Shooting Tethered

[yubnub]

Hi,

Apologies if this question does not strictly fall into "product" photography, however as this is what I hope to be doing I thought any pros or cons of what am am going to ask can also be aired.

So for my work we sell online and as such I am taking steps to get a small "studio" setup for the taking of product shots.

Upon various reading of articales/you tube watching that I have done, it seems that a lot of pro product photographers shoot with their camera tethered/connected to their laptop.

I can see the benefit of being able to see a large image of the shot you have just taken without the need to continually swap memory cards around etc. I feel that as I am so new to all of this I am going to be doing a lot of experimenting with my shots/studio, therefore i think this setup could be ideal.

my question is, can all cameras tether/be connected to the laptop/software in this way? - or is it a feature limited to some models, or is additional firmware/software/hardware required. Also what software is capable of doing this? - I have seen light room mentioned, can photoshop itself do such things,

Many thanks in advance,

anthony

 

[pgriz]

Canon cameras, from the Rebel models upward, can all be tethered via the Canon EOS Utility. It can be considered an extension of "Live-View", and its basic benefit is that it allows you to see on a large screen what you are shooting. The minus, at least for some models, is that Canon doesn't allow OCF operation in live-view - only ETTL. So if you're shooting ETTL flash, it'll work from Live-View. If you're using simple radio triggers, then the camera will not trigger the flashes in Live-View. There is a work-around to that if you load additional software such as Magic Lantern (ML) into your Canon camera, in that ML will allow the OCF to fire even in Live-View.

I've used this setup in doing macro in static situations (basically, desktop), but not in the field.

I don't know what features you need to have in the Nikon cameras to do this, but I'm pretty sure there are simple facilities available. Also to consider are the WiFi capabilities of cameras - do the WiFi enabled models allow continuous broadcast of the Live-View signal, or do they only allow file transfer after the image is taken?

Another thing to consider is that when the CMOS sensor is in operation (as it is in live-view shooting), it generates heat. The only time I got a sensor overheating message was when I was doing this kind of tethered shooting. After that, I only turned on the live-view function when I actually needed to compose the shot. Again, this may be camera-specific (I have a Canon T1i), and may not show up on other models or makes.

 

[tirediron]

Just to expand a little on the above: Canon (as far as I know) includes a free utility with all of their bodies which allows tethered shooting. Nikon is not so generous; you need to purchase NikonView for (IIRC) about $300. I used it a while ago, and was severly under-whelmed by it. I have recently started using the CamRanger, and couldn't be happier with it. It not only allows tethered shooting, but it allows tethered shooting without the tether. It's not cheap, but it works well.

 

[yubnub]

Many thanks for the replies so far,

Also does is the cable that is used to tether just the standard "pc" cable,

If so (assuming i understand correctly) it sounds like the Cannon camera will do what I need straight out of the box with no additional expense,

cheers,

anthony

 

[pgriz]

For Canon, you use the standard USB cable (mini on the camera end, regular USB on the computer end), which is usually supplied with the camera kit.

 

[sfaust]

Look into Capture One. It's stable, reliable, and very ingrained in the product photography industry. Don't use live view due to the overheating problems. Shoot test frames in capture one for evaluation as you will get more accurate information over a live view. You can also capture right into Lightroom in a pinch, but it's less reliable and much slower.

 

[y75stingray]

Many pros shoot tethered with capture one software. capture one is very similar to lightroom but with a tethering option. I shoot tabletop product almost exclusively. I have tried a workflow utilizing a tethered camera but find it to be a bigger pain than its really worth. The main reasons being i hate tripping over the cord and i dont want every single shot i take directly saved to my hard drive. I quite enjoy choosing which one to follow through with and which ones to discard. Tethered shooting is not neccesarrily a staple in a commercial product studio, some photographers love it some don't. Capture one offers a free trial version if you would like to give it a try.

 

[Scatterbrained]

As has been pointed out, Canon supplies a copy of Eos Utility with their cameras, which allows tethered shooting via live view. This can be handy both for image review as well as being able to focus at 10x frame magnification, just as you would in live view on the camera. If you want to go wireless you can get a 6D (built in WiFi), or you can shoot wirelessly to a tablet via DSLRController using the TPLink wireless router. This is what I do as it's handy and I don't have a laptop and cable to deal with. Apps like DSLRController offer a lot more control vs EOSUtility, but you may not need that for what you're doing.

 

[ZachU]

Hardware question: Anyone use a camera body mount like TetherBlock or Tether Tools' table? I've heard horror stories about cables getting yanked, data ports getting munched, etc. TetherBlock has two models and is the less expensive of the two, but I'm curious to hear someone's legit opinion.

 

[D-B-J]

I use lightroom when I shoot "products" in a controlled environment. It's not the smoothest, but it gets the job done. No live view or ability to alter settings from the laptop--it just loads the photos directly to my laptop once the shutter closes, for an instant review.

Jake

 

[sfaust]

Anytime my camera is on a tripod, or isn't in motion, I try to tether it. You can see so much more critical information on a 26" monitor than you can on the back of the camera even with zoom. Every spec of dirt shows up, critical focus, etc, so that you can fix in on set rather than find problems later in post. Also, you can load in comps from the art director if provided, so that you can see how the overlays/text/graphics work over the top of the image. Even if the end result of the shoot is only one image, I keep all exposures as we work toward the final image. There are many times they come in handy in post. Capture One is my favorite for all medium format work, and when shooting 35mm Canon, and what I'm used to. Hasselblad Phocus needs some work, but does ok and is required when shooting with Hassy unfortunately. I reserve Lightroom for post work, as its clunky and lacks features as a tethered solution, however its only a matter of time for it to mature and come of age, IMO, and I look forward to that.

 

[sfaust]

Hardware question: Anyone use a camera body mount like TetherBlock or Tether Tools' table? I've heard horror stories about cables getting yanked, data ports getting munched, etc. TetherBlock has two models and is the less expensive of the two, but I'm curious to hear someone's legit opinion.

For handheld shooting, it looks like a good solution. If reasonable in price, I'd get one. But when shooting on a camera stand or tripod, gaffers tape works well to secure the cable

 

[astroNikon]

With Lightroom you have to make sure the version you are using supports the camera. For instance, I used LR v4.4 and my Nikon d7000 is listed in the compatibility list but my d600 isn't. The d600 is in the LR v5.x compatibility list. Sooner or later I'll be upgrading.