Posted on by Terry White

Shooting tethered just got easier

I’ve been doing a lot more studio shooting lately and the one thing I’m addicted to (besides pretty models) is shooting tethered into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Although my new Nikon D300 has a nice big LCD screen on the back, it pales by comparison to the 15" display on my MacBook Pro. So I like to see the shots as I take them on the laptop screen so that I can make adjustments to lighting, exposure, etc. as I go. This way my shots bypass the camera’s memory card and download right to my hard drive of choice. My setup involves the D300, a long amplified USB2 cable, Nikon’s Camera Control Pro 2 software, which by the way supports the new Live View feature of the D300/D3. However, I think this app is still way overpriced! (Canon shooters, just use the software that came with your camera – It’s free) and of course Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. This setup has been working just fine.

However, what I got (after reading Joe McNally’s blog) was this Bogen-Manfrotto Double Head Accessory Arm and Gitzo Laptop tray that sits right on my tripod. I had been using a somewhat flimsy portable stand or whatever surface was nearby for the laptop to sit on. The problem was that I was always having to stoop down to see the screen. This NEW setup on top of my tripod puts everything at eye level. The difference is night and day in my productivity and speed. So I want to thank Joe for turning me on to this solution. It’s been working great.

Back to editing…



24 Replies to “Shooting tethered just got easier”

  1. Pingback: Shooting tethered just got easier at Imaging Insider
  2. Pingback: Shooting Tethered Gets Easier at Imaging Insider

  3. That’s a nice setup, and shot of the model I might add. Just curious, what ball-head are you using with your D300? It looks like a Kirk BH-1 to me. 🙂

  5. Terry,

    I’d add a spreader with some big, lockable wheels to your tripod (Bogen has 3 sizes last time I looked, get the biggest because they work better on a variety of surfaces). I’d also look at some long Velcro straps to hold your notebook in place. Wouldn’t hurt to put some weights/sandbags on the spreader to keep everything more stabile, less likely to take a spill if someone bumps into it or catches a toe on one of the legs.

    Robert

  6. If you like experimenting on this image you could take a color sample off her dress then do a gradient from that color to white with the darker portion at the bottom right corner of the image leaving the lightest area around her face. Increasing the contrast on her would give a bit more snap to her. I don’t know how to paste an image here or I’d send you an quickie example I did.

    If you want something very cool to play with check out the Tiffen Dfx plug-in for Photoshop. I just did a review of it and there were two filters I immediately loved, the Polarizer and the Gobo (using the Displacement Map).

  8. Roger,
    not really hard, just have to be careful. I don’t move my tripod a lot doing these studio shoots. If I do have to move a lot, then I would just use my other tripod for the camera. I shoot mostly handheld in the studio. The tripod is there for me to sit the camera on when I go to move something, adjust a light, move a prop, etc.

  10. Terry,

    You’re welcome. Did you ever get my comments about working at Adray’s here in Orange, CA? Not only that but I grew up just a couple of miles from the Adray’s in Detroit. I lived over by Plymouth and Inkster.

    Left some comments over on your D300 review as well. I bought a Navigon after seeing your posting on it. I missed the Black Friday sale but got one with traffic for $149 at Tiger Direct. I replaced the skin and replaced the arrow icon with a sports car. It has its little foiables but all-in-all well worth the money. I’m looking forward to Navigon’s Fresh software this month. Oh, and I found a ton of accessories for it at my local Staples. Even bought some on sale after Christmas.

    How long have you been shopping at Adray’s? I started at the OC one in ’75. Was there for 10 1/2 years then went to work for Olympic Camera for 8 years, then Adray’s asked me to come back and manage a new store (that never opened) so I was there for only 4 1/2 years before I turned pro photographer. A year to the day after I left they closed their doors for good.

    I’ve become a regular reader and poster on your blog, so thanks!

    Bob

  11. What a super nice setup, makes me jealous. I bookmarked your blog, you’ve got some fine articles to read as a mac-fan (posting on a windows computer hehe :P)!

  12. Robert,
    I’ve only been working with/buying from Adray for a few months now. So far they’ve been really great to work with. It’s a small world. I didn’t know Adray was outside of MI. They just decided to close their Troy store. Thanks for being a regular reader and poster.

  14. Terry,

    All three of my tripods are Bogen – if I understand you correctly, the Gitzo monitor platform will work (as shown in the link you provided) on a Bogen tripod? I love the setup you have and might give it a shot – I just want to be sure that the systems are straight across compatible (it appears that they are).

  15. Paxton Prints,
    YES, the Gitzo monitor platfrom has a standard tripod mount on it and will fit on your Bogen tripods without modification or adapters.

  16. Hey Terry,

    I’m wondering with your setup how long it takes for the image to show up in Lightroom.

    Currently when I shoot tethered with my D2X using Nikon Capture Control 4.2.2 and auto import enabled on Lightroom it takes about 20 seconds to show up. That doesn’t seem like much compared to Polaroid days but after shooting with Phase One and Leaf backs using their software and having the image come up in 3-4 seconds it seems like an eternity.

    Do you think I’ll experience a major speed up if I get Camera Control Pro 2.

    Thanks, Andrew

  17. Terry,

    I wonder if you’ve considered buying a camera stand for your studio shoots? They are expensive but fast and easy to work with and you can mount both camera and platform for your laptop, not to mention trays to hold additional lenses and accessories that all follow you around as you move the stand.

    I bet you could get Bogen or one of the other companies you loan you one to try out.

    Robert Jensen

  18. As someone just messing about with cameras, not a pro, I more than agree that Camera Control Pro is overpriced – for me at least just wanting to try out the idea of tethered! I ended up writing a little script to do what I wanted – download the images as soon as they are shot into my Windows PC.

    Now I can put that money I saved on the software towards the laptop platform 🙂

    If anybody reading this is on Windows I’d love to know if my script works for them as well, the script is on my site. I just view the downloaded images in Bridge and can see them within 1 or 2 seconds (RAW, via a USB2 connection). Faster with JPG and slower with USB1 of course.

    Yours
    Raymond

  19. Just followed intructions and it works with Vista Business and D300 with RAW Only files. Just load the updated Nikon RAW Viewer software that can be located on Microsoft.com and it is soooooooooooooo smooth. Thanks from a very happy user.
    Chris

  20. Hay Terry,

    I love that studio set up you have. Can’t wait to meet you at the Detroit Photowalk. I was the 52 person who sign up. And I do remember seeing Joe blog about that set up.

    Jason
    Jason Moon Photography

  21. Hey Terry,

    Is Lightroom better to use instead of PhotoShop? I mostly shoot in jpeg, but when I get the occassional job, I do shoot in Raw. Please let me know what you think (rather know).

    Thanks,
    George

    1. The two products are for different uses. LR is better at management and workflow. PS is your tool for editing, compositing, special effects, etc. Both have the same Camera RAW features which also work the same for JPEGs too.

  22. Hi Terry… I stumbled upon this blog post doing some research for a tethered setup such as this for a photobooth we sometimes setup for our clients at weddings. We usually have a D300 +10.5mm fisheye with a remote shutter release and single flash/umbrella. Results are good, but I’ve always thought if the guests could either see the photo on a larger screen right after, or as they were composing the shots the results would be even better. I think what you’ve got going on in this example would probably work for me, but I was wondering given the nature of how wide an angle the 10.5mm fisheye is if you know or could speculate on whether or not the laptop being right next to it would appear in the frame as well?

    Thanks,
    Josh

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