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Author Topic: flashlight for night focus  (Read 3963 times)

stever

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flashlight for night focus
« on: August 12, 2007, 12:30:40 am »

i've had some mixed experience with spotlighted nightlife and would like not to be totally dependent on the guides judgement

i'm looking for a reasonably compact light source to allow autofocus at 50-100 ft - don't need full illumination, just enought lignt on the subject to get focused
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wolfnowl

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2007, 01:42:27 am »

Keep in mind that spotlighting wildlife - with or without having a rifle present is considered illegal in probably every province and state in Canada and the US.

Mike.
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stever

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2007, 10:44:43 am »

for the record, i'm not going to do it in the US or Canada, hence the need for something reasonably packable
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pminicucci

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2007, 11:16:43 am »

Take a look here;

http://www.opticsplanet.net/flashlights.html

You ought to be able to find something.
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Pat

Don Libby

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2007, 02:06:13 pm »

If all you want to do is have a method of getting a focus, then you might want to consider using a small laser pen.  While I haven't used it for wildlife at night yet, I have used it during the day with success.


don

Jonathan Wienke

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #5 on: August 15, 2007, 05:39:00 pm »

A simple cheap red laser pointer aimed where you want focus centered works great.
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stever

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2007, 02:55:51 am »

thanks, i have some concern about using the laser, but will try it

in the mean time i bought a surefire G3 (one of their less expensive plastic body models) rated at 100 lumens. the beam is pretty well controlled with barely enough light at 100 ft for autofocus with my 20D and 100-400.  The three batteries cost about $6 for one hour.  With the high output bulb, 200 lumens is available, but now it't $6 for 20 minutes.  On the other hand, i don't see any 200 lumen flashlights with good run times for less than about $300.  

Surefire has an 80 lumen led flashlight with 12 hour run-time.  Higher output led flashlight should be out next year.  Flashlight development in the last few years is amazing -- a 4 D cell Maglite looks pretty pathetic by comparison.
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Don Libby

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2007, 11:57:16 am »

Stever – While I haven’t shot wildlife at night using a laser I have used it quite successfully in low light environments where auto focus or for that matter manual focus just didn’t work.  I would suspect that if you had enough light to see at least the general outline of the animal then you should have no problem “lighting them up” with the laser for a shot.  The only worry I’d have is not to shine directly into their eyes.  As far as the camera goes, the camera will focus on the light dot and you’ll get your shot.  My experience has shown me the camera in auto focus did that just as fast as during “normal conditions”.  Laser pens can be very light-weight thus allowing you to mount the pen directly onto the camera in order to avoid having to use a third hand.  Most laser pens don't eat batteries as much as a Surefire does (I have them use them and love them as well)

Please keep us posted on what you finally decide, especially if you go the laser route.


don

Jonathan Wienke

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flashlight for night focus
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2007, 06:54:41 pm »

As long as you use one of the cheap lasers rated under 5 milliwatts, eye damage is not an issue; several minutes of continuous exposure (laser aimed into the eye at close range, no blinking) is necessary for even minor eye damage. And handholding a laser directly on the eye for more than a fraction of a second is pretty much impossible, especially given the existence of blink reflexes. Of course, if you get a high-powered laser that can light matches and cut plastic and pop balloons, all bets are off, but a standard <5mW cheapie will work just fine and won't cause any injury to your subjects.
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