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Nodal Ninja 3 MK3 Operating Manual
v.1.1
Copyright © 2020 Nodal Ninja
3. Place two objects with vertical reference lines in front of the camera lens
– one about 3 ft (1m) and the other placed further back about 6ft (3m).
Anything can be used for vertical referencing such as a door jam with a
window frame in the background, fence posts, etc. In this example, we
will illustrate using 2 lamps. Lamp A (foreground) with a gold shade and
lamp B (background) with a silver shade. They are slightly offset from
each other to better illustrate, but can also be positioned one directly
behind the other.
4. While looking in the viewfinder of the camera, rotate the camera
horizontally so both lamps are placed to the left side of the frame as
shown.
5. Then move the camera to the right so lamps are now on the right side of
the frame. Watch the movement of both lamps as you rotate left, and
again to the right. You will see an apparent movement of lamp B in the
background to lamp A in the foreground. This is called parallax and the
camera will need to be moved on the upper rail until this movement is no
longer apparent.
6. Our objective is to move the camera/lens back and forth slightly on the
upper rail until there is no movement of lamp B to lamp A. Once you find
this sweet spot, tighten the Camera Mounting Knob and lock position
using the upper rail stop. If using a different lens or shooting at different
focal lengths, this process will need to be repeated on the upper rail. The
lower rail setting will never change so long as you use the same camera
body. Once learned, this is quick and easy to implement in the field.
