Author Topic: Do you shoot tethered (Read 20124 times)

leaf · « **on:** July 07, 2009, 05:27 »

Do you ever shoot tethered and if you do, what are the advantages, or why do you shoot tethered.

I can't say i ever shoot tethered. Or, perhaps once I did when I really wanted to look close at every shot to make adjustments. But other than wanting to inspect every shot at 100% why would you shoot tethered?

Perry · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:39 »

I shoot tethered very often when I have the possibility (indoors/studio). I don't look at every shot, that would be stupid and time consuming. But with tethered shooting I have much easier to decide if I have a good enough shot. That saves time especially when I have a long shot list.

It's also easier to see the composition and focus on laptop screen, especially when my old camera (5D) had smaller screen and soft raw previews.

I have also set up my system so that the files are saved both on the CF card and on the laptop hardrive, an easy way to make a temporary backup when I'm on the road.

The biggest problem shooting tethered with models is that it can affect the shoot dynamics in a bad way. Too much staring on the screen. With an assistant using the laptop this could be avoided.

gostwyck · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:42 »

It is something I've been meaning to do but I haven't got the kit to do it the way I'd want to (I need the rather expensive Canon WFT-E2 transmitter).

I shoot a lot of food and I sometimes find that a harsh reflection or shadow, not noticeable at LCD screen size, only becomes apparent when I view the images on my PC. I think shooting tethered would probably produce better images with fewer messed-up shoots.

Perry · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:46 »

Quote from: gostwyck on July 07, 2009, 05:42

I shoot a lot of food and I sometimes find that a harsh reflection or shadow, not noticeable at LCD screen size, only becomes apparent when I view the images on my PC. I think shooting tethered would probably produce better images with fewer messed-up shoots.

Oh, food is propably my number 1 thing to shoot tethered. I get much better lights and composition with tethered.

Why do you need wireless? Just get yourself a long USB cord and use a laptop.

leaf · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:49 »

Quote from: gostwyck on July 07, 2009, 05:42

It is something I've been meaning to do but I haven't got the kit to do it the way I'd want to (I need the rather expensive Canon WFT-E2 transmitter).

I shoot a lot of food and I sometimes find that a harsh reflection or shadow, not noticeable at LCD screen size, only becomes apparent when I view the images on my PC. I think shooting tethered would probably produce better images with fewer messed-up shoots.

theres also the wifi cf card, .. i haven't tried it, but it looks interesting and if it works well, it would be a nice compact solution.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:51 »

400 Portraits of family's for a church directory is the first time I tried tethered and it worked great. Very few rejects, eyes closed, etc. I composed on a 24 inch LCD monitor and had a second one connected up for the customers to view as the shots were being taken.

Conclusion: Everone loved it, including me.

Try it.

-Larry

gostwyck · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2009, 05:52 »

Quote from: Perry on July 07, 2009, 05:46

Oh, food is propably my number 1 thing to shoot tethered. I get much better lights and composition with tethered.

Why do you need wireless? Just get yourself a long USB cord and use a laptop.

I should try that first. Thanks!

Squat · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2009, 08:07 »

I actually had tethering in mind after I switched from my old and used up Olympus E300 to Pentax K20D . I got a few email exchanges with some people here who gave me some hints on tethering. With live view and "snapshot preview" ( i don't know what they call this, but it's what you do on the K20D, you push the slide instead of pressing the shutter and it takes a snapshot of the image. you preview it and then you decide whether you want to save it or not)., i found it fantastic to not have to shoot everytime, and i review and adjust the lighting and setup,etc.. before saving the final shot.
i only have one complaint about this feature, and that is i want to be able to look at it via a monitor so i can check depth of field, and other subtle areas , which is impossible to see with your camera LCD. i haven't bought a screen yet. i am told i could use even a simple TV for that.
if there is anyone here already having used tethering with the K20D it would be wonderful to get a PM from you to have your experience and advice .

antoniodalbore · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2009, 08:57 »

Tried but not suitable for my shooting style.

bye!

Magnum · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2009, 09:34 »

I have never tried it, but love to some day when I got a studio.

