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3 Using Other Lenses
HOW DO I LOCATE MY CAMERA’S NODAL POINT?
The prior instructions cover the Nikon Coolpix standard lens and the Nikon wide-
angle lens. Since the Coolpix 900 series has a threaded barrel, you can screw on
other 3rd party lenses. These lenses will have a different mounting location, or
nodal point, along the bracket, and you’ll need to discover this location. Follow
these steps and you’ll be able to easily locate the nodal point for any camera and
lens combination.
Simply put, the nodal point is the point inside your camera where the light rays
converge and flip over. When shooting an immersive panorama, it’s necessary to
rotate about this point to eliminate the image mismatch caused by parallax er-
ror.
Parallax error can be easily demonstrated by this simple experiment. Close one
eye and hold your index finger upright about six inches away from your open eye.
Rock your head from side to side. Notice how your finger moves with respect to
the background. This relative movement is due to the fact that you’re not rotat-
ing your head around your eye’s nodal point, which is somewhere in the center of
your eyeball. Instead, you’re rotating about your spine which is several inches to
the rear and off to one side. It is this relative side-to-side motion that we will strive
to eliminate when setting up a camera for VR panoramas.
STEP 1: THE EASY PART - THE SIDE-TO-SIDE ADJUSTMENT
Once the camera is fastened to the KiWi 900/950 Pan Head, the center of the lens
will be directly over the pivot axis. No side-to-side adjustment will be needed.