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Author Topic: Wondering . . .  (Read 3500 times)

dabreeze

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Wondering . . .
« on: September 02, 2006, 06:41:45 pm »

Having never used the tethered capabilities of the 1DsM2 in the field, I haven't really a clue as to how to take advantage of this feature. Not much in the manual and I was just wondering if anyone out there knew of a good step-by-step tutorial somewhere online that I could refer to.

What I'm really wondering is if you could substitute tethering an Epson p-4000 in the field for a laptop, taking advantage of the much larger (than the camera; obviously not as large as even a small laptop) LCD playback. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it's a hardrive (like a laptop) with psuedo RAW conversion capability (meaning it simulates the interpolation serving a similar function as a RAW conversion software program would tethered to a computer).  

Am I on Mars here or might this be possible?

Thanks in advance for advice/suggestions . . .

Derek von Briesen

DvB Digital Imagery

"From the Desert to the Sea:" Sept. 1-30, 2006, Sedona Arts Center

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pobrien3

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2006, 10:13:07 pm »

Tethered shooting with the 1DsII allows remote software control of the camera's functionality (aperture, shutter, shutter release, etc.) so can't be performed with the Epson P-4000 - you need a laptop for use in the field.

You can use the Canon software bundled with the camera (DPP / EOS Capture), or alternatively use a third-party control system like this one from Breeze Systems..

Just install the DPP / EOS Capture software on your laptop, attach your camera using the supplied firewire cable, and launch the software.  You should find it's simple and intuitive without the need for a tutorial.
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Rick Donhauser

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2006, 12:46:22 pm »

Having used a Powerbook G4 tethered for numerous location jobs (commercial) I would mention the following points.

- In bright sunshine even with a black cowl around the laptop it is extremely difficult to see the screen.  Even the key board reflects back light onto the screen.  Inside or in deeper shade it works much better.

- I like DPP and use it exclusively but it is a bit tempermental especially if you switch camera bodies, you may have to reboot and start all over again.  

- Also on the mac only MAC OS 10.4.6 or earlier works with the software. Last time I checked 10.4.7 (latest version) does not work.  So I use the older version on my laptop and the newer version on my G5 Dual.

It would be wonderful if the camera manufacturers took their tethered cameras out on sunny day and worked out a viable solution to this problem.  Like a brighter screen, non reflective key board and more robust software.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2006, 01:02:20 pm by Rick Donhauser »
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Jonathan Wienke

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2006, 01:07:29 pm »

Quote
Having never used the tethered capabilities of the 1DsM2 in the field, I haven't really a clue as to how to take advantage of this feature. Not much in the manual and I was just wondering if anyone out there knew of a good step-by-step tutorial somewhere online that I could refer to.

What I'm really wondering is if you could substitute tethering an Epson p-4000 in the field for a laptop, taking advantage of the much larger (than the camera; obviously not as large as even a small laptop) LCD playback. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but it's a hardrive (like a laptop) with psuedo RAW conversion capability (meaning it simulates the interpolation serving a similar function as a RAW conversion software program would tethered to a computer).

You need a laptop for tethered shooting in the field. It's pretty simple; install the software, connect the camera to the laptop with the Firewire cable, and start the program. Besides screen size, a laptop also offers the advantage of a color-calibrated screen, if you calibrate it. There's a separate manual for the software, which is why the camera manual doesn't really cover it.

For studio work, it's hard to beat shooting tethered to a fast desktop machine with a 21" or larger calibrated monitor.
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augg

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2006, 07:30:11 pm »

There is possibly a solution. Check out the Giga Vu Pro review over at www.robgalbraith.com http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_pag...cid=7-7892-8176

If they ever show up in stores here in north america.

dan
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pobrien3

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2006, 09:05:02 pm »

You can't do untethered shooting with the Jobo.  The nearest you could get to that would be wireless transmission of the files from the camera to the device.
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jamie_m_

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2006, 03:20:02 am »

You can't do teathered shooting directly to a portable hard drive, I use a tiny Sony VGN-T2XP note book which gives me a real 4 hour battery life, but the UMPC tablet devices ( http://dynamism.com/Notebooks/UMPC/categorygroup.shtml ) look interesting as they seem more portable than my laptop just worried about the battery life.

Does any one use a UMPC? Is the screen "good enough", how is the battery life?
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TomConnor

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Wondering . . .
« Reply #7 on: September 13, 2006, 12:59:03 pm »

From what I have seen, battery life is disappointing for most of the UMPC's which are currently available.  

However, (despite their cost) I have been rather impressed with the Sony UX series of UMPC's, they have reasonable spec's good battery life and they look to be very nice (and did occur to me as being a possibly nice tool for photography) - the problem is that they are expensive, and I am by no means convinced that they are more worthwhile either than buying a load of high capacity memory cards, or, buying an ultra portable laptop and some portable external storage.

Of course, in the end, the question of if a particular piece of computing kit is for you can be answered by first working out what you want, then looking for the tool which fits best your requirements, so if you want an expensive portable machine which is pretty much only good for use either for tethered shooting, or when hooked up to a big monitor, then perhaps a UMPC is for you.  To be honest, I think (and, indeed hope) that the next generation of machines will be cheaper (supposedly Samsung is working on a UMPC based on a cheaper AMD chipset, which will cost about £500) and have better battery life – and then I think that they will be a good improvement over something like a Jobo, offering more functionality for only a small increase in price.  However, at the moment, I think the UMPC’s are either too expensive (the Sony) or too much of a bodge job (the Samsung) to be worth considering – although, it should be said, that if you are a pro, I imagine especially in something like photojournalism, being able to use a machine like a UMPC for tethered shooting could be advantageous for your job (interestingly several premiership football sides have wireless hotspots now, so UMPC’s could provide an elegant way to take pictures and upload them simultaneously, as the match goes on).
« Last Edit: September 13, 2006, 01:12:29 pm by TomConnor »
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Tom Connor
Epidemiologist at large -----
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