Tethering to Surface Pro 4?

[Chris Barrett]

I gotta admit, I'm intrigued with MicroSoft's new offering.  Tethering to a tablet could provide a more dextrous workflow.  However, even with my brand new maxed-out MBPR, I find C1 Pro a little sluggish.

Thoughts?

[Paul2660]

I have been tethering to C1 via the surface pro 2 and 3. All mainly due to Ken Doo's great pioneering work on this. It's an excellent solution to a field tethering solution. I have no issues with C1 on the S2 with IQ260 files. For a CCD camera on a tech camera it's an excellent solution.

I don't have Ken's site with his blog but he is a simple google find. Lots of great info.

Paul

[Chris Barrett]

Thanks, Paul.  I'd forgotten about Ken's post.  If the new Surface works well, it could be the end of Macs for me.  I've been so happy with Windows 10 on my monster custom tower.

[synn]

Following Ken Doo's lead, I have been experimenting recently with the SP3 as a tethering tool. Works beautifully.

[Paul2660]

I have yet to see any specs on the S4, really hoping to see (2) USB 3 ports.

For my use, I found the S3 to have less battery life, and it tends to get hotter, faster in the field.  I have had the S3 lock several times due to overheating, July, August of this year.  I went back to the S2 as I have a bit of trouble reading the S3 anyway due the resolution (old age eyes).  The S2 is a trooper, it's been dropped twice both before the magnet solution from Ken, and still runs great.  Both 2 and 3 are i5, as figured the i7 in the 3 would be just too much heat outdoors and I believe others have had issues there also. 

My S2 battery lasts about 1/3 to 1/4 longer than the S3 in best case uses (where the screen doesn't need to be too bright), however what is interesting is the S2 seems to be able to handle the 100% brightess better than the S3 on battery as it doesn't seem to drain the machine as fast. 

However there are a ton of 3rd party extented batteries out there, that will plug in with the Surface 2 or 3 power adatper (cord comes with the battery and S3 S2 believe they are on AC power). 

Paul

[alatreille]

Specs just out.

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-pro-4

And check out the Surface Book....more expensive, but wow - good idea.  Sort of like the HP Spectre x360, but with a discrete graphics card.

AL

[Paul2660]

Sigh, only 1 USB3 port.  but options for 16GB of ram, and as pointed out with the i7 different graphics.  Look at the resolution, I don't think I can read that!!.  I believe that's even denser than the S3?  edit, yes the 3 was 1920 x 1280.  wow the 4 is 2736 x 1824 (267 PPI) and the screen is even larger, so in the field it's going to be possibly a bit large?

Don't count on the 9 hours of battery life, as they have been claiming that since the S3 maybe the S2.  Best I have ever gotten on the S2 was about 7 hours, on the 3, 5 hours.

Paul

[Chris Barrett]

I think my only question is whether to go i5 or i7.  The i7 configuration is an extra month out.

Hmm...

[alatreille]

Hey Chris,

Are you considering the Surface Book, or just the tablet?
What are peoples thoughts on needing a dedicated GPU?

Cheers

AL

[Chris Barrett]

The tablet.  There's no major ergonomic gain with the laptop... and my MBPR is practically brand new.

[Ken Doo]

SP4 looks like a more mature device now----and an optional 16GB RAM!  I was hoping for two USB3 ports but wasn't holding my breath. Surface Book sounds good, but not a good portable solution for tethering without USB3 on the tablet side of things---so back to looking at the SP4 for me.  I'm still wary of the heat issues brought up by Paul---so Core i5 may be the better choice for me with lots of RAM. 

To save you some google searching, there are two articles on my website blog. Other than being a more mature device, I don't think the introduction of the SP4 would cause any material or substantive changes to the accuracy of the article with regard to tethering to a USB3 enabled MFDB and C1 Pro 8.  The second article covers clamping options, with my favorite using rare earth magnets.  Shopping lists and links included.   

1.  https://kendoophotography.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/microsofts-surface-pro-2-a-game-changer-for-phase-one-iq-series-and-leaf-credo-medium-format-digital-backs/

2.  https://kendoophotography.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/tethering-with-the-surface-pro-evolving-clamp-choices/

Ken

[Paul2660]

SP4 looks like a more mature device now----and an optional 16GB RAM!  I was hoping for two USB3 ports but wasn't holding my breath. Surface Book sounds good, but not a good portable solution for tethering without USB3 on the tablet side of things---so back to looking at the SP4 for me.  I'm still wary of the heat issues brought up by Paul---so Core i5 may be the better choice for me with lots of RAM. 

To save you some google searching, there are two articles on my website blog. Other than being a more mature device, I don't think the introduction of the SP4 would cause any material or substantive changes to the accuracy of the article with regard to tethering to a USB3 enabled MFDB and C1 Pro 8.  The second article covers clamping options, with my favorite using rare earth magnets.  Shopping lists and links included.   

1.  https://kendoophotography.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/microsofts-surface-pro-2-a-game-changer-for-phase-one-iq-series-and-leaf-credo-medium-format-digital-backs/

2.  https://kendoophotography.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/tethering-with-the-surface-pro-evolving-clamp-choices/

Ken

I just wanted to add, that if you are looking at tethering solution for the field this information is invaluable.  In studio, the MacBook Pro or other solution can work fine, but in the field, what Ken (and Don Libby) discovered with the Surface pro creates by far the best tethering solution. 

If you are working with a tech camera/CCD the live view on the CCD backs, just can't get the job done.  Due to both heat issues (back overheating) and battery life (battery draining).  Not to mention the fact that you really can't judge too much on the CCD live view as the image just can't be easily viewed due to blooming and noise, even with a ND filter on the camera. 

The Phase Capture Pilot solution is a not a good solution, at least for viewing the files after capture.  The images on the iPad can not been viewed at 100% (which is critical for focus checking) and the lag time to move the files can be terrible and or just trying to make the ad hoc wifi connection.  The wifi connection also has a very negative effect on the battery life of the back.  But most important to me is that when viewing the files at 100%, you can't really judge critical focus it's just not sharp enough.  This has been the case since day 1 with the IQ260 and Capture Pilot and Phase One HAS NEVER ADDRESSED IT.  I still can't believe it is something that can't be fixed but so far the view is still fuzzy on the iPad at 100%, not to mention the time it take to load a near full 32GB card to preview.  Capture Pilot with a CMOS back does offer some great abilities but viewing after capture to me is not one of them.

If you are using a tech camera in the field, then Ken's solution is so good, that Phase One should be selling a "tech camera" kit, with the S3 or 2 included.  It's just that good.  If you are hung up on win vs Mac, then it's good time to get over that, as I don't see Mac ever coming out with a similar product.  They just had their September announcements and once again they bypassed the Macbook Air with a removable keyboard.  I don't see that coming anytime soon. The iPad is not going to work unless they create a iPad that runs iOS, and I don't see that coming as Mac will feel that it will compete to much with their Macbook lineup.

Even if you are using a DF+ (actually it' a great reason) or XF, being able to tether and see the final image on C1 and viewed at 100% is invaluable and I will continue to tether even with a XF. 

So Kudo's to Ken and thanks again for him for taking the time to write up in such good detail his solutions.

Paul