Posted on by Terry White

Alternative to Camera Control Pro 2 for Lightroom Tethering

 If you’re a Nikon shooter and you use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom shooting tethered requires middleware. Shooting tethered gives you the ability to attach a (long) USB cable to your camera and then to your computer and with the proper settings have the shots import into Lightroom as you take them. This is especially useful in a studio situation for those times when you want to check the lighting and have a larger image on screen than the LCD on the back of your camera. However, Lightroom doesn’t currently have native support for shooting tethered. You must use a piece of software to bring the images into your computer and dump them into a folder. From there Lightroom can automatically import them. If you’re a Canon shooter the software you need comes with your DSLR. It’s called the Canon EOS Utility. However, if you’re a Nikon user, the only app (lowest cost one) that Nikon provides is called Camera Control Pro 2 (CCP2). CCP2 is a great app. It does a LOT of things. However, quite frankly it’s overkill for this simple task. It has more features than you’re likely to use if all you’re doing is shooting tethered into Lightroom. Sure more features are nice, but those features come at a steep price. CCP2 goes for $152.99. Considering that you can get Lightroom for only $260.99, CCP2 is more than half the price of Lightroom. Although I already own CCP2, I’ve been asked by many of the folks that I do Lightroom presentations for, "is there a cheaper alternative?"

 

How about FREE?

Free is usually good! There are a couple of FREE solutions for shooting tethered into Lightroom. I just did a studio shoot yesterday, and gave Sofortbild is a donationware app. So technically it’s not really FREE as you should donate to the author if you use the app. However, it is provided freely to download and use. 

sofortbild

Sofortbild has all the features I need and it seems a little snappier too. The interface is clean and gives you quite a bit of useful information about your camera settings without getting in your way. You can also control the camera’s shutter release from the Sofortbild app if you wanted to use it as a remote control.

 

The Bottom Line

Like I said, Camera Control Pro 2 is a great app and I don’t have anything against it. It’s just overkill for what I need to do most of the time. You can download Sofortbild for the Mac here. If you’re looking for a Windows solution, check out TetherPro for $49.99. I haven’t used this app, but it does look like it has what you would want at a fraction of the cost of CCP2.

30 Replies to “Alternative to Camera Control Pro 2 for Lightroom Tethering”

  4. Terry –

    Have you looked into OnOne’s DSLR Remote? For folks who have an iPhone – for $10 .. you get a load more than simple tethering… as you can control shutter speed, ISO, etc wirelessly from your iPhone.

    1. JDoo,
      OnOne’s DSLR Remote is still Canon only (which if you’re a Canon shooter you already get free software with your camera) and requires a laptop, wi-fi connection and an iPhone (and it’s $19.99 for the featured edition, not $10). When it ships for Nikon, I will definitely check it out.

      1. It’s shipping for Nikon, Terry. Check it out. :~)

        Joe (no affiliation… just a very happy user)

  5. I checked this app out when Matt Kloskowski posted a link on his Lightroom Killer Tips Blog a couple of weeks ago, and it really is great! I’ve used it a couple of times and it covers all my needs for a camera control app.

  6. Thanks for this post Terry! I’ve been playing with this app all morning. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. I would definitely agree with you, this app does seem snappier, even when importing large NEF files. My next question for you is: Do you have any recommendations for any looooong USB cables? 🙂 Thanks and keep up the great work!

      1. Hi Terry,

        how do you connect the cable to the camera?
        I always fear that i tear it down when stepping on the cable.

        Have you ever tried something like those?
        http://jabnab.com/
        (it’s in German but the video shows it all, even without knowing the language)

        Have a nice one,
        Marc
        (from Germany)

  7. Hi Terry,

    I also checked this out when Matt blogged about it but it only seems to work on 10.5. That being said, it is still cheaper for me to upgrade to Leopard and get Sofortbild for free than to buy CCP2.

  8. Thanks for this Terry! I am still not sure why Nikon does not bundle in their software with their new cameras? C’mon, if you are spending $3k for a camera body shouldn’t it come with tethering software? Off of my soapbox now. Thank you.

  11. This is wonderful. Thanks Terry. I tried another public domain program a while back but could not get it to work with my setup. I am about to start teaching a small class and this will be very useful. I enjoy the blog. Kudos.

  12. While I totally prefer Lightroom fr my photo editing, Apple Aperture offers this feature without the need for any “middleware”.
    Just connect the camera to USB (I tried with a D90) and start the tethering from the file menu. In a few seconds after the image has been shoot, it appears on the monitor.

  13. For the Windows users out there, I’ve recently found an excellent alternative called “NKRemote” and it pretty much controls all the major camera settings, offers previews, time lapses etc. Also, and that was the reason why I even got to it, it works with Windows 7 RC! (at this point I usually start ranting about how Nikon hasn’t managed to come out with a 64bit driver yet…)
    Anyway, it’s at http://www.breezesys.com/NKRemote/index.htm

  14. Hi Terry,

    Thanks for the mention of TetherPro. If you would like a copy of TetherPro to review just let me know.

    Im also keen on improving TetherPro, so all feedback welcome

    Todd.

    1. Amazing software especially for the price. I just did 43 groups in two days with virtually no problems. Would be a great Christmas present if it were fully compatible with Windows 7 really soon. I’ve been running it in “Compatibilty mode” for Windows Vista and works well enough… I HIGHLY recommend this software. (*****)

  15. Hi I downloaded the Sofortibild software for Mac and I am trying to link it up with my lightroom but it is only allowing me to link it up with Aperture and iPhoto. Any idea how I link it up with Lighroom? Is there something I need to do in Lightroom?

    Thanks,

    megan – starving cheap Photo student.

    1. Hi Megan,
      Actually there’s nothing to link up. Sofortbild downloads your shots to a folder. That’s all it does. Then you setup lightroom to Auto Import (under the File menu) the shots from that folder.

  16. Hey Terry!

    This link was a godsend. I’ve had extreme Camera Control Pro 2 software failure in the past couple days and am at my wit’s end with Nikon’s tech support. Your link saved me from pulling all of my hair out. You’ve earned a new blog follower!

  17. Comments 4 years old? Is Sofortbild still supported? Does it work with cameras currently? They accept donations, but do not reply to inquires. Seems like a good program but YouTube videos and other reviews are very dated!

Comments are closed.