Preparatory step 5:
Forward-Backward Adjustment:
Mount the lens, whose nodal point you want to find, to the camera body. When us-
ing a zoom lens, set the required focal length.
Look through the viewfinder. Find a vertical edge or line, such as a floor lamp,
which is located in the foreground and bring it in line with a vertical object in the
background e.g. a door frame or an edge of a building. You may have to move the
tripod for this purpose. Now pan the camera from right to left and back while look-
ing through the viewfinder. When the two vertical lines move to each other
(see fig.
1+2)
, you are outside the nodal point. When they stay together
(see fig. 3+4)
, you
are inside the nodal point.
Advice:
If your camera is equipped with a depth of field preview, use it while you are look-
ing through the viewfinder and close the aperture, so that you have the maximum
depth of field.
Now set another distance on the plate. When panning again you will notice that
the movement of the lines to each other will either be stronger or weaker. In the
last case you shifted the plate in the right direction. Repeat the procedure until the
vertical lines stay side by side (see fig. 3+4).
Now the whole system is panning in the nodal point of the lens.
Tip:
The angle bracket has an engraved indicator scale on its side in order to set up the
right value again in front of the scene. Write down the value you have just found.
In this example I brought
the floor lamp in line with
the door frame (
fig. 1
).
When I panned the cam-
era to right, the floor lamp
moved to left in relation
to the door frame (
fig. 2
).
This is an indication of
rotating outside the nodal
point of the lens.
Page 8
fig.1
fig. 2
fig. 3
fig. 4
When shifting the quick release instead of the plate
(set up using method B) use the indicator mark on
the quick release.
Write down these settings for future
exposures with this camera-lens-
unit. For this purpose read off the
values given by the indicator scale
on the plate.
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