I got an idea:
Why don´t clone the laptop screen to a 42" lcd on the wall as well, so both you and the model can see every shot straight away.

Those are really cheap today and supereasy to connect to a pc with hdmi and a programmed hotkey for switching over. If you get tired shooting you can watch tv instead;)

PixelBytes · « **Reply #10 on:** July 07, 2009, 12:29 »

Sorry, by "shoot tethered" do you mean hooked up to a computer, or using a sync cord to trigger strobes, or what?

I googled the term and I am still not sure what you are talking about...

puravida · « **Reply #11 on:** July 07, 2009, 12:46 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on July 07, 2009, 12:29

Sorry, by "shoot tethered" do you mean hooked up to a computer, or using a sync cord to trigger strobes, or what?

I googled the term and I am still not sure what you are talking about...

the way i understand it, tethering = using your camera's live view AV out into a monitor to use the screen as a large LCD to check your exp, comp, DOF,etc.. i also like the idea.
can anyone explain how you get to tether into a laptop? the AV cord is only a yellow R.C.A to a flat PC jack similar to your digital out . i suppose you need a junction that go between the RCA to rout into the monitor out of the laptop, right?

PixelBytes · « **Reply #12 on:** July 07, 2009, 12:54 »

Thanks Puravida.

I can say that I don't ever shoot tethered, then, and don't intend to start. I like to be as free as possible when I shoot. I don't even like using a tripod.

puravida · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2009, 13:06 »

I like the idea for shooting productshot, PixelBytes. But for fashionshoot, people,etc.. dynamic subject, I too dislike even slipping on the bracket to a tripod. The vantage points and dynamic opportunities are too brief , and you have no time to lose when you're shooting outside of stationary objects.
With tethering , I can shoot one shot after observing every point I see, and having final satisfaction of the lighting, accent light,etc.. This will ease up on my hard disk and I don't have to soldier through 50 -60 different images to select the best one to print. When you're shooting JPG it's not a problem, but with a high res DSLR on RAW, it can be a great tax on time and storage space for my computer.
If you have a faster computer and your photoshop runs quickly, I think it's not that bad, but my computer is a pain opening those 17MP RAW images.

Perry · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2009, 15:10 »

Quote from: puravida on July 07, 2009, 12:46

the way i understand it, tethering = using your camera's live view AV out into a monitor to use the screen as a large LCD to check your exp, comp, DOF,etc.. i also like the idea.

No. You connect the camera with an USB to your computer and the shots are directly downloaded to the computers hard drive. You can check the results almost immediately. You don't have to shoot many gigabytes of images just to find out that the third one was okay and the rest just extra work. You can also easily correct some details in the image instead of cursing afterwards.

Quote from: puravida on July 07, 2009, 13:06

If you have a faster computer and your photoshop runs quickly, I think it's not that bad, but my computer is a pain opening those 17MP RAW images.

I use a few years old MacBook and Canon DPP, it takes just a few seconds to preview a 5D mk II RAW file.

Lcjtripod · « **Reply #15 on:** July 07, 2009, 15:32 »

I had a friend ask me how I set up the Church directory shots tethered with the camera/computer. Well, I forgot! I am 73 and have a right to forget.

But I did look up some sites that will help others and possibly you. If you have never shot tethered before, try it as you just may like it.

http://blog.tetheredcamera.com/2009/01/30/whats-a-tethered-camera.aspx

http://www.systeminsight.co.uk/Digital_Camera_Tethering_Overview.htm

http://photoshopnews.com/2006/12/06/tethered-shooting-in-lightroom/

Google search for tethered camera or tethered photography and you will find many resources.

-Larry

Squat · « **Reply #16 on:** July 07, 2009, 16:36 »

Maybe I'm confusing tethering for something entirely different. I googled for tethering with my Pentax K20D and found almost nothing definite other than hooking it up to Lightbox or some software, downloading it via USB . Another person suggested using Pentax Assistant (software that came with the k20d).
Conclusively, everyone said the problem is speed, regardless of the medium employed.

