8 replies to this topic

[Joe Coates]

Is it possible to still use the viewfinder while shooting tethered?  I see people doing it on tutorials but i'm not sure if that is a canon thing or if i'm just doing something wrong. It drives me crazy some times when I just don't feel like waiting for the preview on the monitor. 

[Adam]

It depends on whether or not you're using live view.  If remote live view is enabled, then the viewfinder goes dark.  If you're just releasing the shutter remotely, on the other hand, you'll still be able to look through the viewfinder.

[yauman]

Do you mean live view or view finder?  The view finder have nothing to do with tethering - I shoot tethering every day and have to look through the view finder to compose - otherwise you'll be shooting blind  

 

However live view is a different thing.  Whether live view (ie using the LCD screen to compose) is available when tethering depends on the model of the camera.  I can't seem to do it with my D5100 or D7100 but I understand that it's possible on some higher end models.

[Merco_61]

What software do you use for tethering? I use Camera Control Pro NX and have a choice between optical finder, LiveView on camera and remote on computer screen. I was lucky enough to get it bundled with my D700, otherwise I would probably use Sofortbild or just tether with Lightroom...

[Joe Coates]

I'm talking about after I take the shot.  If I want to look at my lcd on the camera and review the picture I just took or the previous picture.  Just like how you would normally check a picture if you weren't shooting tethered.  I use lightroom 5 and I have capture one but I'm not very comfortable with that yet.

[yauman]

I'm talking about after I take the shot.  If I want to look at my lcd on the camera and review the picture I just took or the previous picture.  Just like how you would normally check a picture if you weren't shooting tethered.  I use lightroom 5 and I have capture one but I'm not very comfortable with that yet.

 

Oh, then it should just appear - takes less than a second.  I shoot tether only and with Lightroom 5.4 - that's all I do as I'm doing product photography.  I use a D5000 or D5100 or sometimes D7100.  Start tether mode, shoot and the image appears on the computer screen either in Grid View, Loupe View or even Develop view.  If you have a slow computer, it make take longer as the image has to write to the hard disk. The whole reason product photographers and model shoots in studios shoot tether is so you DON'T have to use the tiny LCD to review the last shot but to review it on the big computer screen. So after each shot, I review the image on my 15" screen before I go on to the next shot. So that's why LCD review is not available since it is not necessary when shooting tether. In other words, the whole point of shooting tether is so we can avoid having to review on the small LCD screen. If you want to increase the speed, ie shorten the time of the image transfer, remove the SD card - you don't need it for tether shoot and when the camera don't have to write to the SD card and to the computer, the transfer is faster.

 

Another advantage is that if after getting the lighting and composition correct on the image, and develop it, you can set the tether to use previous Develop settings (shadow, highlight, blacks, clarity, sharpness etc etc and apply it directly to all subsequent incoming images! Absolutely the most time saving feature when doing product photography.

[Joe Coates]

Thank you. I understand that. I shoot tethered for the client parents and for the creative director not so much for myself. I still need to be able to look at my camera sometimes. I know it's possible but maybe only canon users can do it. I see them do it on tutorial daily.

[yauman]

Thank you. I understand that. I shoot tethered for the client parents and for the creative director not so much for myself. I still need to be able to look at my camera sometimes. I know it's possible but maybe only canon users can do it. I see them do it on tutorial daily.

 

Ah.. ok.. got.  When I shoot models in studio with clients, I set up a 42" TV for them to watch.  The camera is tethered to my laptop (15") next to me and have a long HDMI cable from my laptop to the TV. What I see on the laptop screen is what they see on the TV. I guess I just don't trust my eyesight to judge the image looking at the 3" LCD - just got use to looking a results on a 15".  

 

But all is not lost!  If you want to do what you want, you can download this program and run it - DigiCamControl.  Not only will it shoot tether, you can control your Nikon from it and you can see the image and live view when tethered.  Unfortunately it only runs on Windows PC but when I was beta testing for them, I ran it successfully in Windows running as a VM process on my Apple Mac OS10.9.  It's free try it. May be just what you need.

[Joe Coates]

Thank you. I will try it.