LF focus at night

[rippo]

so why does everyone talk about green laser pointers, rather than the red ones john just mentioned? red seems like it'd be easier and cheaper (they've been around for ages). eyes are more sensitive to green light, is that it? or are the green ones more powerful? or just cooler?

i barely get out often enough at night with any camera, much less LF. but it's interesting none the less.

[Ben Chase]

so why does everyone talk about green laser pointers, rather than the red ones john just mentioned? red seems like it'd be easier and cheaper (they've been around for ages). eyes are more sensitive to green light, is that it? or are the green ones more powerful? or just cooler?

i barely get out often enough at night with any camera, much less LF. but it's interesting none the less.

Typically the green ones throw a dot that can been seen much further away.

[Bob Salomon]

Just be careful with those lasers. A father in Denville, NJ was sentenced to a prison term last year for flashing one of those green lasers (he was showing his son how powerful it was and reached the cockpit s of two different aircraft on landing approaches.

A flash light eliminates this possibility outdoors.

[lxdesign]

I guess it really depends on what you are shooting as well..... obviously if its a landscape shot... infinity would work without having to guess. I like the thought of having monkey's with flashlights.... but the flinging poo doesn't appeal to me.

[Leonard Metcalf]

Put three small led lights on the focus plane and then you can tilt and swing to your hearts content. Andrew Smallman taught me that one...

Regards,

Len

[Geert]

1 million candlepower spotlight.

Ditto here. Drawback is the limited independency, only 15 minutes before the beatteries are drained en need to be recharged.

G

[Andrew O'Neill]

Focus in the day time and wait.

I prefer working this way. Just as the sun drops out of sight, compose and focus. Then wait for darkness...click!

[Roger Krueger]

Almost all of my tripod night work I scale focus, both my Cambo Wide and my Mamiya Super 23. To me that's a huge advantage of helical systems like the Cambo or Fotoman over a traditional LF camera.

If only someone had an LF camera that could combine helical focus with back tilts like my Super 23. (Yeah, you have to do some math to figure out where the focus is at various points in the image, but the lens DOF scale helps a lot, and it's still FAR less annoying to me than crawling under a darkcloth late at night.)

[Matus Kalisky]

Concerning the lasers - watch out for the power. A "normal" laser pointer for a presentation has 1mW otput power and belongs to the lowest group of lasers. Such a low power laser does not cause harm even if pointed to someones eye accidentally. But then there are 5, 25, 50, 80 , 150, or even 350 mW (like THIS one)!!! pointers that can be bought e.g. via eBay and can be indeed harmfull. How much power would one need to use such a laser to ease the focusing I do not know.

[An Infinite Journey]

I can't believe nobody suggested using night vision goggles to see the groundglass.

Alan,
Have you used one? Would love to hear about your experience with them.

They are a bit expensive, but what isn't now a days....