tethered photography

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Resuscitating this to say that I have now had a go with the DSLR Controller and Utility software and enjoyed having a larger screen to preview in and the comfort of sitting in a chair rather than hunched over the camera. However, the problem of the cable reared its head and I have nearly taken down camera and laptop by tripping over it. So, I am still on the lookout for wireless tethering options for a Canon-to-Windows 7, where the Canon has no intrinsic wireless facility.

The only three I have seen are the Camranger, mentioned by Jeremy up there, Canon's own WFT box and the EyeFi SD card. First two I can't justify, due to price, and the EyeFi card just sends stored files to the computer to view. Slow, and no live view option.

So, a forlorn hope, I am guessing, but has anyone yet come up with a budget wireless option for Canons without wireless?

[Manfred M]

I suggest you look at using a longer well anchored cable from a company like Tethertools. It has anchors that attach to both the camera and the laptop. This is what I use for tethered shooting and it works reasonably well. With the 25' + 25' extension, I can work reasonably "safely". I usually shoot this way with my camera on a tripod and may laptop in a safe location on a nearby table,

CamRanger also works, but is not inexpensive, but is not as good a tool as the laptop (smaller screen and it can act up a bit). This is great for "remote control". I actually don't use it as a tethered option.

Eye-Fi is a poor and very slow solution I cannot recommend to anyone.

[Digital]

I have shot tethered to both my desktop, and laptop using Lightroom; this was experimental, and although it worked fine, I do not use it on a regular basis. Although I do not do tabletop photography, I could see where it has distinct advantages.


Bruce

[loosecanon]

As has been mentioned, DSLR controller provide a free firmwear download to modify a £35 WIFI unit to give you a wireless facility to an android tablet.
I use this with my 7D and 5DIII with no problems
I carry a cheap 7 inch tablet in my camera bag and a short USB cable. I hang the wifi unit from the camera strap lug.
My cameras don't have wifi or articulated screens but this system does it all instead and more. Incidently some other remote systems charge £150 for the same converted wifi unit.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

loosecanon, I tried DSLR Controller with my daughter's tablet and we used a cable. However, I have just gone to the website (probably should have done that in the first place) and see that their app links to a miniature router too. So, camera is attached to router via a usb cable (that would be easier to find space for than the whole laptop) and router links to phone/tablet. Am I right? OK. That might work. However, my daughter's tablet has a small screen (it is a Hudl) and I am not going to buy any substantial new hardware for this. I would much prefer to use my laptop (so need something Windows compatible). But, that got me wondering. What they are using to link camera to tablet is just a cheap wireless router so, why could the same router not link the camera to the EOS Utility on my laptop? As you say, they are about £25, which is fine. Anyone know anything about that? In principle, it should work.

Bruce, I don't have Lightroom, but the few minutes I spent messing about with EOS Utility showed me it was worth having a proper go at. And I do mostly tabletop photography, so it really is the ideal setup.

Manfred, if the wireless router option goes bad, I will have to look into that. I was only messing about with it, so used my camera cable, with camera and laptop next to each other (of necessity).

Thanks all.

ETA: Just read around. CamRanger is just a TP-Link router (that £25 one suggested for use with the DSLR Controller). The only difference is that CamRanger has custom firmware installed that enables it to communicate with cameras (£200+ worth of custom firmware. o.O). Now, DSLR Controller has firmware to enable the router to communicate with Android devices, but that doesn't suit me. Next task is to see whether someone has written some for Windows.

http://www.dslrfilmnoob.com/2013/12/...link-tl-mr304/

ETA2: Hm. DSLR Dashboard software, which works with the TP-Link router and on Windows. Might be an option, but needs some further investigation. Getting there!

http://lrtimelapse.com/gear/dslrdashboard/