Lightroom Classic 11.1 will not connect to tethered cameras

[tomw37272428]

For me, LR Classic 11.1 will not make a connection to a camera for tethered shooting. I am using an enterprise-level Adobe license because I work for a university.

Cameras:
Nikon Z6 Mark II firmware 1.30.
Nikon D810

Computer:
MacBookPro 2019 (identifier 15,2), Quad-Core Intel Core i5
macOS Monterey 12.2

When attempting to start tethered capture, all I get is “Detecting Camera” spinning forever...


> Restarted the computer and camera.


> Relaunched Lightroom multiple times.


> Turned off power over USB in Z6 Mark II camera menu.


> Tried multiple USB cables and ports on the computer. Not using a USB hub or switch.
> The System Information app does see each camera on the USB 3.1 bus so I know the cables that I tried are communicating data.
> Deleted LR preferences.
> Set up another user admin account on my computer and attempted tethering from that account.

Nothing works.
Anybody got any advice?

[KR Seals]

I gave tethering a try recently with my D500. I could only get the connection to work with the Tether Tools cable designed specifically for tethering. USB 3.1 cables from my card readers would not work at all. MBP M1 Max, LrC 11.1. I could also tether fine with the Tether Tools cable on my 2015 and 2019 MBPs.

[tomw37272428]

After trying dozens of times to tether Lightroom to my Z6 Mark II cameras it just finally worked. I have no idea why.

Oddly, macOS threw up this USB power notification message around the time when tethering finally worked:

“USB Accessories Disabled
Unplug the accessory using too much power to re-enable usb devices.”

( For more info on this error: https://support.apple [ DOT ] com/en-us/HT204377 )

But I had disabled power over USB in the Z6 menu; the USB connection was not powering the camera, but rather the internal battery was. Also, can't USB-C/Thunderbolt carry power and data simultaneously anyway?

This MacBook Pro has four USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. I thought perhaps some ports carry more juice than others, but tethering now works on the three ports I tested (with AC going into the fourth port).

This whole tethering saga has been weird AF. I've been doing this photography thing for 30 years, and digital since 2012. I know whole families of gremlins live in cameras, computers, software, and peripherals... but I have been totally flummoxed by this. My experience with tethering to LR does not inspire confidence, but in what, I'm not sure. USB? Nikon? Adobe? Apple? At any rate, tethering seems to work now, and *seems* to be stable. Time will tell.

[KR Seals]

Glad it's working for you now 🙂 I'm planning to rent a Z7 soon to see how I like it and tethering will be one of the things I check.

[5t3v3]

Having similar issues right now running LRC on an older iMac tethered to my Canon 5D MkIII. It'll recognize it briefly but won't import images and then loses the connection and crashes. Frustrating!