[Consolidation-Locked] Tethered Capture for Nikon D800

[PrestonPage]

Still not working with LR4.1 released today.  Are there plans to support tethered capture for the Nikon D800? 

Message title was edited by: Brett N

[Jeff Ellis]

Amen.

Julie, sure we CAN use windows software, but that's quite a PITA in everyday workflow.

So for most Mac users, not a desirable option.

[Keith Reeder]

jules_1973 wrote:

I am a Toronto Product Photographer and I also do boudoir photography. 

Which is relevant how, exactly?

Spam?

Nice advertorial.

[rich1photo]

Ok this is not good Adobe there are a lot people NOW who own a Nikon D800 (i own a D800E) and this tethered problem needs attention ASAP please address this so I can use my 36 meg camera insead of my D7000. I want and need the big files get it together people. Get that update 4.2 done.

Frustrated Rich.

[montyrakusen5]

Well Ive been shooting for a few days with 4.2 CR and its fine. I've had problems with file naming, everytime you unplug and then restart it insists on going back to 1 but I think I'm going to abandon file naming at the shooting stage and then rename after the shoot. I've had a problem with the active USB booster cable which failed on day 2 but I was able to continue with the Nikon cable even though it was too short. The booster cable hasn't failed as such, it still powers a mouse but I can't get it to see the camera for more than one shot. I've just bought a Lindy USB3 booster, the Nikon cable is USB3 and I'm lead to beleive it might have something to do with mixing 2 and 3, I'm testing on Monday as the sensor is being cleaned today.

I'm not entirely happy being that I'm used to firewire shooting which is ten times faster than USB2 and a lot more reliable.

I'm looking into wireless shooting, eyefi is a no go and there are some cheap system windows compatible which are a no go. Theres only the Nikon T4 (?) at great expense, possibly about to be discontinued and I dont have anyones recommendation yet, can anyone advise?

Kind regards

Monty

[PrestonPage]

Hi Monty,

Transfer rate with Nikon D800 size files is quite slow, but I've been using on occasion an Eye-Fi Pro X2 card to transfer JPEGs to an iPad using WiFi.  A new pro tethering solution from Nikon is the UT-1 (http://www.nikon.com/news/2012/0913_unit_03.htm), which essentially turns the camera into a web server.  According to the article, there is a version that is bundled with the WT-5 (replaces the WT-4) transmitter.

[montyrakusen5]

Wow Preston thanks for this info!

I was under the impression that the eyefi was not compatible. Using jpg for preview viewing, asessing off camera flash and expressions etc would be acceptable and this is why I shoot everything tethered. The hires could stay on the CF card to be downloaded later. Is that doable?

The UT-1 is amazing and huge! Ive read the info but I'm still not much the wiser! Does this send your images to a wifi network? If so this would be useless on the deck of a trawler! Or in a steel works.

Im really none the wiser how it works.Or does it make its own wifi network...if so then its a big eyefi but can you save raw files to the card and transmit jpg? I shall continue the research.

Thanks so much

Monty

www.rakusen.co.uk

[PrestonPage]

I've heard reports of problems using the Eye-Fi card with the D800, but I've not experienced them.  It could be that the intermittent connection issues reported have to do with the how the D800 powers down the Eye-Fi card when the meter auto-off timer triggers.  So if you use the Eye-Fi, be sure to extend the timeout to 10 minutes or more.  Here are my first notes about shooting the Eye-Fi with the D800: http://prestonpagephotography.com/2012/06/16/shooting-the-nikon-d800-tethered-to-ipad-via-eye-fi/.  

I only use the Eye-Fi with an iPad on location as a sort of a Polaroid, as you suggest, with RAW files going to a CF card and Basic quality JPEGs on the Eye-Fi card.

I don't any more about the UT-1 than the press release, but I think it is interesting.  It duplicates the web server and Ethernet jack buillt in to the Nikon D4, which allows you to control the camera and transfer files over an Ethernet cable to a laptop or desktop.  You have to add the WT-4 to the UT-1 get WiFi.  That poor hot shoe could get crowded!