Now to explain what it is I really want to do with my K20D. We can preview our shots, much like make a screen capture by switching the shutter release button to the side, instead of depressing the release. This then gives us an image that we can inspect on the LCD . We then decided to either trash it or save it .
Now, what I want to do is to be able to see this image on a larger screen as it's too small for me to check depth of field, and minute details in a product shot.
I was wondering if someone here has done it either with the Pentax or with another camera. I was told by a Sony salesman we can do it with any camera having Live View. He didn't actually explain how , though. I guess he didn't care to elaborate since I don't own a Sony DSLR.

Any ideas?

le_cyclope · « **Reply #17 on:** July 07, 2009, 17:11 »

Quote from: Perry on July 07, 2009, 15:10

No. You connect the camera with an USB to your computer and the shots are directly downloaded to the computers hard drive. You can check the results almost immediately. You don't have to shoot many gigabytes of images just to find out that the third one was okay and the rest just extra work. You can also easily correct some details in the image instead of cursing afterwards.

I use a few years old MacBook and Canon DPP, it takes just a few seconds to preview a 5D mk II RAW file.

Canon has an utility that act as a remote for your EOS. With it, not only can you preview your shots on your pc screen, but you also can get full access to your camera settings; you can even fine tune the focus directly with your keyboard (or mouse).

I use this kind of set up when I shoot static objects.

Claude

Phil · « **Reply #18 on:** July 07, 2009, 20:57 »

Quote from: tan510jomast on July 07, 2009, 16:36

Maybe I'm confusing tethering for something entirely different. I googled for tethering with my Pentax K20D and found almost nothing definite other than hooking it up to Lightbox or some software, downloading it via USB . Another person suggested using Pentax Assistant (software that came with the k20d).
Conclusively, everyone said the problem is speed, regardless of the medium employed.

Now to explain what it is I really want to do with my K20D. We can preview our shots, much like make a screen capture by switching the shutter release button to the side, instead of depressing the release. This then gives us an image that we can inspect on the LCD . We then decided to either trash it or save it .
Now, what I want to do is to be able to see this image on a larger screen as it's too small for me to check depth of field, and minute details in a product shot.
I was wondering if someone here has done it either with the Pentax or with another camera. I was told by a Sony salesman we can do it with any camera having Live View. He didn't actually explain how , though. I guess he didn't care to elaborate since I don't own a Sony DSLR.

Any ideas?

you can do it with pentax assistant. I got real excited when they finally brought it out a while back. Tried it about 3 or 4 times and found it painfully slow and frustrating with a little window to look through and gave up on it. That was when it first come out so it may have improved since (I dont shoot pentax anymore so I dont know).

I did a workshop a while back and the guy running mixed between tethered and not, often using it at first making sure everything was alright for the first half a dozen shots and then disconnecting and being free

He had the canon software just grabbing straight from camera and putting the images in a folder, which he had lightroom set up to know this was the folder and keep checking. He could check everything on a full screen and zoom in etc as well as it being very valuable for those of us in the workshop and the models liked it a lot

that setup seems like the functionality of the pentax software you have (the one I used gave control over camera settings etc nice idea but implementation of software was bad) and so if you have lightroom (I'm sure other software could do it too) you could do the same.

Squat · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2009, 10:53 »

Quote from: Phil on July 07, 2009, 20:57

you can do it with pentax assistant. I got real excited when they finally brought it out a while back. Tried it about 3 or 4 times and found it painfully slow and frustrating with a little window to look through and gave up on it. That was when it first come out so it may have improved since (I dont shoot pentax anymore so I dont know).

I did a workshop a while back and the guy running mixed between tethered and not, often using it at first making sure everything was alright for the first half a dozen shots and then disconnecting and being free

He had the canon software just grabbing straight from camera and putting the images in a folder, which he had lightroom set up to know this was the folder and keep checking. He could check everything on a full screen and zoom in etc as well as it being very valuable for those of us in the workshop and the models liked it a lot

that setup seems like the functionality of the pentax software you have (the one I used gave control over camera settings etc nice idea but implementation of software was bad) and so if you have lightroom (I'm sure other software could do it too) you could do the same.

