Scope mounting bracket at DVinfo.net

Henry Gray · December 4th, 2006, 12:39 PM

I have just taken delivery of a little bracket to enable me to mount a
"Red Dot" gun site to my camera.

It fits into the camera accessory shoe and has a Weaver mount on the
top which will accept the gun sight.

Great idea-- When using a long lens it makes finding the subject very
much easier.

Check it out at: www.photosolve.com It's called an Xtend-a-Sight.

Tony Davies-Patrick · December 4th, 2006, 12:55 PM

http://www.photosolve.com/main/produ...ght/index.html

That must be similar to the one on Ron's website, although I think Ron sells a complete unit with red-sight called the Ronsight:

http://www.ronsrail.com/Ronsight.html

Dale Guthormsen · December 5th, 2006, 02:21 PM

henry,

That is a useful piece of information you posted.

when you buy a red dot sight you must remember some of them are ment for close range, so be careful which one you purchase.

Cabelas has a good representation of sights and has user ratings written for them too.

Brian J. Harris · December 15th, 2006, 02:19 PM

Hey Henry,

Thanks for this link. I ordered the Xtend-a-sight Monday night. The order shipped on Tuesday, and I received it today. It's a nifty little piece of kit at a reasonable price.

Brendan Marnell · December 16th, 2006, 05:39 AM

Henry

Am I right in thinking that xtend-a-sight with a Red Dot cannot be linked to the camera's motor to help with focus? If that is so then you are using it solely as a viewfinder and I'd like to know how does it perform on birds in flight?

Henry Gray · December 16th, 2006, 10:29 AM

Hi Brendan,
It is not linked in any way to the camera functions, it is purely an aiming
device.
I use a 300mm lens with an EF adaptor which is equal to 2160mm which
makes it very difficult to find the subject. The sight is used to "FIND" the
bird or animal I am filming, I then use the camera viewfinder to make final
adjustments.
The system I use is very similar to the one shown on the RONSRAIL site

Hope this helps

Brendan Marnell · December 16th, 2006, 11:03 AM

Thank you Henry

J. Stephen McDonald · December 18th, 2006, 11:43 PM

I made this with a cylinder from an old pair of mini-binoculars. It's on a microphone mount I had built, that just happened to fit the purpose exactly. I stretched heavy thread for crosshairs on the end of a smaller tube that fit inside and sprayed dozens of coats of black paint from front and back, until they thickened up and cooperated by forming sort of a dot in the center.

There's no glass in it and I need to re-calibrate it a bit before each shooting session. Since its purpose is just to get my camera pointed somewhere in the ballpark of the elusive, flying subject, it does its duty nicely. Total cost: not one cent out of pocket.

It's shown here on my shoulder-mount, with a Sony H5 digital camera and a Raynox 2.2X telextender. With 26.4X total magnification, this framing scope is specially useful. I put the camera on continuous autofocus and usually never look in the camera's viewfinder before I click it off. A good percentage of shots come out as keepers and actually have the birds, planes, UFOs or whatever, close to the center.

I haven't rigged it up yet to go with my VX2100, which uses a different shoulder-mount. Due to the difference in focusing and framing video, I don't believe it would be as helpful, but will try it to find out. The H5 digital camera has an excellent video mode and does full-frame, 640 X 480, with a 10mbps flow-rate, about the same as DVD. It uses an M-PEG2 CoDec and my Sony Cybershot Viewer program and a Ulead video-editing program both play it nicely, but the highly-promoted, latest version of Windows Media Player, 10.0, plays it only in a jerky, useless manner. I can load 50 minutes of video on a 4-Gb Pro Duo MemoryStick.

Henry Gray · January 6th, 2007, 01:04 PM

Hi all
Thought you might like to see a photograph of the Red Dot Sight and
the Xtend-a Sight mount fitted to my camera.
Works great.

J. Stephen McDonald · January 7th, 2007, 06:49 PM

Henry, it looks like a solid little attachment and the fine-adjustment knobs must be handy. How well does it work for all the various types of shots? Can you just ignore it, if it isn't needed?

In my earlier message, I described how the M-PEG2 MOV video files from my still camera wouldn't play properly with Windows Media Player 10. Well, I just was given the WMP 11 upgrade and it does play the MOV files nicely. It has the capability of handling the 10mbps flow-rate, without the stop and go disruptions of WMP 10. The MOV files from the Sony H5 camera can be set as high as 640 X 480, full-screen, with the Fine recording mode. However, the WMP 11 still doesn't play my 25mbps AVI files from DV recordings. It freezes up on the first frame. There may be some incompatibility with the transfer of control codes, that's responsible for this.

Henry Gray · January 8th, 2007, 02:49 AM

Hi Stephen
Yes it's very solid, all metal construction, One slight drawback is it needs
an Allen key to make adjustments but I set it to allign with the camera
viewfinder at about 100 metres and only use it to FIND the subject and then
use the camers viewfinder to frame and focus etc.

