Nodal Ninja 4

Hello all you happy little Ninja's out there.... :th_wink:

This Thread is for those who would like to make comment on the State-Of-The-Art Nodal Ninja 4 Pano Head...

To be honest I am still overwhelmed at being the first person in the whole wide world to receive the all new NN4 with RD16 Rotor. I also have the Arca Style Quick Release System which is really great. Camera On - Camera Off, really quickly...

I am also playing with my Nadir Adapter which is a really nice little attachment, very well made with precise clicks to set to 90 and 180 degrees. I am still working out how to use it but I will get there in the end. I have had lots of hot tips on that so far...:thumbup1: To be honest I think that this little tool really sets off the NN4.. It adds so much to its functionality. I would guess that a lot of thought has gone into its design.

I am using the Nikon D90 with 10.5 fisheye lens which are both really nice tools.. I really love my setup but in time i would like to buy a full frame camera, but that will come later. I am very new to the pano world, but I am learning fast. So far I think I have made all the right decision as far as tooling and software goes.

I have been nothing else but very impressed with the new NN4 from the moment I took it out of its carry case, which in itself is a very nice beautifully made case. My husband laughed at seeing my face when I realised it was longer than the NN3 case, as I found out when I tried to load it into my camera bag. :blush: Now I need a new bigger bag!

There seems to have been a lot of thought gone into the NN4's design and understanding the needs of pano photographers. I personally love nice engineered things. i have checked out just about every part of this NN4 and cannot find fault in any part of it. The overall finish is really beautiful, with no sharp edges. I do not think its an easy task to design something that is well engineered, practical, highly functional and most importantly, affordable but not cheap looking!

The NN4 with its increment at the rotation points are a really nice feature. Everything seems to move so freely without sticking and clicks precisely into place. Its just a matter of tightening it up after rotating with the large black knob which, like all these large black knobs are really nicely finished off.. Very silky smooth to the touch..

My NN4 sits proudly on top of my RD-16 Rotor. I have used this Rotor before and I have found it to be really easy to use and clicks precisely and easily into its increment setting. This Rotor by itself is a nice piece of engineering.

I have just about set up my Nadir Point which I found to be really easy due to the the NN4's great design features. The metal placement stops are great for maintaining the final settings for all future panos, facilitating a quick setup for each photo session. Now I am ready for the big day tomorrow, where I will be taking my first pano tour of a Model Airplane shop.. Its a freebee so not getting paid for it but I get to put my first pano tour on my web site. It will be the big test for me and my new NN4.. :blush:

Just one last thing.. Customer support in our book is at the top of our list. The customer support we have received from Bill Bailey and his team has been nothing short of OUTSTANDING!.. :th_love:

Bye for now..

D...

Hi Destiny and welcome to our forum.
We appreciate the kind words and testimonial. While the vast majority of our products are problem free less than 1% do occasionally need special attention. It's reassuring to know we are there should the need arise. We are also very fortunate to now have Anthony representing Australia who also went above and beyond to assist in this concern.

On the Nadir Adapter here is another thread that will give you an idea how it is used:
http://www.nodalninja.com/forum/showthread.php?3994
Once learned you'll appreciate it's use.

I believe we need to prioritize on getting some new videos up - I'll try to put this near the top.
thx again
Bill

Hello Bill ... 1%.. that in itself is a great feat.. Many companies would be happy to let that pass as acceptable, but not yours!.. Even this seems to warrant special attention... :th_love:

John and I have felt a little guilty at not understanding this from the beginning, so we have tried very hard to make this up to you.. .:blush:

John is often in contact with Anthony, he does a great job in costumer service and tries to help us sooo much.. He represents your company very well... We are fully understating that he might be away from time to time on Air Force bush bash exercise...

D :th_wink:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Destiny

Hello Bill ... 1%.. that in itself is a great feat.. Many companies would be happy to let that pass as acceptable, but not yours!.. Even this seems to warrant special attention... :th_love:

John and I have felt a little guilty at not understanding this from the beginning, so we have tried very hard to make this up to you.. .:blush:

John is often in contact with Anthony, he does a great job in costumer service and tries to help us sooo much.. He represents your company very well... We are fully understating that he might be away from time to time on Air Force bush bash exercise...

