Sometimes the simple approach is best. This presupposes the correct lens nodal point.  When in fact I think it is probably the "average NP location".  Should give reasonable results.

Dave

Thanks for this Thomas. Like Dave I love the simplicity of design and have nodal point concerns. Their website doesn't expand on this at all. Still tempted.
Have recently gone the other way by buying the biggest rotator I could find from Jasper Engineering which doesn't fit in my pocket..  

I can't read Italian, but it looks to me like the nodal point would be centered on any camera, since it holds the lense in place, rather than the camera.

It also looks like you poke the lens through, then screw it into the camera.  I would think this would scratch the outter casing of the lense, where it meets the metal.

Anyone here speak Italian?  It might be nice if we invited somebody from their company to post here to tell us more about it, and answer our questions.

thanks for the post thomas.

dave has a point. it gives the average nodal point. where as other heads, allow you the flexibility of adjustment. this one is fixed.

if it's metal to metal, scott is right about the lens getting scratched. this could be corrected

by lining the ring though.

my main concern is that the lens is supporting all the weight of the camera and the threads of the camera might suffer.

in addition, there is no levels to indicate accurate balance. even if you put the quicktilt leveler you still need to the levels to indicate correct balance.

True.. I did not see any spirit levels either.  That is a major oversight on the design.  Each image MUST be leveled up in order to get a near perfect stitch.  Maybe the designer should take that last quality control step.. and actually try to stitch some images.

Dave

Hello,

my name is Martino Agnoletto, I? the planner and constructor of the VR-head Mrotator and other gear for panorama photography.

With a few lines I will try to illustrate a couple of points in this discussion.

1)      The heads are projected to define the nodal point for spherical panoramas done with the fisheye converters NIKON FC-E8 and FC-E9. Calculating and blocking the exact position of the optics will result in a precise position for the rotation, which can? be obtained with other available VR-heads on the market to day.

2)      The head was designed to have a contact between the metal ring of the lens and the metal ring of the Mrotator to maximize the precise positioning of the lens. The precise construction results in a perfect contact and there is only a minimal pressure needed to block the lens inside the Mrotator.

3)      There is no level because it? not necessary. The lens will be positioned from the system to turn it with a mechanical lock for 180?or 120?without any possible errors. At this point the levelling is only an esthetic and so a visual factor, but it? insignificant for the precision of the stitching.

4)      The ?verhanging?camera. If we get the weight of a Coolpix 4500 and a FC-E8 or ,at the worst, the weight of a Coolpix 5400 and a FC-E9, we will notate that the thread of the lens will be more stressed from the mounting position of the camera on the VR-head and not the other way round with the lens mounted into the Mrotator. Mounting the lens into the Mrotator reduces the stress at the thread..

Thank you Martino for joining the forum.  Quite a few people were asking if you would join the forum and help explain the design.

I have found that the FC-E8 has a many nodal points in a range from the lens rim back to the lens collar.  The range is dependent on the center line of the lens (B) angle to the lens rim.  As Michel Thoby writes in his Test2 Results:

"Test results

Actually the nodal point location depends on the aspect angle ( ?) from the optical axis of the lens.

There is AN INFINITY of nodal points. They are located at a distance (D) that is about 17 or 20 mm (*) from the lens front to 4.5 mm from the same surface.

See test chart on  Michel Thoby ".

I understand your concept for the left side where the panhead shaft Axis is the same for both images, but I suspect there will be severe pitch up and down as the pan head and camera lens rotate about the tripod point of rotation.  This would provide for some amusing panoramas where the horizon in the image is not the same as the real world level horizon.

We found that most leveling devices like Kaidan Quick Leveller do not have spirit levels.  The bidirectional spirit levels are located on the pan head. In your left side example the whole tripod base would have to be leveled rather then only leveling the head.

Your comments about the camera weight on its lens swivel joint is correct.  4 years ago I saw a web page for the Nikon 900 and 950 where the swivel lens load tested with the weight of a concrete block .  The hinge point did not fail.  I would suspect the light weight camera body would not create an issue.

Your panorama head appears to be a good light weight device. But it might need consideration of the above additional information.

Dave