| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
OT: Tethering *multiple* cameras to one laptop
Martin McNeil, Photographer
 |
London | London | United Kingdom | Posted: 11:17 AM on 10.22.10 |
->> First off, I'm a Nikon shooter using Windows - just before there are suggestions pointing towards Canon / Mac software.
I've had a look at Nikon's Camera Control Pro 2 software for shooting tethered with a D3 and it seems to fit my needs apart from a few small niggles.
#1 It completely bypasses the internal CF cards and writes files straight to the computer when tethered - I'm not too comfortable with this situation in case of a HDD or power failure on the part of the laptop.
#2 No doubt a side effect of the above, there seems to be no way in which I can download only the JPG file. Like some D3 shooters, I have the camera set to Slot 1: RAW, Slot 2: JPG...
#3 More crucially, it appears that I can only have one camera tethered at a time: no room to have to cameras connected and/or two instances of the software running (one for each camera)
So - does anyone know of any tethering sofware out there (Nikon / Windows) that would allow me to at least pull in only JPG's when tethered? Being able to tether two cameras simultaneously would be a boon, but I can live with swapping from a wide zoom to tele zoom if I must :)
Thanks in advance |
|
Butch Miller, Photographer
|
Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 11:30 AM on 10.22.10 |
->> I doubt you will find a solution ... the only one camera, and not writing to the card in tethered mode is by design from Nikon ... I'm not sure if software can change this behavior ... it works the same way with the tether plugin for LR3 as well ... which is accessed using the hooks available via the Nikon SDK ... I guess it is, what it is ...
I think the only way to get the software to "pull in only JPG's" is to set the camera to only capture jpegs .... |
|
Steve Violette, Photographer
|
Gulf Breeze | FL | USA | Posted: 4:30 PM on 10.22.10 |
->> An open ended question would be: Can you tether one camera with a cable and tether the other wirelessly and make the destination folder the same?
ipad has an app called shuttersnitch - rob galbraith did a review - that can connect to multiple cameras as you suggest wirelessly - not sure if there is a windows app for this though
good luck |
|
George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 5:18 PM on 10.22.10 |
| ->> I don't know about the Nikon software, but in response to question #1, the default on Canon is to bypass writing to the in-camera card but in the prefs you can change it to write to the card and computer. That may be an option in Nikon software. |
|
Martin McNeil, Photographer
|
London | London | United Kingdom | Posted: 4:53 AM on 10.25.10 |
->> Thanks for the input, guys - it's been appreciated.
So far the closest solution that I've found came from a direct email pointing me to Breeze Systems UK; the name was immediately familiar as Getty Images' GIFT software is based on Breeze Browser.
Anyways, they *do* have an application for tethering multiple cameras - CANON cameras. As a Nikon user, I'm SOL on this one so far. :(
That said, I'm going to give Breeze a call to see if they've got plans to release a version of their multi-cam tethering software so it can be used with Nikon gear anytime soon...
I'll post again when I get an update from them. |
|
Martin McNeil, Photographer
|
London | London | United Kingdom | Posted: 9:12 AM on 10.31.10 |
->> UPDATE:
Breeze have no plans to release a multi-camera version of their Nikon tethering software... BUT they did say they'd be open developing it if they could attract the necessary investment.
When I quizzed them on the cost, they quoted in the region of $10 - $15K to code it. That's quite the down-payment for a single photographer - perhaps, though, a collective of 50 ~ 100 people could band together and donate an equal share to the app and thus reap the rewards??
Might be worth a separate thread. |
|
Ed Wolfstein, Photographer, Assistant
 |
Burlington | VT | USA | Posted: 9:26 AM on 10.31.10 |
->> Here's a thought: With netbooks being pretty cheap these days, perhaps you can set something up where each D3 has its own dedicated netbook as a receiving client of sorts, then employ a router (wired or wireless) to gather all the images onto one master computer. Sure, you won't have individual control of each camera on one screen: it might look more like a mini "mission control" with several netbooks each reporting to you as the "master". Don't know how much physical space you have either. And it doesn't solve the RAW issue... but something to think about.
Cheers!
- Ed. |
|
George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 10:19 AM on 10.31.10 |
->> AS Ed says, it can be done with multiple netbooks or using the FTP transmitters on the cameras (the netbook method is actually cheaper but has a larger footprint)
Either method would allow you to log into the cameras and control them remotely from a central computer. For the WT or WFT units (Nikon or Canon) you can log into each camera and control settings and with them you can control whether it sends RAW+JPEG or JPEG only.
On the netbook method you can control each camera's settings by logging into the netbook via the main computer by remote desktop and then control the camera.
The netbook method also requires you have the Nikon software which they charge for. Canon's EOS utility is free with your camera and allows the tethering and camera control. |
|
Geoffrey Bolte, Photographer, Assistant
|
Spencer/Worcester | MA | USA | Posted: 10:23 AM on 10.31.10 |
->> Haven't really tested it yet, but Lightroom 3 has tethering built in. I haven't played with it yet, but that might be ano option to try if you already have LR3, or you can at least download the trial and see if it works.
Might actually try to do it now so I will get back to you on it. Will try my 2 Nikon cameras connected at once. |
|
Geoffrey Bolte, Photographer, Assistant
|
Spencer/Worcester | MA | USA | Posted: 10:50 AM on 10.31.10 |
->> Just tried it out, only one camera will be noticed. And according to Adobes LR3 faq only one Nikon camera will be attached at a time.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/842/cpsid_84221.html
Guessing it has something to do with the Nikon firmware or something. |
|
Butch Miller, Photographer
|
Lock Haven | PA | USA | Posted: 12:37 PM on 10.31.10 |
->> Geoffrey ... that's been my experience as well ... haven't been able to find any tethering software that will allow multiple Nikon cameras attached ... or write the images to the CF card AND the computer ...
All indications are it is either a firmware or Nikon SDK limitation ... |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|