D :th_wink:

Hey Destiny,
Your words of gratitude says it all - enjoy and use your NN4 to it's fullest and we hope you'll share some panoramas here and share your in field stories.
We have many other support stories - just today we spoke with a guy on the phone who rented a NN5 from an online company (not a reseller - the company paid full price 2 years ago for there rental store). They sent him wrong parts and he called "us". We didn't have obligation to support the product but we offered next day service of correct knob at no cost to him due to his next day shoot. I really do try to put myself in the shoes of the customer and many times we go above and beyond what other companies would deem ridiculous but oh well. And then there was the time we spent $100 to get a $5 knob to customer in Botswana (forget actually where the guy was at but may have as well been) who dropped it in a river and so on and so on. Cases like this are rare (or we would go broke) but when the one off situation arises we enjoy stepping up to plate.

Cheers
Bill

Hello everyone.. I made an interactive graphic of the new NN4 to show how movable and adaptable it is.. Sorry, I made a few mistakes making it since we only have a little old Canon camera to take the shots and really yucky tripod to hold the camera on so it bounced about a little... We only have one good tripod and Nikon which are in the shots.. I will buy a different background and then make it again nicer one later.. :) A nice mountain scene would have been better but big posters are expensive... unless I find a nice location to do it.. emm..

http://members.westnet.com.au/dps/NN...90Destiny.html

Destiny...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Destiny

Hello everyone.. I made an interactive graphic of the new NN4 to show how movable and adaptable it is.. Sorry, I made a few mistakes making it since we only have a little old Canon camera to take the shots and really yucky tripod to hold the camera on so it bounced about a little... We only have one good tripod and Nikon which are in the shots.. I will buy a different background and then make it again nicer one later.. :) A nice mountain scene would have been better but big posters are expensive... unless I find a nice location to do it.. emm..

http://members.westnet.com.au/dps/NN...90Destiny.html

Destiny...

Nicely done!

Bill

Desinty's Very First Virtual Tour using my new NN4

Hi everyone... Today am so proud of myself... I uploaded my very first VR Tour using my new NN4 to take the photos.. I also achieved my first ever Nadir Patches.. In fact, the wooden step on the stair gallery was my very first... It looks great...!:clap: I made a few mistakes :sad: , but I managed to fix them. I need to create a check list of my images taken, since I left out two entire rows.. I managed to put my logo on the foyer at the top to fix that one, but the fist one into the top stairs I had to limit the pan since I forgot to do the top row of images as well as the Zenith... :sad:

My new NN4 worked flawlessly.... Really nice to use.. It just clicked into place so well.. I love it so much.

I will make a nicer interface later, but for now I just use the default graphics..

http://members.westnet.com.au/dps/DP...bbyVRTour.html

I hope it all works your end...

Destiny :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :clap:

Nodal Ninja 4

hi guys,

i am very new to this Nodal Ninja pano heads.
When i saw the write up by fellow forum mates, i was impressed.

i am very excited abt this Nodal Ninja 4 and very eager to own one. i almost confirm the order for NN3 when i saw the NN4.

So i am very new to this.
is it ok that i can ask for some advise over here.
What is the difference btw the NN3 mkii and the NN4?

when we buy the nn4, with the RD16 rotator, do we still need to buy the detent ring separately?

thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Three60mktg

i am very new to this Nodal Ninja pano heads.

Welcome on board ! Feel free to post in the forum any questions or issues you might have :001_smile: Just a good way to do is to post a new thread and not post a new question in an existing thread :th_wink:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Three60mktg

When i saw the write up by fellow forum mates, i was impressed.
i am very excited abt this Nodal Ninja 4 and very eager to own one. i almost confirm the order for NN3 when i saw the NN4.
So i am very new to this.
is it ok that i can ask for some advise over here.
What is the difference btw the NN3 mkii and the NN4?

Forum is there for advices, share ideas, tips.... Main difference between NN3 and NN4 is size of rails and sturdy. NN3 is mainly designed for small consumer cameras and smaller reflex with small lens (small in term of size). NN4 is designed for larger reflex, or reflex equiped with larger lenses (till 100mm it'll fit). NN4 includes also on upper rotator a stop click every 15º, so it's easier to setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Three60mktg

when we buy the nn4, with the RD16 rotator, do we still need to buy the detent ring separately?

Definitively not ! detent rings are used only for basic rotator (avalaible on NN3 starter package, and first model of NN4). If you buy NN3 or NN4 with R-D8 or R-D16, you don't need rings, as setup is done by just moving a knob in a different hole on side of rotators.

