P: Development in Tethering capturing

Thank you Stephen. We really appreciate your feedback.

I have a few queries.

>>My first complaint is how unreliable it is. The number of times I have tried to use Lightroom to tether, program freezes and camera connection dropping probably every 10 minutes cause it to be unusable.

Does this happen randomly or do you see any pattern in it? For example, does this happen only when you shoot several pictures quickly? Or does this happen when you disconnect and connect the tethering cable?

Which cameras do you use for tethering? Do you tether with multiple cameras simultaneously?

Regards,
Amit

Hi Chandan,
I work post production primarily, and also as a dedicated DT to photographers around the country. I have never seen a professional use Lightroom to tether, nor have I had them request me to use it, I notice this carries on to their studio workflow as well. The only people I know that use Lightroom are those that don't tether (i.e. download by card) and retouchers... though a lot of them are using C1 as well... Just to give you a 1st hand account. I get to witness and follow a lot of peoples workflows, and this is telling.
My first complaint is how unreliable it is. The number of times I have tried to use Lightroom to tether, program freezes and camera connection dropping probably every 10 minutes cause it to be unusable. Use the same camera on capture one and I can shoot all day without a problem, especially in recent C1 builds. If this can't get fixed there's not even a point of having it as a feature... it's the butt of a lot of jokes on set, to my Lightroom advocacy embarrassment.... or it used to be, now no one even talks about it as even being an option.
After that:
See what capture one is doing, they understand a lot of what you need on set. Then below:
1.  proper on the fly numbering and naming architecture to accommodate diverse workflows and folder structures: Scene, Day, Subject, Photographer, etc. This would fall over into  card importing also, as the custom naming number counter is 'dumb' and can't carryover numbering from the previous import. Dumping 50 cards a day, inputing the right start number every import is a huge hassle.

2. SPEED: Make things faster. I have the best MacBook you can buy right now, and Lightroom is still slow... even after the most recent upgrade. 
3. Live view, better camera controls. (is there really still no live view support?)
4. Client review, rating and edit platform: iPad, mobile, etc solution for the client to view images coming in without having to look over the photographers shoulder all day. This would include rating images, drawing on the images for retouching notes, etc
5. immediate preview building: Lo res for immediacy, with eye detection and preview building of just the small eyes area to check focus on the fly. This is a huge slow down and the cause of a lot of headaches on set and after. If you could just have a grid of full-res eyes previews fairly quickly in front of you, you could quickly narrow down what your options are. Even better if it could detect eye sharpness and reject bad focus!

I can't stress enough how many clients you are losing because Lightroom isn't even taken seriously anymore for the onset photographer, and you know that's carrying over into their studio. Having your main tethering platform freeze as the client is standing over your shoulder is one of the most embarrassing and amateur feelings you can have. "We flew in this guy from San Francisco, paying him how many thousands of dollars, and he can't even get his camera to start"
Hope this helps, but you'll need a lot of photographers input to make it right. I'm not sure anyone is even trying to tether anymore...?

Thanks for raising the concern. We hear you and yes we have not focussed on Tether in near times. It will help us if you could elaborate on how you would like us to evolve this functionality, preferably in order of importance to you. Whats your biggest pain point, which functionality is important to you, Camera support etc.

Thanks,
Chandan

It is rather embarrassing how overlooked this feature is. I can't recommend Lightroom to anyone needing tethering capabilities. 
Now imagine all the of the people who switch to CaptureOne to tether with... you think all of those people are reorganizing and importing their entire shoot back into Lightroom after they spent 5 days on a job shooting, adjusting, and organizing in C1? I do this.... but it's embarrassing to admit it, and I can't imagine many other people have the patience for that...