Sighter v2

A sighting accessory that will help you follow targets more easily and more smoothly than looking through the zoom itself.  Easier to use and less expensive than a red dot finder.

Have you tried to follow a bird, plane, or someone at a sports event through a zoom and lost the target when it moved out of the frame?  By the time you find it again the moment is over.  The Sighter gives you a wider view.  You can follow it more easily, anticipate if the subject will change course, and find it again quickly.

The Sighter slides into your hotshoe and provides two concentric rings to sight through, two larger outer rings to protect the sightline rings, and short stubs on the last ring provide a horizon cue.

There are three models of the Sighter version 2.
1 - Standard.  This is compatible with typical 200mm zoom lenses.
2 - Tall.  A taller sighter is needed to see over the hood of a 600mm lens.
3 - Mic.  Adds a hotshoe for a microphone or other lightweight accessory.

-> If you are considering buying this as a gift for a photographer, please print and include this page - it describes why it was created, how it works, and how to use it. If you order two, you get one also and your average shipping cost is lower.

== Using the Tracker ==
Slide the Sighter into the hotshoe.  It's a friction fit and there are very small variations in 3D printing, so the springs might be a bit snug.  

Sight through the two inner rings while bracing the camera against your cheekbone.  Aim the camera so the two inner rings are concentric; they will be slightly blurred since they are so close to you, but they will be clear enough to align.

Practice on a distant target such as a treetop, or follow a plane or car.  Look at the target but be aware of whether the rings are aligned with each other, take a photo and check your image.  After some use and practice, you'll be able to keep the sighting rings aligned while watching your target.

With zoom lenses longer than 300 mm, the field of view of the lens is quite small so the precision needed in keeping the Sighter aligned is greater.  

You may want to use a focusing mode that uses several points in the center of the frame, not just a single point, to maximize the ability of the camera to focus on the subject when you don't have the two sighting rings perfectly aligned.

A good technique for following a subject travelling from one side to another, is to hold your upper body still (head, camera, and shoulders), and rotate at your waist.  When following something, try keeping it centered but move so you are actually following a spot slightly ahead of where it's going.

Standard or Tall sighter?
The sightline of the Standard is 2.5 cm above the top of the hotshoe.  The Tall sightline is 6 cm above the top of the hotshoe. If you have a large diameter lens and lens hood, you can measure up from the hotshoe to across the top of the lens hood, and decide which one you need.  The sightline of the Sighter should be about 1 cm above the lens hood.  
As an example, the lens centerline to top of the hotshoe on the Canon 5D is 7.5 cm; on the R6 it is 6.0 cm.  An ET-155 hood (for the Canon 400 f/2.8 and 800mm f/5.6 lenses) is 7 inch diameter, or 9 cm radius.  The 6 cm lens-hotshoe distance plus 2.5 cm of the Standard sighter is LESS than the radius of the hood!  For this lens, you need the Tall sighter.

== Special features ==
- The larger outer ring is designed so it bends down (and on the Tall, also sideways) so any impact to the Sighter will be softened and your camera will have a chance to swing away instead of having a sudden hard impact that might damage the hotshoe.  The laws of physics still exist though - the maximum force isn't reduced, only the impact is softened and just as with a flash on the hotshoe, avoid hard impacts that may stress the hotshoe.

- The hotshoe dimensions meet ISO 518-2006 (the standard for camera accessory shoes); newer cameras such as my Canon R6 have a high-density electronic connector within the hotshoe but these are located outside the ISO 518 zone so basic hotshoe accessories will not damage them.  Ensure there is no dirt or debris in the hotshoe when inserting any hotshoe accessory, on these newer cameras.

- There are two small loops on the side of the Sighter, where a tether can be attached so it won't become lost if the friction fit becomes loose over time.

The video below was taken with a Canon 7D, 70-300 lens usually at 200-250mm, and the Sighter to see the arrival of the aircraft and follow them.