Macbook Pro Tethering Issue

[Juanito]

I've got a one year old Macbook Pro Retina Display with 16 gig of ram that I'd like to tether with my H1 with Leaf 75s DB. I'm using a Kramer Tools power repeater to hook up to the computer via one of the Thunderbolt ports. I'm using Leaf Capture. The program sees my back and connects just fine, but when I shoot a frame, the camera dies and disconnects from the program. After a few seconds it reconnects without transferring the photo. I've reinstalled the software and even upgraded to Mavericks. Tried using Capture One but it does the same thing.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? (By the way, the camera tethers just fine to an older Macbook Pro and a Mac Pro using the same setup.)

John

[DanielStone]

Sounds like there isn't enough power reaching the back during transfer sequences?
There's enough to keep it on, but not enough power to keep it on during the (potential) spike in required voltage during transfer of the file?
IIRC, others have had issues with TB adapters and not enough power, just going from memory here... Thinking out loud sorta thing... like needing to keep a battery in their back during tethering sequences(when connecting via TB especially?) even when tethered(which might be a problem due to the design of the Aptus/Aptus S backs?



Dan

[yaya]

Hi John,

My guess is that one of these three is faulty: The Thundebolt adapter, the repeater or the repeater's power supply or it could be the cable between the repeater and the adapter

Have a look at this article: http://www.phaseone.com/Search/Article.aspx?articleid=2132&languageid=1 and check with your local dealer if they can lend you a Mamiya Leaf certified repeater to try out. Elimination is the best approach here

BR

Yair

[Theodoros]

Try one more thing John… Have your laptop connected with a power supply and repeat the process. See if it works when the laptop is plugged.

[Joe Towner]

Take the battery out of the back, power it over firewire and see if you can capture a frame to a CF card.  Basically take the laptop & tb-fw adapter away and see if it works.  Have you tried other ports on the Kramer?

[bcooter]

Hi John,

My guess is that one of these three is faulty: The Thunderbolt adapter, the repeater or the repeater's power supply or it could be the cable between the repeater and the adapter

Have a look at this article: http://www.phaseone.com/Search/Article.aspx?articleid=2132&languageid=1 and check with your local dealer if they can lend you a Mamiya Leaf certified repeater to try out. Elimination is the best approach here

BR

Yair

Yair knows what he's doing but in this case he's looking forward and my suggestion is look back.

Take a blast from the past, find the fastest fw 400 laptop or imac you can get your hands on leave it on snow leopard, load up lc 11, and whatever version of lightroom doesn't need mountain lion or maverick and just get to work.

With my old Aptus 22 I could tether to any mac at the time because the fw400 connector was stable and older software was a lot less heavy and apple threw more power to the ports. 

Heck I did a gig with an old apple 13" powerbook when the two 17" i used then  went flaky.

And just for reference thunderbolt is flaky. I have three I macs and two laptops with thunderbolt and even with powered drives you can breath on them and they'll disconnect.  With non powered devices you might get two on a thunderbolt machine but three and stuff starts dropping off.

I can't believe Apple came out with a connector that is less substantial than fw 800.

The only upside to thunderbolt is the transfer speeds.  When I have to syncro out large 10 terabyte drives thunderbolt will do it in about 6 hours, fw 800 is almost double the time, but other than that there is no reason to mess with thunderbolt unless you just have to.

Call Powermax, have them search their inventory and you'll find a fw 400/800 machine on the cheap that will let you keep working and on the 17" you can add a second drive to up the storage to 2 terabytes.

And on other thing and this is just the opinion from a gear guy and likes new stuff, but old stuff is good, in fact as much c__p as medium format takes and as much in love as the d800 boys are, you probably know as well as I that there isn't really anything out there in the right scenario that will shoot better than your Aptus.

Man this week I worked a p30+ file from a project after processing out a c__p load of Canon files and going to the medium format file was like having someday lift a fog filter off the image.

So take it for what it's worth, but I think Apple has lost all interest in the professional world of serious image making.  They're an I company and that's where their cash come from and the days of us creative guys keeping the company afloat are over.

If I wasn't so heavily invested in their stuff, I'd switch it all and I have no love for PC's, but at least they work in a professional environment.

IMO

BC

[Juanito]

The thing that kills me is that my setup was working at one point and now it's not. I took it in to Apple. They tested the thunderbolt ports. Of course they work fine.

For the time being, I'm following BC's suggestion. I've got an old Macbook Pro with Firewire 400 that I'm using for capture purposes. It's a little slow and creaky but it works - consistently. It's a damn shame that my brand new top of the line computer can't do what my 2006 MBP does flawlessly.

John

[DanielStone]

John,

I'd watch Craigslist for a 2011-era MBP. Top out the ram, upgrade the HD and you can have a VERY capable quad-core machine. I "upgraded" to an early 2011 MBP(non-retina) from a 2008 15" one.

I purchased the 2011 15" one used for $400 (low price b/c it needed a new battery installed, and a friend gave me a sweet deal). I also had the ram upgraded from 8gb to 16gb of 1600Mhz ram, and also had a 120gb SSD installed to replace the 750GB one that it came with.

Total investment, after upgrades and initial(pre-upgrade) purchase price : $1,000

It has firewire 800, (1) TB(v1) port, and 2 USB 2.0 ports. Runs C1 7.0 beautifully, and has the most "options"(IMO) for a tethering machine, since it has both FW800 AND TB.

Just a suggestion of course, but it didn't cost me a lot of money, but can process files out(and have better performance) for not many $'s out of pocket, and runs VERY STABLE during tethered operation(I occasionally tech for a friend/photographer who uses a P65+).

-Dan