Preparatory steps - finding the nodal point
The position of the entrance pupil “nodal point” depends on the camera-lens combination
and - when using a zoom lens - on the focal length you use. Therefore you should try to
find the position of the nodal point of all lenses you will use and write them down. When
taking the pictures later, you only have to transfer the values to the scales on the clamping
plates before you start shooting.
Tip
The problem of parallax shift between foreground and background occurs especially at
close range. Here you should work with a precisely adjusted panoramic head by all means.
Please have in mind that you have to find the exact position of the entrance pupil of your
lens only once. Therefore you should invest a little more time in this procedure. A precisely
adjusted panoramic head saves hours of work on the computer afterwards!
Preparatory step 1
Assemble all components of your system
Use the method as described in the last chapter. Set
up your tripod and pay attention to a safe stand. You
don’t have to align the tripod. Level the lower panning
base (10) with the horizon. Watch the bubble level on
the plate and level the system by the ball head be-
neath.
Preparatory step 2
Side-to-side adjustment: Move the camera into
the pivot axis of the tripod head
Bring your camera in the position shown on the
•
right, while paying attention to the safety references.
Observe the spirit level (1) on the flash shoe of your
camera. Open the blue angle locking screw (6), po-
sition your camera facing straight downwards and
tighten up the screw again.
Look through the viewfinder of your cam-
•
era, open the lower locking screw (12)
and slide the L-bracket (9) back and forth
until the center autofocus point is aiming
at the white cross on the lower panning
base (mark for the rotation axis), see il-
lustration at the right.
After that, tighten up the lower locking
•
screw (12) and write down the value giv-
en by the indicator scale at the L-bracket
(9) for future exposures with this camera
body.
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12
Center AF-point
Look through the viewfinder of the camera
Preparatory step 3
Forward-Backward Adjustment
In the following, you need a one-time set-up for testing.
This set-up, which can be easily done at home, should
have vertical lines in the foreground as well as in the back-
ground.
1. Now bring the camera into a precise vertical position.
For this purpose use the blue upper angle locking screw
(6) and observe the spirit level (1) on the flash shoe.
2. Mount the lens, whose nodal point you want to find,
to the camera body. When using a zoom lens, set the
required focal length.
3. 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.
4. Now pan the camera from right to left and back while
looking through the viewfinder.
Observe if the objects move to
each other (see fig. 1+2) or stay
together (see fig. 3+4).
5. Here: When I panned the camera
to right, the floor lamp moved to
left in relation to the door frame
(fig. 2). This is an indication of ro-
tating outside the nodal point of
the lens.
6. Now set another distance on the
blue clamping plate (2). When
panning again you will notice that
the movement of the lines will ei-
ther be stronger or weaker. In the
last case you shifted the clamping
plate in the right direction.
7. Repeat the procedure until the
vertical lines don’t move (see fig.
3+4).
8. Now the whole system is panning
in the entrance pupil of the lens.
Write down these settings for fu-
ture exposures with this camera-
lens-combination. For this pur-
pose read off the values given
by the indicator scale at the blue
clamping plate (2).
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fig. 1
fig. 3
fig. 4
fig. 2