December 4th, 2006, 12:39 PM	#1
Henry Gray Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK Posts: 60	Scope mounting bracket I have just taken delivery of a little bracket to enable me to mount a "Red Dot" gun site to my camera. It fits into the camera accessory shoe and has a Weaver mount on the top which will accept the gun sight. Great idea-- When using a long lens it makes finding the subject very much easier. Check it out at: www.photosolve.com It's called an Xtend-a-Sight. __________________ henry g

December 4th, 2006, 12:55 PM	#2
Tony Davies-Patrick Trustee Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Worldwide Posts: 1,589	http://www.photosolve.com/main/produ...ght/index.html That must be similar to the one on Ron's website, although I think Ron sells a complete unit with red-sight called the Ronsight: http://www.ronsrail.com/Ronsight.html __________________ www.WILDCARP.com www.NIKON.me.uk

December 5th, 2006, 02:21 PM	#3
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	henry, That is a useful piece of information you posted. when you buy a red dot sight you must remember some of them are ment for close range, so be careful which one you purchase. Cabelas has a good representation of sights and has user ratings written for them too. __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

December 15th, 2006, 02:19 PM	#4
Brian J. Harris Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Greenbrier, TN Posts: 89	Thanks! Hey Henry, Thanks for this link. I ordered the Xtend-a-sight Monday night. The order shipped on Tuesday, and I received it today. It's a nifty little piece of kit at a reasonable price. __________________ Thanks, Brian www.naturefootage.com

December 16th, 2006, 10:29 AM	#6
Henry Gray Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK Posts: 60	Hi Brendan, It is not linked in any way to the camera functions, it is purely an aiming device. I use a 300mm lens with an EF adaptor which is equal to 2160mm which makes it very difficult to find the subject. The sight is used to "FIND" the bird or animal I am filming, I then use the camera viewfinder to make final adjustments. The system I use is very similar to the one shown on the RONSRAIL site Hope this helps __________________ henry g

December 16th, 2006, 05:39 AM	#5
Brendan Marnell Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 938	Henry Am I right in thinking that xtend-a-sight with a Red Dot cannot be linked to the camera's motor to help with focus? If that is so then you are using it solely as a viewfinder and I'd like to know how does it perform on birds in flight?

December 16th, 2006, 11:03 AM	#7
Brendan Marnell Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posts: 938	Thank you Henry

December 18th, 2006, 11:43 PM	#8
J. Stephen McDonald Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 909	Here's My Framing Scope I made this with a cylinder from an old pair of mini-binoculars. It's on a microphone mount I had built, that just happened to fit the purpose exactly. I stretched heavy thread for crosshairs on the end of a smaller tube that fit inside and sprayed dozens of coats of black paint from front and back, until they thickened up and cooperated by forming sort of a dot in the center. There's no glass in it and I need to re-calibrate it a bit before each shooting session. Since its purpose is just to get my camera pointed somewhere in the ballpark of the elusive, flying subject, it does its duty nicely. Total cost: not one cent out of pocket. It's shown here on my shoulder-mount, with a Sony H5 digital camera and a Raynox 2.2X telextender. With 26.4X total magnification, this framing scope is specially useful. I put the camera on continuous autofocus and usually never look in the camera's viewfinder before I click it off. A good percentage of shots come out as keepers and actually have the birds, planes, UFOs or whatever, close to the center. I haven't rigged it up yet to go with my VX2100, which uses a different shoulder-mount. Due to the difference in focusing and framing video, I don't believe it would be as helpful, but will try it to find out. The H5 digital camera has an excellent video mode and does full-frame, 640 X 480, with a 10mbps flow-rate, about the same as DVD. It uses an M-PEG2 CoDec and my Sony Cybershot Viewer program and a Ulead video-editing program both play it nicely, but the highly-promoted, latest version of Windows Media Player, 10.0, plays it only in a jerky, useless manner. I can load 50 minutes of video on a 4-Gb Pro Duo MemoryStick. Attached Thumbnails __________________ Steve McDonald https://onedrive.com/?cid=229807ce52dd4fe0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/ http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos

January 6th, 2007, 01:04 PM	#9
Henry Gray Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK Posts: 60	Hi all Thought you might like to see a photograph of the Red Dot Sight and the Xtend-a Sight mount fitted to my camera. Works great. Attached Thumbnails __________________ henry g

January 7th, 2007, 06:49 PM	#10
J. Stephen McDonald Major Player Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 909	The Scope Looks Good ///WMP #11 Handles MOV Henry, it looks like a solid little attachment and the fine-adjustment knobs must be handy. How well does it work for all the various types of shots? Can you just ignore it, if it isn't needed? In my earlier message, I described how the M-PEG2 MOV video files from my still camera wouldn't play properly with Windows Media Player 10. Well, I just was given the WMP 11 upgrade and it does play the MOV files nicely. It has the capability of handling the 10mbps flow-rate, without the stop and go disruptions of WMP 10. The MOV files from the Sony H5 camera can be set as high as 640 X 480, full-screen, with the Fine recording mode. However, the WMP 11 still doesn't play my 25mbps AVI files from DV recordings. It freezes up on the first frame. There may be some incompatibility with the transfer of control codes, that's responsible for this. __________________ Steve McDonald https://onedrive.com/?cid=229807ce52dd4fe0 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22121562@N00/ http://www.vimeo.com/user458315/videos

January 8th, 2007, 02:49 AM	#11
Henry Gray Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK Posts: 60	Hi Stephen Yes it's very solid, all metal construction, One slight drawback is it needs an Allen key to make adjustments but I set it to allign with the camera viewfinder at about 100 metres and only use it to FIND the subject and then use the camers viewfinder to frame and focus etc. __________________ henry g