Anyone used Laser Tape?

[floatingtrem]

After DPing a few grueling shoots in 100+ weather with a 16mm I got sick and tired of having to measure each shot, and even when I had an AC on board to do it for me, it really broke up the rhythm of the shoot. And then I thought, "There must be some sort of laser pointer like device that can tell you the distance to something?" And after like 10 seconds of searching, I found one. The Straight-Line Laser Tape.

And so, does anyone have any experience using these in the feild? It seems like it would be a fantastic way to figure out distances almost instantly. Hell, depending on the situation, the focus puller could use it throughout the entire shot making sure the subject is always in perfect focus. It seems to me that this would be so obvious everyone would already be using these, so are they? or is there some reason they aren't? Has anyone here had any experience with one?

 

[Barry_Green]

It is, it does work well, the only real caution is to KEEP IT AWAY FROM ANYONE'S EYES. Other than that, it works well, just make sure you're looking at laser and not ultrasonic.

 

[Sidney Tawl]

Barry is so correct, this is a very bad idea. Lasers and eyes don't match. Hmm excuse me. When your AC measured for your shot, where did the tape go.

ANOTHER thing I see today that drives me nuts is people using METAL and other HARD tape measures. This is inconsiderate and dangerous. Do you like someone putting hard metal next to your eyes. Hard metal that has spring tension and can move at great speed and different directions.

Tell your AC's to get a soft tape measure. There ARE times and places you can use a stiff measure. Hooking on to the camera and pulling the tape to a persons eyes for focus with a hard tape is playing with fire. What happens if that tape snaps or the hook breaks or just comes off, and you blinded someone.

Lasers for distance only for nonhumans imo. and why even start something that can be hazardous for even a crew member stepping in at the wrong time.