- Preston

[montyrakusen5]

I thought I'd report back on my day's shoot.

Shooting on the D800E tethering to Mac Book Pro with Lightroom 4.2CR. We shot 700 frames with only one failure of connection so successful tethering under the following provisos.

1. Connection order must be as follows.

turn on LR

turn on tethering

turn on camera

Plug in USB booster cable

Plug in camera

2. Storage.

If you reformat your cards you get a faster tethered connection, that is there is a shorter waiting time to connect.

If you remove the cards altogether its almost instant and I think, Im not sure, but you get a faster image transfer.

3. Library

LR loads faster in Library Mode

4. Changing lenses.

Changing lenses causes connection failure. LR will not recognise the camera and focus will not work properly.

A work round is to quit LR and restart using the above order each time lenses are changed. I'm not sure if this is an LR or camera fault.

I hope this is useful to you.

[Geoff the kiwi]

Thank you for sharing your results!!

montyrakusen5 wrote:

I thought I'd report back on my day's shoot.

Shooting on the D800E tethering to Mac Book Pro with Lightroom 4.2CR. We shot 700 frames with only one failure of connection so successful tethering under the following provisos.

1. Connection order must be as follows.

turn on LR

turn on tethering

turn on camera

Plug in USB booster cable

Plug in camera

2. Storage.

If you reformat your cards you get a faster tethered connection, that is there is a shorter waiting time to connect.

If you remove the cards altogether its almost instant and I think, Im not sure, but you get a faster image transfer.

3. Library

LR loads faster in Library Mode

4. Changing lenses.

Changing lenses causes connection failure. LR will not recognise the camera and focus will not work properly.

A work round is to quit LR and restart using the above order each time lenses are changed. I'm not sure if this is an LR or camera fault.

I hope this is useful to you.

[Jeff Ellis]

Monty - you are tethering with the D800 and Lightroom ONLY - no other tether software such as Nikon Camera Control, Aperture or Capture One?

Camera connects and loads to MacBook Pro direct into Lightroom?

[montyrakusen5]

Yes I'm not shooting through any other software.

Camera connects and loads to Mac Pro and into Lightroom with no other software. You must follow my instructions.

I dont like the interface of Nikon Camera control and as a Hasselblad photographer I've never used Capture 1 and have no incentive to learn another piece of software. I could have used Aperture I suppose...not thought of that!

Already I use Hasselblad Phocus, Lightroom and CS5 so it was sensible to keep it within that family.

Monty

[montyrakusen5]

Does anyone from Lightroom watch these postings? If so could they please comment on whether loss of tethering when changing lenses is an LR or Camera fault?

Monty

[PrestonPage]

Monty,

Because LR4.1 doesn't support the Nikon D800, I started using Nikon Camera Control 2 to tether to a laptop.  I can change lenses without loosing the tether connection.  Testing with LR4.2, I confimed that the connection is lost and LR4.2 needs to be restarted.  I'm going to guess it is an LR4.2 problem. 

I also observe that NCC2 is able to transfer and display files several times faster than LR4.2 RC.  An additional issue, some sort of buffer fills up with LR and the camera won't fire until the buffer clears, which can take 2-3 minutes.  NCC2 does not have that problem, or at least I don't shoot fast enough for the issue to manifest.   

I've found that LR4 introduced a number of new stability bugs, where LR3 was solid.  I no longer use Lightroom on my laptop.  It just isn't a professional quality application.

[montyrakusen5]

Hi Preston

This is interesting. I never really tested camera control in anger, I just didnt like its interface but I could be convinced otherwise...I'll download another trial on my spare laptop and see how it goes.

There are some benefits over LR like live view and you are right about the buffer but then i dont shoot that fast and I only once experienced waiting for images.

Ill give it a spin...can you process your files out of NCC2?

