About

Nodal Ninja is also the name of a company which operates under the legal protection of Bill Bailey LLC - a Limited Liability Company based in Chandler Arizona USA. The brand name "Nodal Ninja" is used by permission from Nick Fan of Fanotec International. Many aspects of the business to include marketing and global distribution of the Fanotec product line are all handled through Nodal Ninja. Nodal Ninja is the exclusive global distributor of the Fanotec product line. While Fanotec International and Nodal Ninja are separate legally licensed entities they operate very closely with other.

Fanotec International and Nick Fan invented and developed the Nodal Ninja spherical bracket in 2004. Nick has many years of schooling, is bilingual and has a passion to design, engineer and build. He formed and called his new manufacturing company Digital Initiatives but later changed it to Fanotec International. Their slogan is "We Listen. We try harder". The name Fanotec was coined by a forum user because Nick showed himself to be a big Fan of Technology. A perfectionist at heart with a strong commitment to quality and customer support Nick continues to improve upon current product designs. He also works to develop ongoing products to meet the demands of the panoramic photographer. Nick frequents many forums and you will see him regularly in our own Nodal Ninja forum.

Bill Bailey is C.E.O. of Bill Bailey LLC. Bill owned and operated a successful photography company in Alaska for 4 years (1994-1999) called Northern Exposure Photography of Alaska (NEP). NEP had shot over 250,000 sittings over the course of 4 years, from school photography to families living in dozens of remote Eskimo Villages throughout the state. At the time NEP was the largest and most popular portrait studio business in the state. Bill's photography interests ultimately lead him to panoramic photography. While seeking out panoramic tripod heads himself he learned about Nick of Digital Initiatives. Nick’s company was still in early development and in need of distribution and marketing person. Bill was able to bring to the table his experience in business and creative marketing vision. Bill shared the same entrepreneurial passion and commitment as Nick which ultimately formed a business relationship that helped to bring the product line to where it is today. Bill’s company is very proud to be the exclusive global distributor for the Fanotec product line. In addition Bill's company also manufactures in the US special Leica HDS Geosystem adapter rods for the Leica's Laser Scanners. These adapters rods are also designed to mirror with the Nodal Ninja pano head. Bill is very committed to upholding the absolute highest standards of customer service and support. Those that know him personally, and through the forums, will testify to his commitment of excellence.

Mauro Contrafatto - Customer Service Manager

Mauro handles most inquires from the website, and helps to answer customer concerns and product questions. Mauro is a forum moderator and also authorized distributor/reseller in Italy. Mauro is also committed to customer service and goes the extra mile to reach out and help others. His dedication and responsiveness to customer concerns goes beyond the call of duty. We are proud to have him on our team. Mauro can be reach at: cs[at]nodalninja[dot]com.

Rob Van Gils - Logistics Manager

Rob has been part of our team for close to 4 years. As shipping manager he primarily packages and ships orders around the globe and is responsible for getting the products delivered to you. He is very familiar with all our products and also handles many support issues. Rob, now semi-retired, has been into photography most of his life. Being a world traveler every year he ventures off to faraway lands in pursuit of the perfect panorama. He has many stories to share to a willing ear. Rob's direct email address is shipping[at]nodalninja[dot]com.

Kathy Martinez - Accounts Administrator

Friendly, energetic and always willing to help, Kathy brings a great dynamic to the workplace. She handles billing and accounts and is happy to assist with your questions or concerns. Kathy's direct email address is accounts[at]nodalninja[dot]com.

Jeff Handley - Customer Support 

Jeff is the newest member to the Nodal Ninja Team. He has expressed interest in working with our team well over a year ago. Many of you already know him from the pano circles and IVRPA events. Jeff has worked with TourWrist as Chief Photographer Adviser and also runs his own 360 photography business called Enviropix, LLC. Even though his business keeps him fairly busy he welcomes the part time work 4 days a week and even has time to make it home before lunch. Jeff helps with all matters around the shop from shipping and receiving to building shelves and offering assistance with customer support.    

Kim Bailey - Documents and Filing Manager

Kim is Bill's wife and pitches in when assistance is needed with various administrative functions. Kim is also a full time real estate agent license in the state Arizona. She specializes in bank owned homes and pre-approved short sales. If you're a Canadian seeking warmer weather to the south or just looking to relocate to the Phoenix area if Kim can't assist she will find someone that can - check out her website at http://www.kimknowsthevalley.com.

We strive hard to hand pick resellers that are committed to customer service. Our resellers are team players and we work well together bringing you a more cohesive network of support. We're very proud of our existing family of resellers and hope your experiences in purchasing our products reflects in their commitment. For a current list of authorized resellers please click here. 

