How To Shoot 360: Tutorials and Workshops

Nodal Ninja R20 - Calibrating No-Parallax Point for Google and differences from Nodal Ninja R10

janvrsinsky — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 21:51:03 +0200

Here are correct no-parallax point settings for Nodal Ninja R20 that was announced some months ago. It is actually very easy to determine correct settings for R20 if you already know your settings for Nodal Ninja R10.

R20 vs R10 upper clamp differences

· R20 has QR Clamp closer to rotator axis than R10

· R20 has a greater clamp offset value at NPP for the same tilt angle.

· Offset of LRP values at a tilt angle is same, regardless of lens ring models.

Correct settings for Google R20 package

R20 with NEW V2 Lens Ring for Sigma 8mm F3.5 Nikon NPP 1.85 with LRP45x or LRP45XII rail plates
R20 with NEW V2 Lens Ring Canon 8-15 NPP: 2.5 with LRP45x or LRP45XII rail plates
R20 with NEW V2 Lens Ring Sigma 8mm F3.5 Canon NPP: 0.9 with LRP40 rail plate

Images © Nodal Ninja

Every day we are trying to increase a value of a purchase with...

janvrsinsky — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 13:59:52 +0200

Every day we are trying to increase a value of a purchase with us. Today we are announcing these new sweet discounts: Buy a panoramic head, telescopic pole or a workshop and get a discount on other equipment and software! More information.

The exhibition at the IVRPA conference in Prague will be open to...

janvrsinsky — Wed, 27 May 2015 11:59:17 +0200

The exhibition at the IVRPA conference in Prague will be open to public from June 1-3 from 12 to 17h. Come to visit us for a friendly chat!

More information here

Nodal Ninja Discount for IVRPA Conference Prague Attendees

janvrsinsky — Wed, 06 May 2015 16:14:15 +0200

We are planning an active selling participation at the IVRPA 360 virtual reality panoramic photography and 360 video conference in Prague happening this June 1-4, 2015. It will be huge! You can expect talks from Robert Scoble, Airpano and other celebrities in the field. We will be at the Nodal Ninja stand and we will offer a 10% discount for all Nodal Ninja products. If you order before May 15th, we will even grant you a bigger 15% discount.

Learn how to get the discount.

How To Shoot a 360 spherical video using Autopano Video 2

janvrsinsky — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 12:07:21 +0200

The new final version of Autopano Video 2 is out and with it there are some new cool features for creating your 360 degree videos. If you are new to this field start with this introductory video:

New features in Autopano Video 2:

Export to Youtube

The Autopano Video now supports exporting to the new 360 degree video player on Youtube.

Director’s cut mode

All Autopano output projections can be smoothly interpolated from one to another, including fisheye, inner world and little planet modes. Allowing you to create a great director’s cut version of your video.

Adaptive stitching

All 360 videos have an invevitable parallax error due to the nature of video capturing systems. This new feature shows control points status in real time as you preview the video and also adapts to this error frame by frame, allowing to minimize the visible impact of a stitching error for a particular scene.

Range stitching

The range stitching is specially designed for scenes with not enough details or low contrast to create reliable control points such as underwater and the like.

Autopano Video 2 can be purchase through our shop. If you have any questions for choosing the best software or equipment let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

Autopano 4 is here

janvrsinsky — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 10:27:03 +0200

Kolor has released a final version of Autopano 4. It was in beta for quite a while and it was released as a final version yesterday.

Key new features:

New color correction
Faster editor and quicker loading of projects
Better and unique deghosting algorithm that works well even with gigapixel photos
New user interface supporting 4k displays
More info at Kolor’s blog

Autopano can be purchased through our online store. If you bought a version 3.x recently you also received instructions on how to upgrade to version 4.x free of charge.

Celebrating 4 Years

janvrsinsky — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:24:37 +0100

In 2015 we are celebrating 4 years of the howtoshoot360.com blog and How To Shoot 360 Panoramic Photography Academy. The panoramic photography online shop was then founded in 2013. Many thanks to all customers, acquaintances and friends who have been through this with us.

Introducing new unique conversion kit for taking virtual tours with Samyang 7.5mm and Sony Nex

janvrsinsky — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 09:21:00 +0200

Introducing a new Nodal Ninja conversion kit for taking photos with Samyang 7.5mm on Sony Nex. You will need 4 photos to cover the entire spherical field of view with this kit.

What you need:

- A Sony Nex camera

- A Samyang 7.5mm fisheye lens for Sony Nex

- This conversion kit

- Mount this conversion kit into a panorama head with an Arca-Swiss mount (ideally for example Nodal Ninja Ultimate R10 without lens ring)

- The original lens hood is attached to the lens by 3 screws at the front (hidden under the decorative ring plate)

- Therefore the original lens hood can be easily replaced with this kit

Together this creates the best compact light weight camera lens combo with APS-C sensor ever, delivering great balance of image quality, weight, size and cost for creating virtual tours.

