Testimonials

5 stars - Nodal Ninja EZ-Leveler-II - On the Level ...Really By RVDigitalBoy VERIFIED BUYER I bought the EZ Leveler II in order to shoot level panoramas with my new Nodal Ninja M1L panorama head. It works as advertised. I attach the EZ Leveler II to my sturdy Manfroto tripod. To the EZ I attach the M1L. Using the M1l's bubble level I make adjustments to my tripod's ball head. Then I fine tune the level with the EZ until the bubble is centered. That's all there is to it.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Quality. Well made Panoramic gear By Anthonyt VERIFIED BUYER. Quality made panoramic gear. Easily assembled and easy to use. Comes in a custom carrying case. I have been very impressed with this setup and would recommend it to anyone interested in taking serious panoramas.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Best Panoramic Kit Available!! By Mike. I use this with the Nikon D800E and the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 G lens. I also have the MB-D12 Battery Grip. This is one of Nodal Ninja's top of the line Pano kits and is a must if you are shooting with large lens. The kit does come with a lot of spare parts, but I consider this a good thing. If you follow the guides on Nodal Ninja's website it is pretty straight forward to setup. You can also call or email them. They are very helpful if you get stuck. For this setup I needed the following to shoot landscape with my rig and get a full 360.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - awesome By bodywise VERIFIED BUYER. This is an awesome addition. Finally, you can shoot panos in rows with any lens. The click stops are poorly explained in the "documentation" but once figured out, is a snap. Click, click, click. I easily produced a vertical set pano 10 across in 3 rows. Using AutoPan (not PS), I produced a flawless pano with a 70 mm lens thus reducing barrel and lens distortion. Highly recommended. Highly crafted. Just beware that the "documentation" is non - existant. A sad commentary on a developing trend. "Just look it up." If you dig deep enough there are some good references.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Top Notch By Museum Photographer VERIFIED BUYER This thing is solid. if you're using a DSLR to create panos then you need a tripod head that won't budge unless you want it to. With the Nodal Ninja you're paying for that quality engineering. The Swiss Arca system is simple and effective and you will find an assortment of accessories for your needs.I am using the Nodal Ninja for creating 360 panoramas to be used in virtual tours. Put it on a sturdy heavy tripod and you will get the precision required to minimize stitching errors and correction time. Don't forget to order an adapter that fits your specific camera.It comes in a nice quality case, doesn't fit perfectly inside but it looks & feels good!

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Nice and stable By twofun VERIFIED BUYER. Nice and stable product. you can take panorama without any problem.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Very fine piece of equipment By photoed VERIFIED BUYER. I was trying to get a wide view of home interiors with very little distortion. I have a Nikon 14-24mm lens that gives me more than an enough coverage but my clients complain about the distortion. So I bought this panoramic head hoping by stitching several images together so I could get a photo with very little distortion. I tried it every which way I could think of. It just didn't work out. I gave it 5 stars because its an incredible piece of equptment, very precise. If you get this you must get the Nodal Ninja Ez-Leveler - Ii it will save you tons of time.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Great piece great price. By Ben VERIFIED BUYER. I bought a cheaper panoramic head from competitor. I returned it because of build. I spent the extra coinage to purchase this from b&h. I'm glad I did. The build quality is amazing! I especially like the configuration option on the rotator piece. T this world perfect for my Nikon D810. I would highly recommend you buy this.

