How the heck do I use this thing (nodal slide)

[Harry Mangurian]

I got a Desmond nodal slide delivered today it looks like this.    No instructions. I have seen on you tube, how to determine the nodal point etc. I will be doing cylindrical 360 panoramas.
My dumb question is – how/where do I mount the camera? which end of the slide attaches to the tripod?
I realize that once I attach the camera, the other end must mount on the tripod pivot point, but I can see several ways to configure. HELP.

(please don’t pass my name around, I don’t need a stupid label on my back)
Thanks,

[Bill Gercken]

Hey Harry,

Typically you are going to want to use the nodal slide in combination with some form panorama rig such as the ones from nodal ninja or really right stuff. First this is how the slide would be mounted in such a rig: Nodal Slide on Pano Rig

Here is the same rig with the camera mounted:

The above setup is normally used for multi-row panoramas.

That being said, if you have a base that can rotate you could shoot a basic panorama in landscape mode using the base as the rotator:

The other factor is of course the lens. If you are shooting with a 12mm lens on a full frame camera you can ALMOST capture a full sphere using the above approach.

These are just examples. Take a look at the bottom of the page for the link that you sent for your nodal slide under “Frequently bought together” for idea of a very reasonably priced rotator. (I have not used that one but for the money maybe worth a try.)

Hope this helps and best regards,
-bill

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[Harry Mangurian]

To: Bill Gercken
Hi – all of your images in the reply are broken. Are the links bad?

Thanks for your effort.

– Harry

[Bill Gercken]

Hi Harry,

Working on fixing the links for you. Give me a couple of minutes.

Thanks.
-bill

[Bill Gercken]

Hey Harry,

Could not figure out how to imbed the images, so you will need to click the links (hopefully they will work this time.)

Typically you are going to want to use the nodal slide in combination with some form panorama rig such as the ones from nodal ninja or really right stuff. First this is how the slide would be mounted in such a rig: Nodal Slide on Pano Rig

Here is the same rig with the camera mounted: Nodal Slide on Pano Rig with Camera

The above setup is normally used for multi-row panoramas.

That being said, if you have a base that can rotate you could shoot a basic panorama in landscape mode using the base as the rotator: Nodal Slide on Rotating Base with Camera

The other factor is of course the lens. If you are shooting with a 12mm lens on a full frame camera you can ALMOST capture a full sphere using the above approach.

These are just examples. Take a look at the bottom of the page for the link that you sent for your nodal slide under “Frequently bought together” for idea of a very reasonably priced rotator. (I have not used that one but for the money maybe worth a try.)

Hope this helps and best regards,
-bill

[Bill Gercken]

Also… I glossed over the mounting part. If you have a arca swiss mount then you would use the clamp on the nodal slide, otherwise you can use the screw to mount the slide directly to your camera. My examples all used the arca swiss mount.

This is the camera mounted using the available screw and this is using the arca swiss plate.

Also, dawned on me if you have a right angle arca swiss bracket then the rotating base can be used in portrait mode as well.

Cheers.
-bill

With the slide you bought yo

[Harry Mangurian]

To: Bill Gercken

many thanks. I certainly appreciate all your effort in taking and posting the photos.

• Harry

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