Camera rigs for shooting 3D video are classified as manual, motorized, or fully automatic. Even in an automatic camera rig, the process of Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) video capture is very complex and time-consuming. One of the key time-consuming operations is capturing the distance parameters, which are near distance, far distance, and convergence distance. Traditionally these distances are measured by tape measure or triangular indirect measurement methods. These two methods consume a long time for every scene in shot. In our study, a compact laser distance sensing system with long range distance sensitivity is developed. The system is small enough to be installed on top of a camera and the measuring accuracy is within 2% even at a range of 50 m. The shooting time of an automatic camera rig equipped with the laser distance sensing system can be reduced significantly to less than a minute.