Monty

[Tinyhalo]

I've switched to Nikon Camera Control 2 as well. The transfer times are like lightning and I only have USB2 on my MacBook Pro - I find it quie astonishing how quickly the 43Mb files are transferred. Previously I was using LR4 with a D700 which produced much smaller files but the transfer was SSSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW.  I wonder how many customers Adobe lost over this issue.

p.s. just an aside but when I was shooting Live View using the D800 and NCC2 I discovered you can set the focus point literally anywhere you can click the mouse on the image - it doesn't need to be one of the fixed focus points within the camera. I used it for focus stacking on macro shots of jewllery and it was absolutely fantastic. You definitely can't and never have been able to do this in Lightroom.....

[montyrakusen5]

Thanks this is helpful.

Monty

[PrestonPage]

With NCC2 over USB 3.0 and D800 NEF files, I'm getting, on average, click to full screen preview in 2.5 seconds.

[Keith Reeder]

Tinyhalo wrote:

I wonder how many customers Adobe lost over this issue

Probably very few, because - apart from the handful on here making all the noise about it - most people could not care less about tethering, the very definition of "niche"; and I imagine that of those that do, the ones really bothered about it on a professional level would have spent their time productively finding alternatives, instead of wasting their time banging on interminably about it on here.

Just a thought, y'know?

[PrestonPage]

If you haven't tried NCC2 in a while, it is much improved.  So is ViewNX 2.  Full screen preview is available through Nikon View NX2.  I primarily shoot fashion and beauty projects, tethered to a 17-inch laptop and two 24-inch displays so all the stylists keep an eye on things.  Here is my workflow:

1. NCC2 allows you to specify a download folder.  I create a new one for each day's shoot.
2. At the end of the day, I copy that folder to a backup server, which is backed up nightly.
3. From the workstation I use to edit images and video, I run an Import/Add from LR4.1
4. I use Lightroom to tag and sort picks into a collection for the day's shoot
5. For each pick I want to process futher, I make a copy of the NEF file to a separate working folder outside of LR4 to avoid the ACR sidecar.
6. From that new working folder, I process the NEF files using DxO Optics Pro Elite, output to DNG.
7. From DxO, I export the DNG files to LR4, which does an Import/Add.
8. Carry on as usual with Photoshop, Nik Suite, etc.

[Jeff Ellis]

Well I'll have to try it & see how I like it. But you say it works best in Library mode, so as you are shooting it's just thumbnails. Then I guess You have to double click on an image to enlarge.

I've been using Aperture happily since Lion. Great interface, fast, nearly full screen previews as you shoot. A "magnify glass" tool for 100% view for sharpness.

Various screen modes with o r without Thumbnails at bottom or side, or on Full screen mode the thumbs hide like a dock until you put your cursor there.

One other thing - it's REAL stable. Turn camera off or on, change lenses, put out cord & reconnect - the camera just reconnects with Aperture almost every time. Change camera bodies to a different type, D300 to D700 to D800 - software recognises & connects. Changing lenses doesn not break the connection.

I like it a lot.

Don't use Aperture for proessing. Still prefer Lightroom. Just tethering.

But I will try LR just to see how it works & have that option.

[montyrakusen5]

It works fine in Develop mode you just get a grey screen every so often while its loading. Id not say LR was fast but I'm under the impression that thats due to USB2 in the macpro. Its not slow enough to be a problem. Overall I'm delighted and theres definitely going to be a new way of working coming from it. You are probably not aware but until recently I've only ever shot Hasselblad 39 & 50 mp, I bought in the D800E as and extra tool to shoot when I needed to work fast or in low light. The D800E quality is a mere shadow of the Hasselblad 50 but it can do stuff that the Hass can't do. Last week we shot cancer research scientists at 1600asa hand held with LED lighting panels tethered to LR...nice experience and a free and unposed look to the pics.

Monty

[Brett N · Accepted solution]

Tethered shooting with the Nikon D800 is now supported with Lightroom 4.2.

Please see http://forums.adobe.com/message/4431233