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***Steve*** · 02-07-2007, 15:32

How easy is the Nodal Ninja 3 to use?

First steps

After getting over my initial stumbling blocks with my incorrect perception of its complexity, I quickly became proficient with the NN3. For my first shoot (after finding and setting up the nodal point for my kit) I chose not to be too ambitious and decided to attempt a couple of ‘simple’ 180 degree single row panoramas. My chosen subjects, a path near the edge of a forest, and a separate shoot inside the forest are close to my home, offered easy access and I figured that the nature of the scenes would be a good initial test, since they would have lots of tricky detail to match up.

At the first location I had everything set up in less than 5 minutes and was surprised at the speed I was taking the shots. Once set up and levelled I attached my remote shutter release cable and proceeded to shoot the sequence of shots (6 in total). I realised by the end of this shoot that if I was sure I had everything set up correctly in the beginning, beyond the initial look, there was no need to line up each shot through the viewfinder. Trusting the accuracy of the camera’s rotation and position to the NN3 came very quickly.

For the second shoot I wandered into the forest and set up again. After the surprising ease of the first shoot I decided that I would forgo my plans to keep it simple and opted for a more challenging partial spherical panorama. Set up took me a few minutes before I was totally happy and ready to begin (made more complicated due to finding the right camera settings for the difficult light of the scene) but the whole shooting process was completed in under a minute, pretty amazing for a ‘complex’ panorama. The final panorama is made up of 16 frames (8 on each pass) and the results from a complete beginner are testament to the simplicity and accuracy of the NN3.

Both of these initial panoramas were stitched together in the panoramic software using auto settings (no manual assistance) in around 5 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. Whilst not perfect (see the end of finding my feet for why) you have to remember that these are genuinely the first two panoramas shot with the NN3 by a complete beginner.

Here is the woods path shot as a flat image.

180 degree cylindrical panorama

Finding my feet - literally

After my initial success and with much excitement and a new found enthusiasm for panoramic photography, I decided that I would spend the next day in and around Munich with the NN3. My first stop was a church, after setting up I proceeded to shoot a spherical panorama of the interior. Setting up was a breeze and within a couple of minutes I was ready to begin the shoot. All the frames where taken within a couple of minutes. Adjusting the NN3 for each of the three passes plus the vertical up shot was done with no effort and complete confidence. During this shoot I stumbled across my first major hurdle. The NN3 is designed so that it is possible to shoot the whole scene and not have your feet or the tripod visible in the down shot (nadir), however I didn’t know how to achieve that and couldn’t work it out while on location. A little frustrated and annoyed with myself for not finding out before hand, I had to accept defeat and move on. This definitely impacted on the end result and it is not what it should have been.

270x140 degree panorama

From the Church I spent the full day in and around Munich shooting different scenes with various amounts of success. You can view some of my results below.

River Isar through the center of Munich
180x120 degree panorama

Munich Center
240x140 degree panorama

Munich Hoff Garden
Full 360x180 spherical panorama

Ignoring the mistakes I made during my stitching software familiarisation stages (nothing to do with the NN3) the results above highlighted a few issues specifically connected to the NN3. These would have to be solved for the shooting stage if I was to improve. First there was the problem of getting the down shot (nadir) without having your feet or tripod in the picture, it also became apparent that there was a small amount of ‘weaving’ creeping in to my 360 degree horizontal shots (not so evident on the smaller 180 degree panoramas). In one of the panoramas (not shown here) there was a serious parallax problem, so much so that it was impossible for me to stitch it together without it looking a mess. This panorama was ultimately consigned to the recycling bin.

I contacted Bill Bailey for help and after some excellent advice, a couple of great links and some helpful critique that highlighted a couple of issues I had missed, I was confident that I could solve all the issues. I was certain that the parallax issue was down to me having set up the nodal point for my equipment incorrectly, some information from one of his links told me everything I needed to know to correct this. The nadir shot issue was a combination of a shooting technique deficiency on my part, and a software process to be used which I was previously unaware of. The weaving problem was again due to my inexperience and incorrect setup of the NN3, in particular the amount of resistance/play with the main arm rotation that I had set. A simple adjustment to the knob on the main arm solved that issue instantly.

The parallax issue that completely ruined one shoot, is also slightly evident in the first day’s results and as all the results from the second day were shot with the same settings on the NN3, it is these more thorough results that highlighted the error very clearly. This is why the first two panoramas are not perfect. The solution, as already mentioned, was simply to adjust the camera to correct the nodal point being set wrong initially.