Together we all strive to uphold what we feel to be the best support in the industry and take a great deal of pride in the product and service we provide. Are we perfect? No! But we do learn from our mistakes and do our best to improve upon any mistakes we may make..

We thank all our customers,
The Nodal Ninja Team

History:
Fanotec started manufacturing with the first Nodal Ninja “model SPH-1”. The goal was to build a quality pano head that allowed for full rotation 360 horizontally x180 degrees vertically. It also incorporated a special offset bracket for smaller point and shoot cameras that had offset tripod mounts. The SPH-1 suited almost all point and shoot cameras and as well as many DSLR cameras like the Nikon D70 or Canon Rebel. Many SPH-1 pano heads are still being used today. This model paved the way to redesign with many improvements before finalizing with the NN3 family.

Model History:

• late 2004 - NN SPH-1 (spherical first generation). The very first pano head is produced.
• mid 2005 - NN SPH-1i (spherical first generation improved).
• late 2005 - NN SPH-2 (spherical second generation).
• early 2006 - NN SPH-2L (spherical second generation longer vertical arm).
• early 2006 - NN SPH-2s, (spherical second generation shorter vertical arm).
• early 2007 - NN SPH-2sd (spherical second generation shorter vertical arm with detents).
• mid 2007 - NN3 (third generation).
• early 2008 - NN3-MKII.(third generation with improved lower rotator).
• early 2008 - NN5 - a new series added to the lineup of pano heads reaching to the pro-level cameras.
• mid 2008 - NN180 - a small lightweight solution added to meet the needs of those doing single row pano with super wide angle lens.
• late 2008 - Fanotec advances with state-of-the-art CAD and CNC machinery resulting in higher precision products line called the "Ultimate Line".
• early 2009 -D4, D8, D12, D16 - new higher precision CNC advanced rotators come to market allowing more pano head configurations.
• mid 2009 - R1, R10 CNC machined ring clamp style pano heads added to the lineup.
• late 2009 - Turntables for those doing object movies.
• all of 2010 - accessories and add-ons to many products.
• late 2010 - Nodal Ninja 5 series discountinued.
• early 2011 - Modular Pole series 1 and 2.
• early 2011 - Ultimate M1 series modular panoheads.
• mid 2011 - Nodal Ninja 4 series (replacing NN5) now includes 15 degree upper rotator lock stops.
• mid 2011 - Tripod Adapters, Pole Rotators and Footplates hit the scene.
• late 2011 - Fanotec develops dedicated custom arca style camera plates to fit dozens of cameras and battery grips.
• early 2012 - Camera specific Arca Swiss Styledesigned to fit dozens of DSLR's with and without battery grips.
• early 2012 - Rotator Mini introduced, smaller and lighter with click stops.
• mid 2012 - more configurations become available using the Rotator Mini including 
• the Utimate Mini Pkg
• late 2012 - Nodal Ninja model RS-1 is introduced. This new head similar to NN3 allows users with fisheye lenes using Lens Ring Clamp to mount camera/lns directly to uppper rotator arca clamp (no upper rail).
• early 2013 - Ulitamate M2 is introduced - the best even got better. Using the new
  ly designed RD-8-II (second generation) and new upper rotator this head will support lenses up to 465mm (Portrait mode) and 700mm in Landscape mode

We Give Back

No other company in this field gives back to the community like we do. Over the last 3 years we have donated and given away close to $100,000 in cash and products. Just in the first quarter of 2011 already we have given close to $20,000 in contribution to include:

• $5,000 to the Australian flood victims.
• $2,800 to support the travels of a photojournalist (Akia Ninomiya) documenting the Earthquake region in efforts to raise money for those affected.
• $8,300 to a non-profit project dedicated to documenting every stage of NASA's final shuttle mission.
• And we support many other non-profits with smaller contributions such as
  - museums and research centers,
  - Animal Rescue,
  - and the Arthritis Foundation.
• Worth mentioning too is we also sponsor non-profits that promote this genre of photography including the IVRPA and IAPP.
• But wait - there's more - we've given out over $3,500 in prizes, mostly through Facebook, thus far in 2011.
• And if you haven't yet entered we're offering up $2500 in prizes in the Epson International Photographic Pano Awards.

At times we think we are giving too much away, but our hearts genuinely go out to these affected people, animals in need, and worthy organizations while mixing it up with fun contests. If you have purchased any of our products, or decide to buy, rest assured you are helping us to help others.