Laser Guided Spud

["M. Robson" <mrobson1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

After dabbling with some shoot & lean Yashicamat pairs
I've taken delivery of my new Sputnik and 100 mounts
to start so I guess I'm graduating to enthusiast level.

Greg's comment about the Sputnik's poor viewfinder for
focusing and framing got me thinking about a possible
solution (for low light focusing) which others may have
already discovered.

I found that my laser pointer wedged nicely between the
supply knob and viewfinder boss on the Sputnik. My pointer
has about a 2 deg. taper on the output end which angles the
beam nicely toward the center of the field. When I looked
through the viewfinder I couldn't believe my luck. The
laser spot imaged right in the middle of the ground glass
circle, enabling me to focus very accurately (by bringing
the laser spot to a pin sharp focus) in low light or
even complete darkness! The laser on/off button is right
there under my index finger and very convenient. I've
tried this with rangefinders also where it works even
better, showing two bright spots converging to one at focus.

These pointers have come way down in price since the
Chinese started cranking them out. I bought mine from
Harbor Freight and see in their latest catalog they've
dropped to $14.95 and less (even comes with batteries).

I think the one I have is shown here:
 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/DisplayItem.taf?ItemNumber=36534

Search for "laser pointers" at their site to see all of them.
 Harbor Freight  http://www.harborfreight.com
 1-800-423-2567

Mark