AF Assist Lamp?

This is going to probably be a very short thread!

I've been doing a bit of nightclub photography for a friend who was hosting a night, I've been getting some great results but I have the odd occasion where my camera struggles to focus.

I would use the AF Illuminator built into the camera, BUT, the Sigma 17-50mm Lens I have blocks the light! lol.

I had a quick google and pulled up a few random bits, but nothing really conclusive.

Do external AF Illuminators exist that go on the hotshoe? I know a few flashes have them built in, but I'd rather it was a stand alone piece if possible!

Any ideas?

Vinnydude said:

This is going to probably be a very short thread!

I've been doing a bit of nightclub photography for a friend who was hosting a night, I've been getting some great results but I have the odd occasion where my camera struggles to focus.

I would use the AF Illuminator built into the camera, BUT, the Sigma 17-50mm Lens I have blocks the light! lol.

I had a quick google and pulled up a few random bits, but nothing really conclusive.

Do external AF Illuminators exist that go on the hotshoe? I know a few flashes have them built in, but I'd rather it was a stand alone piece if possible!

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

I am not aware of any external accessories, but the AF Assist in the larger speedlights is rather impressive. Out to about 15 feet anyway. And it is sort of infrared (extremely dim red), so it will not distract the subject.

There is one... The SC-29 hot shoe extension cord (to move a speedlight a few feet away from the hotshoe) has an AF Assist light in it. The idea is the external flash is loose, and probably not precisely aimed at the focus point, but this new SC-29 version in the hot shoe is. That trailing cord would be awkward, and I have no experience with it to know if it still works with no flash unit, but I'd guess it did.

I've found the Yongnuo 622n. It's a flash trigger with an af lamp on it. I very nearly went for the model up until I realised that it didn't have the hotshoe on the top of the unit.

But yeah, I'm unsure how well it will work, but I though for £30 there wouldn't be any harm in giving it a shot. At the end of the day, if the lamp doesn't work as I hope, I've got a spare trigger

I shall report back with my findings when it arrives!

Vinnydude said:

I've found the Yongnuo 622n. It's a flash trigger with an af lamp on it. I very nearly went for the model up until I realised that it didn't have the hotshoe on the top of the unit.

But yeah, I'm unsure how well it will work, but I though for £30 there wouldn't be any harm in giving it a shot. At the end of the day, if the lamp doesn't work as I hope, I've got a spare trigger

I shall report back with my findings when it arrives!

Click to expand...

If concerned with putting a flash on top of it, you could simply use the flash alone on hot shoe, which would then provide an excellent AF assist itself.

I use an LED flashlight mounted to the camera tripod mount for both locating and focusing on small critters in the night darkness.

A smaller LED similar to the power of an AF assist light with a momentary on/off switch should work for the nightclubs. Then as you aim the camera, you momentary on the LED with your left hand as your right hand initiates focus and fires the shutter.

You could even just use a light in your left hand, but having it mounted and aimed with the lens would be faster.

I can conclude that the Yongnuo YN-622 works a treat

Shoots a 'laser' grid of focus points out when focusing. A part from the obvious of straightening it on the hotshoe correctly, it's flawless. I was shooting in my bedroom in near pitch black conditions and it was bang on focus everytime and fast as anything too.

This little thing is going to make shooting in nightclubs so much easier!!!

One thing to point out though. As I have the Yongnuo 560iii flash, which is manual, the 622 trigger is ttl so it won't trigger the flash off camera unless you put a seperate trigger on top of it. Bit of a pain in the ass I know, but that's what I get for buying a manual flash over a ttl one