5 stars - NN M1L w/RD16-II - Finely crafted and versatile - a truly excellent head By R.L. This head's workmanship is about as good as it gets but, more importantly, it was designed to facilitate an efficient workflow for what is often a complicated process. There are less expensive options for similar heads, some which are quite well made, but this head's attention to operational detail sets it apart. It was clearly designed to actually shoot multi-shot images, rather than just sitting impressively atop a tripod. There are more expensive heads that are very well made but lack the practical functionality of this one. Short of a view camera, this head will hold about any camera you choose, but you'll need a solid tripod. Although it is possible to level the rotator with a ball head, its very awkward, especially with a camera mounted, so you'll want to add a leveling base (designs with three screws, like the Nodal Ninja one, make the process easier). The adjustable scales, with start and stop markers, allow precise setup and once everything is adjusted the actually process of shooting the photos is a no-brainer. I have used other heads where it's easy to lose track of where, in a multi-row sequence, you are. When you are shooting 3 or more rows, of 6 or more images each, it gets confusing, especially if each image is bracketed for HDR. This head all but eliminates that confusion. The RD-16 II rotator works very well for me, as I do not shoot many panos with very long lenses, and by adding an inexpensive dual ARCA clamp to the top rail you can go as wide as you like, including fisheye. After shooting hundreds of panos and mosaics I have found only two negatives with this head. First, it's expensive. Second, it's quite heavy. I don't see any way to avoid either. The weight of this head, plus the heavy tripod required to support it, precludes my carrying it on long hikes but I am willing to lug it a mile or two because it works so well. You will need to spend some time documenting setup positions for your specific body/lens combinations (I suggest carrying setup charts whenever you use this head) but once that's done setup is fast, easy and precise. If you are new to multi-shot images you'll need to invest considerable time in learning the various techniques and sadly, there is no single source that I know about for this. Reviewers often complain that pano heads don't include simple instructions (or any for that matter) for use. That's because use is NOT simple! If you are not mechanically inclined this stuff may be quite frustrating. It's not brain surgery but it requires specialized knowledge. In return, you can make high resolution images, independent of sensor and lens constraints, that can be printed huge.

5 stars - Nodal Ninja M1-L-RD16-II - awesome. About Me Semi-pro Photographer. Verified Buyer. This is an awesome addition. Finally, you can shoot panos in rows with any lens. The click stops are poorly explained in the "documentation" but once figured out, is a snap. Click, click, click. I easily produced a vertical set pano 10 across in 3 rows. Using AutoPan (not PS), I produced a flawless pano with a 70 mm lens thus reducing barrel and lens distortion. Highly recommended. Highly crafted.Just beware that the "documentation" is non-existant. A sad commementary on a developing trend. "Just look it up." If you dig deep enough there are some good references. Yes, I would recommend this to a friend. - By bodywise from san jose, CA

5 stars - I love the M1-L with RD16 II - About Me Photo Enthusiast. Verified Buyer. I got this product about a week ago and wow! Very well made, easy to use, easy to set up in the field, simple operation and excellent results. My panorama stitching is seamless. Really excellent designed product for the serious panoram pro! Yes, I would recommend this to a friend. - By Cecil from Austin

5 stars - Nodal Ninja M1-L-RD16-II - Best Panoramic Kit Available!! About Me Semi-pro Photographer. Verified Reviewer. I use this with the Nikon D800E and the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 G lens. I also have the MB-D12 Battery Grip. This is one of Nodal Ninja's top of the line Pano kits and is a must if you are shooting with large lens. The kit does come with a lot of spare parts, but I consider this a good thing. If you follow the guides on Nodal Ninja's website it is pretty straight forward to setup. You can also call or email them. They are very helpful if you get stuck. For this setup I needed the following to shoot landscape with my rig and get a full 360.

10 out 10 - Ultimate M1-L w/RD16 - II (F8102) Qty: 1

5 Stars - Top Notch - M1L w/RD16-II review: This thing is solid. if you're using a DSLR to create panos then you need a tripod head that won't budge unless you want it to. With the Nodal Ninja you're paying for that quality engineering. The Swiss Arca system is simple and effective and you will find an assortment of accessories for your needs.I am using the Nodal Ninja for creating 360 panoramas to be used in virtual tours. Put it on a sturdy heavy tripod and you will get the precision required to minimize stitching errors and correction time. Don't forget to order an adapter that fits your specific camera.It comes in a nice quality case, doesn't fit perfectly inside but it looks & feels good! - Museum Photographer

