Introduction

In this review I am going to look at something else than a lens for a change, namely a dot sight. So what is it used for?

According to TTArtisan, they developed this dot sight mainly because of the photographer’s shooting needs. Bird photographers and astrophotographers have a very narrow angle of view when using a telephoto lens, which makes it difficult to quickly target the shooting area. The dot sight is close to the normal angle of view of the human eye, which helps photographers quickly target the shooting area.

Well,  If you photograph birds in flight or any fast-moving subjects, a dot sight for your camera could be an aid to you. let’s have a look!

I tested the dot sight on a 24 Mp Nikon Zf (Product images Nikon Z 7 II)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!

All the bird pictures in this review were taken using TTArtisan Dot Sight for targeting the birds.

Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Specifications

Disclosure

TTArtisan kindly provided this dot sight for review and test purposes.

What Is a Dot Sight?

Dot sights are traditionally designed for quick target acquisition and are primarily used for close-range shooting, i.e. with rifles. They typically have a simple reticle, usually a single illuminated dot, and offer no magnification. This makes them ideal for situations where speed and accuracy are crucial, such as tactical shooting or home defence.

Since 8-10 years ago they have been designed for camera use also. Both Nikon and Olympus have made them, they seem to be discontinued though. Note that they are not designed specifically for Nikon or Olympus cameras, they, as well as this TTArtisan, can be used on any camera system, DSLRs as well as mirrorless system cameras.

Why Do I Need a Dot Sight

In general, capturing flying birds is not that easy, especially if you are not an experienced bird photographer with years of experience. 

Normally, you see a bird and want to photograph it using a long telephoto lens. Firstly it is a little hard to find the bird you are watching in the view finder, you have to move the camera to left and right, up and down to find it, sometimes you can’t do it anyway and have to take your eye from the viewfinder to see the bird and then try again. By the time you succeed to frame the bird, maybe it has flown away. This is the case for a bird that is still. If you want to photograph a flying bird, landing or taking off, it becomes multiple folds more difficult.

The difficulty is that the angle of view you see in the viewfinder is very narrow when using telephoto lenses. Human eye have a field of view of about 180 degrees. This allows us to see birds and determine which way they’re moving. When they fly, we can tell if they fly up or down, or if they change direction very easily. While you are looking through the viewfinder the angle of view is only 5-8 degrees, or less depending on the lens.

Now, let’s look at the dot sight and its functionality.

Handling

The TTArtisan Dot Sight is a collapsible device that is switched off when it is collapsed and it is turned on when it is opened. It is made mostly of hard plastic, with some metallic details (arms that opens and holds the dot sight open). It feels to be very fragile and easy to break. You open the dot sight by a switch on the rear of the dot sight.

There are two knobs, one on each side of the dot sight, by which you can calibrate the horizontal and vertical placement of the reticle.

On the rear of the dot sight you have three buttons, from right to left, one for selecting the reticle colour between green and red, one for increasing brightness of the reticle (useful in bright sunny days), and one for decreasing the brightness of the reticle.

There is also a lever at the shoe mount to lock the dot sight in place (seen i previous images).

The dot sight operates on a CR2023 lithium coin cell battery, which is not included in the package. Remember to purchase the battery separately to avoid disappointment when unpacking the device. To open the battery compartment you have to keep the battery chamber lock pin pressed with a pen or other pointed object and slide the cover open.

The dot sight, like Nikon’s own flashes, has some play in the hot shoe, and even if it is very small, max a couple of degrees, it is a lot where the reticle is (at the subject/bird). So, you can never be sure that when you attach the dot sight on the camera, it has exactly the same position/direction as it had the last time.

Calibration

For using the dot sight you have to calibrate it for your lens first. If you are using a zoom lens you should calibrate it with the lens at the focal length you intend to shoot and not change it.

You put the camera on a tripod and pick a target, dot or mark. The target must be at least about 10 meters away from the camera. 

First you adjust the camera position so that the target is dead centre of the frame thru the viewfinder. Then you back off from the camera a couple of decimetre and look at the reticle thru the dot sight and move it to the same target you had in the viewfinder.  You adjust the reticle so that the red (or green) circle, depending on which colour you have chosen, is right on top of the target, which also is the exact centre of our viewfinder. Calibration will be perfectly done when you put those two together. You are done.

