Shooting Tethered with the Pentax 645z

[michaelbiondo]

Anyone out there using the Pentax 645z tethered??

How is The Pentax Image Transmitter 2 tethering software?

I found a few posts on the Pentax forum and the Pentax software doe not sound that great, reports of 8 second transfer time.

Not fast enough for working with clients & talent.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/48-pentax-medium-format/275344-who-already-using-image-transmitter-2-a.html

MB

[Gel]

I've heard complaints about the IT2 software but have no practical use.

However, the Z has been successfully tethered to Capture One and it works quite well. There's a 645z user group which has a member on there who did it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/789460474450245/

I can't help you rental in NYC though, sorry.

[ndevlin]

So I'm shooting tethered with occasionally.  Plan to do a review eventually.

The hold-up is in-camera, bc it insists on some sort of processing before sending the files - about 3 seconds.  Transfer is virtually instant, and balance of the time is for LR or C1 or whatever to bring up a preview.

By far the fastest way to work is to write RAWs to card in-camera and transmit L* jpegs.  These move and display in about 4.5 seconds with LR5 and even a bit faster with C1. If you need to see previews asap, this works best. 

Raws are about 7-8 seconds for the full preview to come up in LR5.  It works, but is not as fast as Phocus with an H body.

I strongly suspect there are firmware improvements that could speed this up, given that it's about 3.5 seconds before the camera transmits.  If it could dump data faster, it would be way better. 

Make sure you turn OFF any kind of in-camera adjustment like Auto NR, lens corrections, etc.

I find I jam up the buffer on the 645z because it shoots so much like a 35mm camera.  the transfers eventually catch up, but it's not ideal yet.

- N.

[michaelbiondo]

Thanks Chris, I joined the group, Some interesting info on workarounds to shoot tethered with C1.

Thanks Nick, I will try the jpeg & raw technique as well, looking forward to your review.

MB

[bcooter]

Raws are about 7-8 seconds for the full preview to come up in LR5.  It works, but is not as fast as............

We shoot a gig a few times a year for a off the rack fashion client, where we do about 20 setups a day.

We've done it for a long time back to the original 1ds, to the 1ds2,3, contax/aptus. contax p30+, 1dx and lately the Leica S2.

The S2 files are downloaded through the leica image shuttle app and hotfoldered over to lightroom where we have presets.

We've used all kinds of computers, from the latest 17" powerbook and 27" apple display to now we use the latest Imac.

The fastest and most secure tethering is with the 1dx as with Canon DPP and ethernet it's light fast and bulletproof.  We run adobe bridge in the background for focus check and rating and with the 1dx we've shot up to 7,000 frames a day and not had a crash or a drop.

(first time that ever happened).

Anyway (sorry to go around the houses) but when we went from the canon to the leica the viewing time went from instant to about 4 to 6 seconds, maybe a fraction longer.  For the first time the client mentioned the viewing time and I thought about switching out to the 1dx, but just kept working.

Turned out it made no difference to the speed of the project.  We produced more in the last project than we did with the Canons and honestly those few seconds of slowing up let the AD's and the crew explore the image, made more corrections on set and though we shot less frames, more were useable.

I'm not saying faster viewing isn't important, but after that initial client hesitation it went very well.

Sometimes I think clients and us get so use to instant feedback all we end us seeing is flashes on a screen rather than giving it a few seconds to explore the image, or using those few seconds to review a past image.

Maybe the pentax is more workable than most people think.

IMO

BC

[Ray Cox]

I can tell you honestly that it is much better than when I had to wait to pull the chromes, although the Polaroids gave an idea. Oh, the good old days! I'm finding the Z just what the doctor ordered.

[Joe Towner]

I'm playing with the Flu-card this weekend, I'll see what I can figure out.

[ndevlin]

Sometimes I think clients and us get so use to instant feedback all we end us seeing is flashes on a screen rather than giving it a few seconds to explore the image, or using those few seconds to review a past image.

Maybe the pentax is more workable than most people think.

What you say is spot-on about getting so habituated to instantaneous feedback. My sense having used it on a few shoots now is that IT2 -> LR5 is a perfectly usable combination.  It's very stable in terms of accidental disconnection/reconnection.   

I've had a couple of strange freeze-ups after firing long, quick sequences. It isn't at the level of Phocus/C1/DPP yet, that's for sure. But a decent update could bring it to a fully acceptable place.

- N.