Talk to me about tethering....

catspaw

In my morning musings (without coffee, which might be the issue), I realized that tethering my camera to a laptop (even the netbook if supported) could REALLY be an asset in some of my photography.

Any pointers on where to start/what is needed/where to learn? This is sheer client side, to show them what I've captured (impress them) as well as work WITH them to capture other specific scenes that they want for their own clients. (architectural photography in this case).

thank you!! :bow

ziggy53

Leah,

For years when I was at my previous employer's I shot a tethered Kodak dSLR, mostly because the largest hard drive we had for the camera was 340 megabytes. ("Not" the good old days. )

It is indeed a very good way to both review the captured content and share the capture with clients. It can slow down a shoot and, with some clients, it can give them the feeling that they have "control" over the shoot. Sometimes the client will wind up asking for way more shots just because they can. (Mostly true with clients who really don't know what they want.)

I suggest mostly using tethered photography for your own feedback, especially during setup. The ability to use a full-blown image editing computer is fantastic if you have to check an image for perfect exposure or if a particular crop or treatment is "required" for a shot.

catspaw

What sort of cord is needed for tethering? I've heard that longer ones can have issues at times....

ziggy53

catspaw wrote:

What sort of cord is needed for tethering? I've heard that longer ones can have issues at times....

We had a discussion not long ago about USB cable lengths. I just cannot find it right now.

I believe you will also need special software in order to provide the control and remote capture capabilities.

bandgeekndb

For Nikon tethering, you'll need this:

http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/25366/Camera-Control-Pro-2.html

Sadly, it isn't bundled and costs a good bit. A friend gave me his copy when he sold off his equipment, so I know how reliable it is. Using my 10' Belkin USB extension cord, plus the standard camera usb cord, I've never had any problems.

rhys_chard

Aperture 2
I think you can use Aperture 2 on the Mac to shoot tethered. You would have to be using a mac though.

Robbug

Yes you can use Aperture 2 to control your camera. It is a bit basic but it works. It won't control the camera like the software that is provided by canon does but it does work.

gryphonslair99

catspaw wrote:

What sort of cord is needed for tethering? I've heard that longer ones can have issues at times....

If you are tethering via USB 2.0 then 16' is the longest cable you should use. Beyond 16' the reliability quickly decreases.

Firewire, I can't give you a length. Sorry

Ok a quick google says 15' for firewire.

FedererPhoto

bandgeekndb wrote:

For Nikon tethering, you'll need this:

http://nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Imaging-Software/25366/Camera-Control-Pro-2.html

Sadly, it isn't bundled and costs a good bit. A friend gave me his copy when he sold off his equipment, so I know how reliable it is. Using my 10' Belkin USB extension cord, plus the standard camera usb cord, I've never had any problems.

I've been playing with this and I've found it won't let me take another photo while it's downloading the image... sure, that's only a second or two... but when tethered, I've lost the ability to pop off frames at will...

Is there any solution for this?

bandgeekndb

FedererPhoto wrote:

I've found it won't let me take another photo while it's downloading the image...

Never really ran into this problem, although I didn't try to take a whole bunch of frames at once, to be honest.

Sadly, I'm without my tethering for now, as dear old Micros*** has screwed with the drivers in it's beta of Windows 7 :beatwax. No matter what I do, I can't get the Nikon software to see the camera as anything more than a big honkin' card reader, and it's setup the exact way I used to do it with XP and Vista.

If I get around to building a virtual machine, I might try installing CCP and I'll test it out, otherwise I hope someone else here can help on the issue.

Best of luck, and maybe I'll have an answer in the near future!

~Nick

FedererPhoto

bandgeekndb wrote:

Never really ran into this problem, although I didn't try to take a whole bunch of frames at once, to be honest.

Sadly, I'm without my tethering for now, as dear old Micros*** has screwed with the drivers in it's beta of Windows 7 :beatwax. No matter what I do, I can't get the Nikon software to see the camera as anything more than a big honkin' card reader, and it's setup the exact way I used to do it with XP and Vista.

If I get around to building a virtual machine, I might try installing CCP and I'll test it out, otherwise I hope someone else here can help on the issue.

Best of luck, and maybe I'll have an answer in the near future!

~Nick

Have you changed the setting in your camera? There is an in-camera setting that says "show up as a big honkin' card reader" or "show up as a camera" ...

bandgeekndb

Thanks, just double checked it. It's not on the "Mass Storage" mode, it's on "MTP/PTP".

Thanks for the advice though. It's worked fine with XP and Vista, and it only stopped working right after I installed the Windows 7 Beta.

W.W. Webster

There's a concise explanation of the use of Lightroom for tethered shooting here.

Scott_Quier

I've used Lightroom in a teathered arrangement when shooting a model - worked a real treat. But, the lady was more disciplined than will be many clients and used the feedback from the laptop monitor to better pose herself.

I think I would agree with Ziggy - with some clients it may be more of a disadvantage than a blessing.