Vincèn

Destiny recommends buying the NN4....

Hi.. As you would have read above, I have just used my NN4 with RD16 Rotor and Nadir Adaptor to create my very first pano tour... I have so much confidence in using my NN4 now that I have susseeded so well.. I made some mistakes but that was not the fault of my NN4. I just got excited and forgot some rows.. But I managed to fix most of it.... Make sure you have a check list..:biggrin: To be honest, my setup is just perfect for me... Prior to creating this tour, my pano's were of my lounge and kitchen area.. I have little experience in this area but I can tell you that my NN4 made easy work for me.. I felt like i had been at it for years.. My NN4 performed really well.. It just clicked into place perfectly from Rotor to NN4 arms.. I would recommend you buy an easy leveller too.. As soon as I can I will.. I used a D90 with 10.5 fish eye lens but the D700 with 16mm fish eye would be really great with the NN4. A full frame camera is the way to go for sure... The scary bit was the nadir patch but the Nadir Adaptor works really well so buy one of those for sure... Check out my nadir patches.. My very first attempts so they can only get better....

If you buy the NN4 you will never regret it... you will enjoy using it for years... :001_smile:

Destiny Ninja No. 1 :biggrin:

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Actually the decision for the model of the NN panohead you should decide for depends on the camera and the lenses you like to use. Nikon bodies like D3100, D5100, D90 will nicely work for NN3 MKII, D7000, D300s, D700, D3xxx will fit for the NN4, D700 D3xxx with longer or heavier lenses will fit for the new M1-L/S series which will be available soon.

NN3 MKII and NN4 standard rotator use the detent ring system to click to different numbers of stops. To change from 4 to 6 stops for example, you either have to open the rotator to turn the detent ring around or place a different detent ring inside.

When you like to change this on a RD4, RD8, RD16 rotator, you just have to change the small blue knob from one hole to the other done in a fly to get another number of stops. RD8 RD16 rotators are also compatible to the new M1 Series.

Have a look to the new beta release of the production selector in the other forum line. See Bills first comment to reach it.

Always feel free to ask.

Regards,
Heinz

Hi everyone… I'm new to panorama shooting . I’ve tried to make 3D panorama
but without these impressive tools you’re writing about. So now I’m eager to
buy NN4 with RD16, but I need your advice. I have a Canon 5D markII,
lenses Canon 17-40, Canon 24-105 and want to know whether NN4 with RD 16
will work properly with them. Do I need to buy some additional tools or some
accessories to adjust their work?.
Thank you

Hi Vitaly, and welcome to the forum,

Yes, it will work. I checked it for 17-40, I do not have data for 24-105. LRS = lower rail setting for 5D MKII is 57, URS = upper rails setting for 17-40 is zoom @17 109.5, @28 107.5, @40 110.5 Mount the base plate of CP2 with the short side of the base plate to the back of your camera body.

Test your equipment:

http://www.easypano.com/forum/displa...1&TopicID=4162

http://www.johnhpanos.com/epcalib.htm

Database used for your combo:

http://wiki.panotools.org/Entrance_Pupil_Database

For number of shots have a look to:

http://www.vrwave.com/panoramic-lens-database/canon/

http://www.frankvanderpol.nl/fov_pan_calc.htm

To find out about the rest is up to you.

I would add minimum the Nadir Adapter, Ez-Leveller II for easy leveling on the go.

Have a look to e-store.

Regards,
Heinz

NN4 + D90 + Nikon 10.5 Fisheye Lens + Quick Release Clamp = what setting for Nodal Point... I have seen so many ways of doing its.. including above the that suggest the lens to go way back past the gold ring on the lens yet other topics suggest JUST behind the 90...

I have tried ..... 30 degrees down, 45 up with a Zenith.. I have also tried 45 down 45 up plus a Zenith.. I also tired 30 + 30 with no Zenith.... I have found it all depend where the gold line is set which effects the angle used...

I was wondering what other have set their same as mine hardware up.. I am sure there must be someone with the same...

D..

D....

what quick release system do you use?

URS should be 83. Lower rails depends on the clamp.

Check www.easypano.... and www.Johnhpanos in my thread below to find the NPP. Once you have it, it does not matter how much you pitch up or down, you always move in NPP.

Heinz