The conversion kit for Sony E-Mount can already be purchased on our shop. Versions for EOS M, Fuji X and NX are in preparation.

New Nodal Ninja Lens Rings V2 - With Controls Access

janvrsinsky — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 13:03:56 +0200

Introducing new Nodal Ninja Lens Ring V2 with windows for controls. Now you can change focus and other controls with the lens attached. The new lens ring works in both landscape and portrait rotation. This will ultimately lead to greater comfort of using these lens rings which is something many customers have been asking for. The previous V1 version remains fully supported and the V2 is an upgrade option.

You can find the new Lens Ring V2 in our online store.

These lens rings are fully compatible with Google Business View photography so we are also listing them in the Google Business Trusted Photographer category in the store.

Just as the previous version of the ring the V2 is compatible with Nodal Ninja Ultimate R1/R10 panoramic heads, RS1/2 and also with the Nodal Ninja Ultimate M series.

We are now accepting preorders. Estimated shipping date is listed in items descriptions in the store.

New Arca-Swiss plates for quick mounting of panorama heads to a tripod

janvrsinsky — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 08:42:45 +0200

We have added two new Arca-Swiss compatible plates to the shop that will allow you to quickly mount your Nodal Ninja advanced rotator to your tripod. Thanks to these plates you will no longer need to mount your panoramic head to the tripod. These plates can be clamped using any Arca-Swiss compatible clamp that you already have (or you can buy it as well).

There are two variants available:

Arca-Swiss plate for Nodal Ninja Advanced Rotator RD5, RD6 and RD16-II

And Arca-Swiss plate for Nodal Ninja Advaced RD8-II Rotator (bigger due to larger diameter of this rotator)

New testimonials section on the shop

janvrsinsky — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:37:00 +0100

We’ve been receiving quite a lot of nice testimonial and thank you emails and we didn’t know where to put them to display before. Now we’ve created a nice little new customer testimonial section on the shop.

For privacy reasons we only publish first names but feel free to let us know if you are our customer and want your full name to be published along with your thank you email text.

We have a backlog of these texts so when we find some nice older testimonial worth publishing we’ll add it there as well.

Thank you for being our customer! We really like the act of making you happy! :)

Fully Extended Telescopic Carbon Fiber Pole Series 3

janvrsinsky — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 21:59:56 +0100

Equipment used:

Nodal Ninja Pole Series 3 (9 meters height)

Tripod used: Manfrotto 055B with GuyWire rewinding stabilization system

And here you can enjoy the view: http://www.360etours.net/tour/4367

(Photo by: Bill Bailey)

I Am Now Certified For Providing Customer Happiness :)

janvrsinsky — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:28:00 +0100

Since I launched my online shop with Nodal Ninja products I knew the key was a great customer support. Last month my Czech version of my shopcelebrated acquiring a prestigious customer satisfaction certificate “Verified By Customers” from the largest price comparison website called Heureka in Czech Republic.

You can see the certificate here
(in czech only)

As you can see, 100% of my customers recommend my shop, and 18 of these customers even wrote a great public review. These reviews can only by written by authenticated customers which assures they are real. Evaluation can be done by completing a 3rd party questionnaire of satisfaction that customers fill in after each purchase.

This is not only awesome signal of recognition of my customer happiness efforts but also a commitment to continue the same level of great customer support in the future for all my online shops.

Source jakfotit360

-Jan Vrsinsky

Today we unwrapped: Nodal Ninja RD16-II Advanced Rotator

janvrsinsky — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:29:15 +0200

We thought it would be nice to show you more detailed photos of the items in our panorama shop to complement the photos we have from the vendor. We chose the Nodal Ninja RD16-II Advanced Rotator as the first item. This rotator can be used to upgrade Nodal Ninja 3 and 4 panoramic heads for a more convenient way of horizontal rotation of the heads and it’s also recommended for the Nodal Ninja Ultimate M series heads. Thanks to the blue knobs you can select 16 different detent intervals (hence the number 16 in the name). By setting a proper interval on the rotator you WILL KNOW when you have rotated your camera enough for the next shot because the rotator will produce a slight click. This allows you to take panoramas without actually looking at the rotator’s numbered scale and therefore allowing much more convenient way of taking panoramas.

You can find more photos in our facebook album. The RD16 rotator is available for purchase through our shop.

Meet us in Sicily!

janvrsinsky — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 15:07:21 +0200

We are attending the panoramic photography meeting (PanoTools Meeting 2013 in Messina Sicily) and are staying in Sicily from September 1 to September 21. Our shop continues working normally during our stay in Sicily and orders are shipped by our fulfillment center. We will try to answer all questions and process all orders in 3 business days. Please excuse possible delays in our communications during the affected dates.

