Flash Autofocus assist

hello, i'm new to this flash business, and i'm not really here to discuss flashes, what i'm really interested in is a laser autofocus assist. Is there some kind of unit out there that will sit in tthe camera's hot shoe and simply shot a laser for the camera to focus on? i'm not looking for anything expensive, just something simple. If there is not something like this at all, it would be interesting to find out how the camera communicates with the external flash, so that perhaps, a simple autofocus assist could be built. (simple as in simple to use, nowhere near simple to build) Thanks for any info you can help me out with.

And I thought af assist lights and preflashes were hard on the eyes....
pentax ftz 500 flash has a sb (spotbeam) setting that fire a red pattern for af to focus on, without firing flash...works in total dark and on solid colored objects.
Ps I'd bet the local hardware store miht have a laser level with standars tripod socket hole you could rig up.

I think that all the Pentax digital flash guns, like most recent camera bodies, are able to project an infra-red target for the auto-focus system to focus on.

The only problem is that, whilst they work well in total darkness, they don't operate in the twilight zone.

G

thanks for the advice guys! so Don, i could get my hands on a laser or something of that sort, but how would i actually connect it to the camera to turn on when the camera attempts to focus? is that possible at all? it must be somehow possible if external flashes have the ability, it may just be very very complicated. What do you think?

I'd try running a wire spliced into a homemade wired release (search the threads for that one) and solder the wires to the circuit board of the laser's power switch, maybe with a relay and or resistor to activate both at once. Maybe wire it to a hotshoe adaptor.
might be easier to handhold a laser pointer...
Your not planning on wiring this sucker up, to use it as a sight so you can mount a mf lens to your af body, set it to snap-in focus, and mount it on a rifle with a servo to the trigger are you?

AFAIK, it's not actually a laser in the flash guns. At least it doesn't appear to be coherent light.

The AF360 projects quite a large grid pattern - it's not just a single dot. The aim isn't to illuminate the subject, but to project this contrasting pattern of near IR light onto the subject so there's enough contrast to focus.

It's quite complex as to when it turns on too.

I think all the AF guns have the focus assist, including most third party dedicated AF flashes. (My Metz has the "SB" mode too)

Matt

See, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you'd burn out the retinas of your subjects. Who am I to judge...so I tried to figure out what could be done with what you were asking...
I envisioned a tripod mounted gun with the camera acting as both scope and trigger.
I was hoping if that be the case the gun would be pointing at a gopher hole or something waiting for the gopher to walk into focus...
Sounds a little dangerous..I don't recommend trying it.

See what happens when my wife lets me watch "CaddyShack"?

A torch springs to mind

they say you learn something new every day...


Well my second AF360 arrived today and I've been playing. So i thought i'd have a trawl through here to see what tips i could pick up.

Then i saw this thread - and remembered that i'd been wanting to ask about using SB mode on the flash. It seemed odd to me that you couldn't have SB *and* flash - what point was the flash in low light if the camera couldn't focus....


So i was having a play and put the camera into AF-S (it normally lives in AF-C) and Hey Presto! I have SB working as well as the flash.

Feel quite silly after really struggling the other night to get some nightclub shots...

So I'm being naughty and dredging up an old thread with virtually the same purpose as a thread of mine - but mine's sort of gone off at a tangent.

Does the Metz 48 (or Sigma 500/530 or Jessops flash) have a cool interesting spot beam like the 360, or just a bright light?

I'm looking for a flash but will be gutted if, after reading all this about USEFUL AF-assist that really works, my flash just has a 50p red LED behind the red lens at the front!