight types: 1. Simple Bead on the Front of the Sight 2. Drilled for using an inserted sight of your choice, created by "FrontSights_Rev1.scad" 3. Adjustable Front Side sight To initially adjust the sight, attach it to a tripod with a lens attached and look through both the viewfinder and the V-Sight. Adjust accordingly until they align closely. The openscad source files and sample STL file models are included for your convenience. The main V_Sight openscad file is customizable for 10 variables, but there are a few more that you can adjust on your computer if needed. With some practice, this sight holds promise for capturing better fast-action shots.