Gawd, I hope it helps

[chauncey]

I've moaned and groaned for years about not being able to compose in the viewfinder and how
much I enjoy shooting tethered...I just ordered a laptop to remedy the curse for fieldwork.
15" screen and 1080 resolution...wish me luck and suggestions should you have some.

[Shadowman]

Nice, I've only tried tethered shooting once during a LR trial session and didn't have time to fully gather thoughts on what was displayed. As the shot is only temporarily displayed on the laptop, are there any setup requirements other than a calibrated screen that you need to consider?

[Mike Buckley]

When working in bright sunshine, would it be helpful to use a shade placed over the screen to make viewing more effective?

[Manfred M]

I only shoot tethered when I do studio shots, so ambient light is never really an issue. I generally use it to tweak my lighting setup and confirm that I've gotten a "good" shot. I still compose through the viewfinder. This tends to be the traditional approach in shooting tethered. I guess I'm trying to figure out how shooting tethered is going to fit into your workflow.

For field work, I suspect Mike's suggestion of having the laptop in a shaded location and / or having a shade for the screen sound like viable solutions. Video monitors used with higher end video cameras use the same approach. Other than giving you focus confirmation (which assumes shooting of a tripod or something similar), I would suspect that using your camera's screen is going to give you more or less the same results if composition is your main concern.

[chauncey]

The software used would be the same as I currently use on my desktop for studio stuff...
Canon Utility Software. It allows total camera control from the computer, having a
calibrated screen, I would think...semi-important.
The one downside is that AF is not in the cards.

Mike, you saved me from beating my head upside the closest tree.
Manfred, it's been years since I've not used a tripod of sorts.

[Mike Buckley]

Mike, you saved me from beating my head upside the closest tree.

It's always my pleasure to save a perfectly good tree.

[Manfred M]

A calibrated screen is not important at all as you will not be doing any PP work while shooting any more than your camera's screen is calibrated.

[NorthernFocus]

Sounds complicated.

[IzzieK]

William...when out in the field wear a black shirt to cut out the reflections...that is all I can offer after the others already gave you theirs...

[Manfred M]

William...when out in the field wear a black shirt to cut out the reflections...that is all I can offer after the others already gave you theirs...

I have used a white shirt as a reflector. White shirts are more of a problem if the subject is wearing one, rather than the photographer.

[IzzieK]

I thought he was talking about tethering a laptop in the field...outside...so I said, wearing a black shirt will help in the reflection to see what he was doing on his laptop. White shirt for reflector but checking his monitor?

[jcuknz]

I got you first time Izzie