02-07-2007, 15:32	#7 (permalink)
*Steve* Pixalo Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: An Englishman living in Germany Posts: 16,144	Re: Nodal Ninja Spherical Tripod Head review How easy is the Nodal Ninja 3 to use? *First steps* After getting over my initial stumbling blocks with my incorrect perception of its complexity, I quickly became proficient with the NN3. For my first shoot (after finding and setting up the nodal point for my kit) I chose not to be too ambitious and decided to attempt a couple of ‘simple’ 180 degree single row panoramas. My chosen subjects, a path near the edge of a forest, and a separate shoot inside the forest are close to my home, offered easy access and I figured that the nature of the scenes would be a good initial test, since they would have lots of tricky detail to match up. At the first location I had everything set up in less than 5 minutes and was surprised at the speed I was taking the shots. Once set up and levelled I attached my remote shutter release cable and proceeded to shoot the sequence of shots (6 in total). I realised by the end of this shoot that if I was sure I had everything set up correctly in the beginning, beyond the initial look, there was no need to line up each shot through the viewfinder. Trusting the accuracy of the camera’s rotation and position to the NN3 came very quickly. For the second shoot I wandered into the forest and set up again. After the surprising ease of the first shoot I decided that I would forgo my plans to keep it simple and opted for a more challenging partial spherical panorama. Set up took me a few minutes before I was totally happy and ready to begin (made more complicated due to finding the right camera settings for the difficult light of the scene) but the whole shooting process was completed in under a minute, pretty amazing for a ‘complex’ panorama. The final panorama is made up of 16 frames (8 on each pass) and the results from a complete beginner are testament to the simplicity and accuracy of the NN3. Both of these initial panoramas were stitched together in the panoramic software using auto settings (no manual assistance) in around 5 minutes and 10 minutes respectively. Whilst not perfect (see the end of finding my feet* for why)* you have to remember that these are genuinely the first two panoramas shot with the NN3 by a complete beginner. Here is the woods path shot as a flat image. 180 degree cylindrical panorama Finding my feet - literally After my initial success and with much excitement and a new found enthusiasm for panoramic photography, I decided that I would spend the next day in and around Munich with the NN3. My first stop was a church, after setting up I proceeded to shoot a spherical panorama of the interior. Setting up was a breeze and within a couple of minutes I was ready to begin the shoot. All the frames where taken within a couple of minutes. Adjusting the NN3 for each of the three passes plus the vertical up shot was done with no effort and complete confidence. During this shoot I stumbled across my first major hurdle. The NN3 is designed so that it is possible to shoot the whole scene and not have your feet or the tripod visible in the down shot (nadir), however I didn’t know how to achieve that and couldn’t work it out while on location. A little frustrated and annoyed with myself for not finding out before hand, I had to accept defeat and move on. This definitely impacted on the end result and it is not what it should have been. 270x140 degree panorama From the Church I spent the full day in and around Munich shooting different scenes with various amounts of success. You can view some of my results below. River Isar through the center of Munich 180x120 degree panorama Munich Center 240x140 degree panorama Munich Hoff Garden Full 360x180 spherical panorama Ignoring the mistakes I made during my stitching software familiarisation stages (nothing to do with the NN3) the results above highlighted a few issues specifically connected to the NN3. These would have to be solved for the shooting stage if I was to improve. First there was the problem of getting the down shot (nadir) without having your feet or tripod in the picture, it also became apparent that there was a small amount of ‘weaving’ creeping in to my 360 degree horizontal shots (not so evident on the smaller 180 degree panoramas). In one of the panoramas (not shown here) there was a serious parallax problem, so much so that it was impossible for me to stitch it together without it looking a mess. This panorama was ultimately consigned to the recycling bin. I contacted Bill Bailey for help and after some excellent advice, a couple of great links and some helpful critique that highlighted a couple of issues I had missed, I was confident that I could solve all the issues. I was certain that the parallax issue was down to me having set up the nodal point for my equipment incorrectly, some information from one of his links told me everything I needed to know to correct this. The nadir shot issue was a combination of a shooting technique deficiency on my part, and a software process to be used which I was previously unaware of. The weaving problem was again due to my inexperience and incorrect setup of the NN3, in particular the amount of resistance/play with the main arm rotation that I had set. A simple adjustment to the knob on the main arm solved that issue instantly. The parallax issue that completely ruined one shoot, is also slightly evident in the first day’s results and as all the results from the second day were shot with the same settings on the NN3, it is these more thorough results that highlighted the error very clearly. This is why the first two panoramas are not perfect. The solution, as already mentioned, was simply to adjust the camera to correct the nodal point being set wrong initially. __________________ .......__o .......\<, ....( )/ ( )