Are you also attending? Looking forward to meeting you! :)

Saver shipping for tiny orders and free economy shipping for orders from €200

janvrsinsky — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 01:19:50 +0200

In August we’ve introduced new scheme for shipping rates. Now it’s cheaper than ever before to order tiny replacement and spare parts for your Nodal Ninja equipment with super cheap delivery €5.95 to all Europe (applies only to orders below 30 EUR).

We’ve also introduced free economy shipping for orders above €200 to Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. All other EU countries get a nice price of €9.95 for shipping of orders above €200. Economy shipping orders are shipped via post service.

We also offer expedited shipping service with GLS Parcel Europe which is one of the Europe’s largest courier company. The rates for orders above €200 start from free (Czech Republic and Slovakia) through €9.95 for Austria, Germany, Hungary and Poland and €15.95 for most of other European countries - see our Payments and Delivery for list of countries that are eligible. Applies only for orders above €200. Cost of deliveries of orders below €200 and cost to some other countries and islands are higher.

For more information please refer to our Payments and Delivery page.

Shop: New Items in Stock - Nodal Ninja RS, Telescopic Poles and Ultimate M

janvrsinsky — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:36:11 +0200

The shop has more items in stock now:

Nodal Ninja Ultimate M Series Panoramic heads that support up to 700mm equivalent length telephoto lenses (we also have all types of Arca-Swiss camera plates in stock).

Carbon Fiber Telescopic Pole System by Nodal Ninja

Packages for Google Photographers

Nodal Ninja RS (a lightweight panoheads based on Nodal Ninja 3 and 4 with lens ring mounts adapted from Nodla Ninja Ultimate R10)

Introducing How To Shoot 360º Academy

janvrsinsky — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:03:53 +0200

Do you like panoramas and virtual tours and would you like to know how to create them on your own? May be you have answered yes but maybe you also think it’s too difficult. It’s not! :) I will show you everything - I really like teaching other people how to make panoramas and you won’t have to spend hours and days searching for the information online. I specialise on beginners like you and if you have some experience already I am ready to take it to the next level! :)

- Jan Vrsinsky, founder and teacher at the How To Shoot 360º Academy

More about the Academy

The theme photo background of the Academy is my 360° view from Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik, Iceland:

Einstein captured on a panoramic photo from the beginning of 20th century

janvrsinsky — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:30:00 +0200

Panoramic photos first appeared at the beginning of 20th century. Probably the most famous and ones are the photos from the National archive.

“President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921” - can you find Einstain on the enlarged photo?

Today we’ve got affordable and accessible technology for taking stitching and publishing panoramic photos. Can you imagine, however, how incredibly difficult it must have been to create these photos before? There were no scanners, no digital cameras and no software to do the work for you. Everything was a matter of precise work in the field followed by long hours and days in the dark room. And that’s the reason I value these photos a lot. There’s so much embedded energy radiating out of them!

Barcelona in the year 1929

As if all this was not enough, various kites and blips started appearing in the beginning of 20th century and were used by photographers to carry their cameras to heights. One of the most well-known experts in the field was George Lawrence. He was a photography enthusiast and totally crazy - in a good way. The world needs more crazy people like him. He was breaking record after record during his time. First he started using gigantic tripods and ladders to get higher for his creative shots but it soon was not enough for him. He then started building baloons in which he flew and took his photos. He even faced a couple of serious accidents during which he actually crashed but fortunately survived. Later he started creating a set of kites tied to a rope which he called Airships. He invented his own stabilized platform which allowed him to stabilize his camera even in high winds. If you take into the consideration that today’s multicopters for lifting SLR cameras cost thousands of dollars you will perhaps realize how expensive and extremely difficult his endeavors must had been in his era. Really, hats off. Every time I look at the following picture Lawrence created I always hold my breath because I silently dream about all the things that needed to happen for it to be created:

One of the most magnificient and most famous panoramic phots George Lawrence ever created - San Francisco shortly after a devastating earthquake in 1906. This photo covers 160 degrees horizontally and was taken in the height of 600 meters (about 1800 feet).

Gates to Prague's Fairy Tale Underworld

janvrsinsky — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:09:21 +0200

I have published five panoramic photos from the photo walk last Saturday. The set is called Gates to Prague’s Fairy Tale Underworld.

Here’s two examples, you can find the rest on my blog:

And here’s our group - from the left: Václav, me, Jakub. Nobody else showed up so it was only the three of us. Probably the weather conditions that were far from perfect in the morning and thus many people decided to stay at home. We had fun anyway! :)