Awesome, cheers phil for taking the time to response.
I was under the impression that perchance the delay was due to the memory of the computer being used to run Assistant. Maybe not.
I read somewhere else that there is also a Pentax K20D forum and posters are pushing for some firmware to improve with tethering speed using Assistant. Not sure if that was an old post.

Cheers once again.
Anyone else with K20D success , let me know. PM me.

graficallyminded · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2009, 15:30 »

Great if you have time to stop between each shot, but I think it would just slow me down. Depends on the model too, they might want to stop and examine every shot as they come out, and that would just get annoying

Perry · « **Reply #21 on:** July 08, 2009, 15:45 »

Quote from: graficallyminded on July 08, 2009, 15:30

Great if you have time to stop between each shot, but I think it would just slow me down.

Why would someone need to look on the screen after every shot? I only look at the screen when I think I have a "keeper", but I'm not completely sure.

BTW tethered shooting allows me to sort and flag images on the run. You could also sort them in folders like "good ones" and "crap". Without laptop it's really annoying to flip trough a lot of images in the camera.

Squat · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2009, 15:51 »

Quote from: Perry on July 08, 2009, 15:45

Quote from: graficallyminded on July 08, 2009, 15:30
Great if you have time to stop between each shot, but I think it would just slow me down.

Why would someone need to look on the screen after every shot? I only look at the screen when I think I have a "keeper", but I'm not completely sure.

BTW tethered shooting allows me to sort and flag images on the run. You could also sort them in folders like "good ones" and "crap". Without laptop it's really annoying to flip trough a lot of images in the camera.

Perry's right. As a regular freelance in fashion shoots, I seldom find problems with the models wanting to see anything between shots. Perharps the amateur model or the newbies might be curious, but the experienced models don't do that.

My intention of using tethering is strictly for still life isolation shot, as I like to check depth of field and accent lighting,etc. As Perry also mentioned, this saves a lot of time not having to edit through a pile of RAW images that not only eat up storage space, but takes forever to load with Photoshop.

Once again, with the K20D I can do a screen capture and hopefully be able to view it on a large screen rather than squint on my LCD.

Phil · « **Reply #23 on:** July 08, 2009, 17:18 »

Quote from: tan510jomast on July 08, 2009, 10:53

Quote from: Phil on July 07, 2009, 20:57
you can do it with pentax assistant. I got real excited when they finally brought it out a while back. Tried it about 3 or 4 times and found it painfully slow and frustrating with a little window to look through and gave up on it. That was when it first come out so it may have improved since (I dont shoot pentax anymore so I dont know).

I did a workshop a while back and the guy running mixed between tethered and not, often using it at first making sure everything was alright for the first half a dozen shots and then disconnecting and being free

He had the canon software just grabbing straight from camera and putting the images in a folder, which he had lightroom set up to know this was the folder and keep checking. He could check everything on a full screen and zoom in etc as well as it being very valuable for those of us in the workshop and the models liked it a lot

that setup seems like the functionality of the pentax software you have (the one I used gave control over camera settings etc nice idea but implementation of software was bad) and so if you have lightroom (I'm sure other software could do it too) you could do the same.

Awesome, cheers phil for taking the time to response.
I was under the impression that perchance the delay was due to the memory of the computer being used to run Assistant. Maybe not.
I read somewhere else that there is also a Pentax K20D forum and posters are pushing for some firmware to improve with tethering speed using Assistant. Not sure if that was an old post.

Cheers once again.
Anyone else with K20D success , let me know. PM me.

www.pentaxforums.com is pretty much the Pentax forum be worth having a look there

Squat · « **Reply #24 on:** July 08, 2009, 17:51 »

Excellent. Thanks Phil !

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Author Topic: Do you shoot tethered (Read 20124 times)

leaf

Perry

gostwyck

Perry

leaf

Lcjtripod

gostwyck

Squat

antoniodalbore

Magnum

PixelBytes

puravida

PixelBytes

puravida

Perry

Lcjtripod

Squat

le_cyclope

Phil

Squat

graficallyminded

Perry

Squat

Phil

Squat

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