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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
syncing Nikon clocks
Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 9:02 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> I want to sync all of my Nikon bodies so Photo Mechanic shows photos in chronological order, regardless of which body was used. Even 10-15 seconds variation between camera clocks can throw this out of whack. The D3 manual says very little about the clock other than how to change its battery and that it's "less accurate than most watches and household clocks." (pg. 41) I remember someone on the message board gave a tip on how to sync a Canon body with the clock on your computer. Anyone have a trick on how to do this for Nikon? |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 9:04 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> install Nikon View is the easiest way and then plug each camera into the computer. You can set it to automatically set the clock on the camera when connected. |
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Stanley Leary, Photographer
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Roswell | GA | USA | Posted: 10:21 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> The latest version of Nikon View doesn't have this function. You now need Nikon Camera Control Pro 2. |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 10:53 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> Is Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 a free application? |
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Tony Fiorini, Photographer
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 10:53 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> I have done this a few times when shooting with two bodies. If I remember correctly, have both cameras in front of you, and get to the date and time menu. You have to work quickly as it will time out on you if you take too long. Set the same time on both clocks and hit "enter" at the same time. This starts the clocks running, both at the same time. Take a photo with each body at the same time and chimp to see if you are synced. Hope that helps. |
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George Holland, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 11:16 PM on 09.08.08 |
->> This gets me within a fraction of a second but they seem to get out of sync after a while.
Go into menu mode with both bodies.
Select World Time on each camera.
With both bodies open to the “set time” synchronize the time slightly ahead of the actual time. The camera clock doesn’t run in this mode but work fast or keep it alive by rocking the seconds back and forth until within 5 seconds or so of your target time or the Menu screen times out.
When actual time equals the camera time, push both OK buttons at the same time. I have my daughter help me get the time set but when ready I push both “OK” buttons.
I’m open to a better way but this only takes a few minutes. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 11:22 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> another reason to love canon. set my cameras time two weeks ago and they are still within 5 seconds of each other....sweet. |
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James Lee, Photographer
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Vincent | OH | USA | Posted: 11:32 PM on 09.08.08 |
| ->> I don't get the need to set both bodies at the same time. I have an Atomic G-Shock watch and just set each body individually to that time to the sec. prior to any major fast & furious shooting. Seems to work fine. As long as your watch will keep good time between setting your two cameras, why would you need to juggle setting both simultaneously? |
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Delane B. Rouse, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | US | Posted: 11:41 PM on 09.08.08 |
->> Chuck-
When we have 3-5 photographers at a track meet, or 2 shooters at a football game or having a primary camera plus a remote at a basketball game it's not good enough to be within 5 seconds.
In the field we use the method that George and Tony describe.
dbr |
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George Holland, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 11:50 PM on 09.08.08 |
->> James, You wouldn't. I personally just find the timing easier to synchronize and get very slightly better results plus I don't have that level of confidence in my analog watch and second hand so at least the cameras will have the identical incorrect time.
Delane, no, not free. $180 for a full version, $80 for the upgrade. |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 6:31 AM on 09.09.08 |
| ->> Thank you to the tip I received via email. The solution is Nikon Transfer. Quick and easy once I knew where to look! |
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Kevin Novak, Photographer, Assistant
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Bel Air (Baltimore) | MD | USA | Posted: 8:04 AM on 09.09.08 |
->> Our own Dennis Wierzbicki posted this on Fred Miranda forum, regarding a way to accomplish this in PhotoMechanic, referencing the PM manual:
"Photo Mechanic also has a feature to syncronize multiple cameras. You take shots from each camera at the same time (normally I do this before a game) and then under "Adjust Capture Dates and Times" you set the start time to the same thing. This way, even if the clocks in each camera are not exactly the same, your images are displayed in precisely the order they were taken. This feature is described on page 99 of the 4.5.3 manual:
Adjust Capture Dates and Times... : This tool will adjust the capture dates and/or times of the selected group of photos. The capture date/time is the time stamp written by the camera, usually stored in the EXIF data of a photo.
Often times the clock in a camera may be off, sometimes by a little, and sometimes by a lot. The most common example is when you change time zones and forget to change the clock on the camera. The capture times recorded are therefore still relative to the original time zone (e.g. before you went on vacation).
For multiple camera environments such as sporting events, it is often critical to synchronize all the cameras down to the second if photos from multiple cameras are to be viewed together.
To precisely adjust the capture times, use the Adjust Absolute controls to set the absolute time a photo was taken. For example, with multiple cameras at a sporting event, make sure all cameras take a photo of the game clock (or some other common clock that shows seconds). Then select the photos from one camera, locate the photo of the clock using the arrow buttons under the photo, then dial-in the actual capture time of the photo shows using the controls to the bottom-right of the photo. A relative time will be calculated from that photo and applied to all the selected photos" |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 8:46 AM on 09.09.08 |
| ->> Delane, you missed the point entirely. 8) What I was saying was, yes I could have synched both cameras with the exact time but five seconds didn't (and doesn't) matter for why we need the time relatively close with both cameras. The point was it's a BASIC function of the camera (which in my opinion is a no brainer)and doesn't need special software or have to be reset all the time. That's all I was trying to say. Kevin, that's a pretty good tip. Our sports picture editor uses PM to get our slide shows in order since we often file our most important photos from a game first (deadline issues) and fill in the rest of the report with a final edit. |
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