5 Stars/Ultimate M1-L With RD16 II Rotator: Nice and stable. nice and stable product. you can take panorama without any problem. - Comments by twofun

I got this product about a week ago and wow! Very well made, easy to use, easy to set up in the field, simple operation and excellent results. My panorama stitching is seamless. Really excellent designed product for the serious panoram pro! - Cecil (M1 - L w/ RD16 II)

Bill, I used the NN5 for years and upgrade to M1L as I realized it was possible. I like the NN-products a lot. Your and also Mauros Service (Italy) is fantastic. Thats why it was a pleasure for me to send some suggestions for minor hardware updates (like marks at the upper M1L-rotator a.s.o.) That it is - for now ;o) Cheers - Norbert S Germany

This is an awesome addition. Finally, you can shoot panos in rows with any lens. The click stops are poorly explained in the "documentation" but once figured out, is a snap. Click, click, click. I easily produced a vertical set pano 10 across in 3 rows. Using AutoPan (not PS), I produced a flawless pano with a 70 mm lens thus reducing barrel and lens distortion. Highly recommended. Highly crafted…- Comments by bodywise : awesome (Ultimate M1 - L With RD16 II Rotator Panoramic Head) 5 stars

Nodal Ninja EZL-II-C - On the Level ...Really. About Me Photo Enthusiast. Verified Buyer. I bought the EZ Leveler II in order to shoot level panoramas with my new Nodal Ninja M1L panorama head. It works as advertised. I attach the EZ Leveler II to my sturdy Manfroto tripod. To the EZ I attach the M1L. Using the M1l's bubble level I make adjustments to my tripod's ball head. Then I fine tune the level with the EZ until the bubble is centered. That's all there is to it. Yes, I would recommend this to a friend - RVDigitalBoy from Alachua, Florida

Bill, I used the NN5 for years and upgrade to M1L as I realized it was possible. I like the NN-products a lot. Your and also Mauros Service (Italy) is fantastic. Thats why it was a pleasure for me to send some suggestions for minor hardware updates (like marks at the upper M1L-rotator a.s.o.) That it is - for now ;o) Cheers. - Norbert S. Germany

Just took delivery of my very own M1L pano head with the RD16 rotator, Nadir adapter, camera plate and quick release clamp. What a magnificent piece of photo equipment! It came pre assembled, but knocked down and stored in the protective case. I did not have any of the assembly problems I have read about here. It was basically slide the parts together, calibrate and start shooting. The precision, the construction, the craftsmenship! WOW! My last pano head purchase from Fanotec was the Nodal Ninja 3 (without the upper rotator click stops). Very well done Nick. It was well worth the wait. - Dennis S - NN Forum

Using the M1L to M2 Upgrade kit Product: M1L to M2 upgrade with 65mm QRC (F8112) Posted By: Michel Thoby - As expected and due the accuracy and stiffness required by the smallish 2 degrees minimum intervals, the R8-II rotator drum has quite a hefty diameter. The subsequent problem is then to find a new arrangement inside the FANOTEC case that is just roomy enough to accommodate the new "bigger baby". A 55 mm Arca-Swiss clamp seems sturdy enough to hold the horizontal arm while the 60 mm clamp would probably be better. I might have preferred to find real mechanical stops instead of simple "indicators" for the starting and ending positions although the present system works as expected... except if the Advanced Rotator Handle is put in the lowest of the threaded holes on the R8-II cylinder where it then interferes with the indicator tiny blue teeth and thus screws-up all the angular pre-settings! The new upper rotator is IMO just perfect even when it is deprived of the (optional) positive stops. The ability to adjust the rotation friction is amazing and the user can feel plainly how the control on the elevation angle adjustment is both smooth and accurate. All the new components of the upgrade kit are easy to install to replace the M1 counterparts while I think some documentation would/could be "useful" to some customers.