New Nodal Point Adapter
Although he has two left hands and is as clumpsy as a toddler,
Yuval built this improved nodal point adapter to replace the one
that came with the Mrotator. It is lighter, easier to compact for
travel and is built with material available from your local hardware
store. He bought the material at a Home
Depot for less than 20$ and reused the Manfrotto RC2 mount that
came with the original adapter.
Material
The new head is made out of a 1/8" (3mm) thick 2" (5.1mm)
90 degrees alluminium profile. Three pieces are cut out of the profile.
- A 5-1/4"(13cm) arm that is attached to Agno's rotator at
one end and has a 1/4"(6mm) wide, 4"(8cm) long slit
at the other end on the opposite side.
- A 2" (5.1cm) used to slide along the slit.
- A 5-5/8" (14.2cm) lateral arm, one side of which is cut
to fit in the second profile at a 34 degree angle. The RC2 mount
is attached at the other end on the opposite side.
Side by side comparison
Not much different in size, but a big difference in weight
thanks to the lighter material.
Stability
The new adapter is at least as stable the original one. No
need to use mirror lockup for long exposures.
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Packed for travel
Take one screw off and the new adapter folds nicely and is
much more compact than the original.
Improvements
The drawback of this design is that it does not allow for
the camera to be tilted upward/downward for Zenith and Nadir
pictures or for multi-row panoramas. Yuval is already at work
on an improved design to compensate for these weaknesses.
Next: Camera and Lenses
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