Acratech Nodal Rail Instructions 

Thank you Tristan. We appreciate your positive feedback.

It's wrong.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to having you in our Acratech family of users.

I dont mean to be so offtopic but does anybody know of a way to get back into an Instagram account? I stupidly forgot the login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can give me.

@Vincent Thiago Instablaster =)

You are very welcome.

Except for the mistake of putting a ball head on a leveling base then leveling the ball.

Hi Berny, Thanks for the complement. I appreciate it.

Absolutely does not matter, as white balance is for the jpg conversions the camera spits out. The RAW images have no color profile until you edit them.

Thank you Andy. We appreciate your feedback.

Thanks for the positive feedback.

We hope you found some of the information helpful.

Good

Acratech, Inc Yes Scott, thanks so much!

LOL

DAMN YOU! I wanted to say that!!

Hi KSS, Often nodal rails are used with focal lengths ranging from semi-wide angle to mild telephoto and that is primarily what we designed our nodal rail for. An ultra-wide would likely have the rail in the bottom of the image. We do have a spherical panoramic head that works with the ultra-wide Sigma 8mm with its 180 degree field of view. I hope this helps, Scott

Hi Frank, With my full frame DSLR and a 50mm lens, the nodal rail is not visible in the image.

If you haven't found the answer in 6 years, I'll tell you- image distortion. Think of a 15 degree fisheye lens. Anything below 35mm just won't look as good to most people. That said, your photography is your art, so present your interpretation. It does not have to be "correct." Same goes with music, writing, etc. Also, it is only 35mm if you are using a crop sensor camera 35mmx1.5 (crop)=52.5mm (ok.) An equivalent to a FF 70mm-100mm is usually better IMO. It is also usually better to mount the camera vertically using an L bracket. A leveling base is all but required as well. Even if your camera is level, if the base is not, it will be usually be off.

Hi John, Thank you for your response. The levels on our leveling base are larger than other leveling bases at 20mm or (over 3/4" diameter) and easy to see and very precision. Even if the photographer did not center the bubble in the center of the circle and it was touching the edge of the circle, the leveling base would still be accurately leveled better than 1/2 of a degree which is more than accurate enough for photography. Although your carpenters level might be accurate, the quality control on carpenters levels in not very good. Just for fun, I once went into a home improvement store and put 4 carpenters levels on top of each other to see if they would all show the same reading and they were all over the place (yes I know about flipping carpenters levels end for end or rolling top to bottom to check or minimize error). We check our levels on a calibrated precision granite surface plate and level it using a Starett Master Precision Level, and check the levels after they are installed, so they are very accurate. 2. You cannot invert most other ball-heads and use them upside down. This works on our GP and GXP heads because we have risers on the bottom of the quick release clamp to prevent the quick release knob from colliding with the pan knob or interfering with the opening of the clamp. Our unique interlocking clamp and ball stem allows the clamp to secure with only moderated hand tightness of the screw, so the clamp is easily removed and reinstalled on the bottom of the head. 3. Thank you

@@scottdordick176 - 1. I am sure your products are very good and people know it by the price if not by ownership, but there is no reason to even have the ball in the equation in your demo, as you prove at the end. No level of accuracy (pun!) is more accurate than simply not introducing potential error to begin with. Q. Will the rail on the pano base with leveler not do? Yes it will, so now see Occam's Razor. 2. Anyone looking at BH for two minutes can see endless (perhaps most) ballheads have removable clamps, and that is the only requirement for them to be used upside down. As we work our way down to "moderated hand tightness of the screw" I think I can declare you lost this one. PS You have odd habits in hardware stores. ;)

lol

Hi, in the video it explains how to do this. Skip to 4:11 to 4:58 and follow the steps. the demonstration shows how it looks prior and when you find it.

Nube, While our products are not inexpensive, they are precision made in the USA they are designed and manufactured to last forever. We also always stand behind our products. We recently serviced a tripod head (at no charge) the fell off of a car on the highway. We stand behind every product we have ever made.