This really has nothing to do with "pushing the artistic envelope" - I'm suprised it's being couched in those terms....
Somehow I get the feeling this is one of those times we'd probably do a lot better talking in person.. it's hard to get 'everything' we think across in short written statements/messages.
"Lost in Translation" happens in the same language as well..
It's just been my experience that pushing the envelope is a mindset.. those who like to
'go beyond' generally do so in most parts of their lives. If we're so concerned about living within specifications, which I'm sure is required for your profession and was required for my previous profession (for the most part), then we're not discovering or finding that which we normally would find. Thinking outside the box.. There are degrees, and exceptions, and this is only my observation.
With the topic at hand.. It seems obvious that
'despite' working outside specs, there is something with the two MBP's (previous generation) Craig had that wasn't the case with his PC machines or his new MBP's (new generation). Or any of the machines I use.. I also tether, but with 30 foot lengths.. I get mine at
www.pccables.com and have for years. At PCcables (or any number of other places)
you can get active kits up to 60 feet or more long. Heck, they even have a 150ft super booster. (curious if it works) That these products are marketed shows there is a demand.. or in other words people are using these lengths often enough to warrant the packaging vs. buying separate cables and putting them together. So in my mind, regardless of the specification, if it's possible to tether at 30-45-60 feet with one type of computer and not another, then I find this information valuable and useful for my needs.
Now.. if someone limits their tethering to 15 feet, and by doing this they limit their work flow possibilities, just because they opened the book and the book says the standard is rated to only 15 feet.. then this is their right. But if they could have benefited from tethering at 15-60 feet, then it's their loss. And if they had to compromise their photography because of this choice, then that's a loss too. This is where my mindset comment comes in. The person limiting themselves to 15 feet, and possibly limiting their photography because of it,
"generally" makes this type of decision in most aspects of their work/life.
In my mind, the MBP is just one variable in the string of variables necessary to tether at 15-30 feet. If the MBP doesn't work, and every other PC/Mac tried does, then the odds are there is something 'different' about that machine which doesn't exist in the others. It might work
"within spec", but if I tether then I want to know if it works significantly different enough from the average laptop to be at issue. In this respect its irrelevant if the workflow requires an out of spec component. and to me when someone says
"well, you're working out of spec so what gives you the right to tell us about it?", then those who could use this information suffer for it.
Seriously, you don't find it interesting and valuable that a certain type of equipment won't work when most other types will? I do, and on some level perhaps many others do. So I ask myself what motivation someone would have to take this position, or chastise someone for sharing it, and without reaching too far.. I think of the Mac vs. PC rivalry. Just a guess, and I could be wrong.. but it's common enough of a mindset to not be reaching imo..