Unfortunately, you have to do this every time you attach the dot sight on the camera, even if you use exactly the same lens with exactly the same focal length.

When the dot sight is attached to the camera via the hot shoe, by a little force you can change the direction of the dot sight slightly, just a couple of degrees, it is very small and I’d like to mention that you can do that even when you attach a Nikon speedlight in the shoe. However, while this does not pose any problems when using speedlights, it has a serious impact on the dot sight. That is why you have to re-calibrate the dot sight every time you attach it to the camera.

In addition to that, when you want to lock the dot sight in the hot shoe, you turn the lock ring lever to the right. This turns the rear of the dot sight to the right, making the front point to the left. When you try to calibrate, you realise that you cannot align the reticle horizontally on the target, even if you turn the left/right knob to its end. This is because the dot sight is not straight on the camera. You have to unlock the dot sight, hold it straight, and then lock it. After that, you can calibrate it properly.

How Does It Work?

When you look through the dot sight, you can see a reticle inside it that you can aim at and align the camera with the subject, while holding the camera a couple of decimetre from your eye. This way you know when the reticle is on the subject, it is in the centre of the frame, while you are seeing everything around the subject as normal (i.e. not through the viewfinder) and can follow the bird or see which way it goes. You can quickly follow with the camera and snap the images you would like much faster.

Conclusion

The question is whether it is helpful. The answer is yes, especially if you are not an experienced bird photographer. It definitely speeds up the targeting of the bird, whether it is still or flying. It also simplifies the process of following flying birds. I have photographed birds before, but I have never had as many successful framings as I have had with the dot sight.

Compared to the competition, if you can get them, as they seem to be discontinued, it is much cheaper.

Of course, not everything is like walking in a rose garden with the dot sight. You have to get used to it, which is normally a relatively quick process. The way you need to hold the camera can quickly exhaust your arms, making you tired and leading to shorter photo sessions. Needing to calibrate it every time you attach it on the camera or use a new lens, can be a little discouraging.

All that said, if you have invested in a long telephoto lens to photograph birds, this is just a fraction of the investment but would help you improve your success rate several times, especially in the beginning, and to a very budget friendly price.

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Alternatives

Nikon DF-M1

New: Discontinued  (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk,  from $120 (Affiliate links)

Olympus EE1

New: Amazon ($106), B&H (~ $125 ) (Affiliate links)
Buy used: ebay.com, ebay.de, ebay.co.uk, from $100 (Affiliate links)

Gear used

• Camera: Nikon Zf, (Affiliate link)
• Camera grip Nikon Zf: , (Affiliate link)
  
• Memory Card: Kingston Canvas React V90 (Affiliate link)
• Memory card 2: Sandisk Extreme Pro V30 A2 (Affiliate link)
• Camera: Nikon Z7ii Camera:  (Affiliate link)
• Z7 Camera L-bracket  (Affiliate link)
• Memory card: Lexar Professional  (Affiliate link)
  
• Memory card2: Sony Tough 128GB (Affiliate link)
• Lens: Sigma 100-400 , (Affiliate link)
• Lens collar for tripod mount (Affiliate link)
• Adapter: Nikon FTZ II , (Affiliate link)
• Tripod (Affiliate link)

More Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review and many more can be found in higher resolution here.

Further Reading

What camera gear and accessories do I use most frequently?

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Martin

Martin M.H. lives outside Stockholm, Sweden. He is a M.Sc. in Computer Technology but he has been a passionate photographer for over 45 years. He started his photographic adventures when he was thirteen with an Agfamatic pocket camera, which he soon replaced with a Canon rangefinder camera that his mom gave him in his teenages. After that he has been using Canon SLR, Nikon SLR manual focus and Autofocus, Sony mirrorless crop sensor, Nikon DSLR and Nikon Mirrorless. He has photographed any genre he could throughout the years and you can see all kind of images in his portfolio. During the later years though it has been mostly landscape, nature, travel and some street/documentary photography.

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