Question about tethered shooting with D300 & D2X

[TMR Design]

I currently own a D300 and am considering picking up a D2X. I want to be able to shoot tethered in the studio.

Can I do this with Camera Control Pro or do I need Camera Control Pro 2.0?
Pro is $70 and Pro 2.0 is $160.

I don't need or want any advanced features or open the images in other applications. I want to shoot, have the image come up within CCP and have tha image saved to a designated folder. That's it.

 

[TMR Design]

No one knows?

 

[TMR Design]

Alright. I guess I'll have to find out for myself. Interesting that no one even chimed in on this one since I'm sure many know the answer...but such is the way of forums.

 

[Markb]

Robert,

For the D2X, Camera Control Pro would work, since it was modified/out at the same time.

For the D300, you probably need Control 2, which is/should be backward compatible.

Hope this helps.

 

[TMR Design]

Thanks Mark.

The real question, and perhaps I was not clear is whether I can shoot tethered but I'm not in the least concerned with camera control. All I want to do is be able to shoot and have the image appear on screen. Nothing more.

My impression was that Pro 2 gave all that extra functionality but had no effect on whether you could just shoot tethered.

Am I mistaken?

 

[Gary7770]

Really depends on what approach you want to take with something like this. When you plug your camera into a computer via USB, the computer see's the camera as a mass storage device by default. If you have a program that can monitor that new "camera hard drive" storage device just like any other folder on the computers hard drive, then you can have it display the photos as they are taken. I think breeze browser *might* do something like this.

Nikon software can do something like this as well, but for what it sounds like your trying to do, might not be the best fit for your needs.

Gary

Thanks Mark.

The real question, and perhaps I was not clear is whether I can shoot tethered but I'm not in the least concerned with camera control. All I want to do is be able to shoot and have the image appear on screen. Nothing more.

My impression was that Pro 2 gave all that extra functionality but had no effect on whether you could just shoot tethered.

Am I mistaken?

 

[TMR Design]

Hi Gary,,

Again, my needs are simple and not any more complicated than I've described. Camera Control Pro has a viewer. I don't want or need to use any third party software and do anything to the image other than shoot and have it display on screen and save the image to a designated folder on the computer. That's it.

I never had a version of Camera Control Pro but Pro 2 (trial version) does this exactly as I've described very simply and easily and I didn't and don't want to make use of any other camera controls.

It's really that simple. The question is whether the earlier version will do that or not.

 

[Thaddeus]

you running windows or mac?

 

[TMR Design]

I have both platforms but would like to be doing it with the Mac.

 

[Thaddeus]

get yourself a copy of aperture 2 then. it does exactly what you're looking for and supports both cameras you have listed...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1085

don't recall how much it costs, but you can snag a 30-day full demo to see if it fits your needs.

 

[Thaddeus]

being sold here for $150...

https://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=185378

 

[TMR Design]

I'm already a Lightroom user. I don't want to switch or buy into another editor/processor/librarian.

What is the answer to my question? is it that you don't know? I only want to know whether I need Pro 2 or can use Pro, not another application.

 

[Philippe Roger]

Robert,

Another possible approach (with the D300, but not the D2X) is to use the HDMI connector to attach the camera to eg an HDTV: the image is still captured on the CF card and not sent to the computer (since there is no computer involved in this method), but it still allows you to view the "big picture" as you shoot! :wink::smile:

With the D2X, you can probably to that too, at standard resolution, using the regular A/V cable, but that may not be good enough quality for what you are trying to do. For that camera, I think that Camera Control Pro may be enough. I know that the tool shipping with Capture 4 (before Camera Control Pro appeared) does support the D2H in tethered mode.

 

[Thaddeus]

a) i didn't know you already use lightroom
b) since you were trying to decide between pro or pro2, i assumed you were looking to acquire software to fit that need, which aperture does.
c) i've not used the software you're referencing, so i don't know the answer to your question.

 

[TMR Design]

Thank you Philippe and Michael. I appreciate the help. I'm going to email Nikon and get a definitive answer.

The HDMI idea sounds great but I don't have a High Def TV in my studio.

Supposedly LR2 was going to support tethered shooting but somehow that feature got lost and never made it into the new version.

 

[Thaddeus]

i recall seeing a couple of threads on how to hack together tethered-ish functionality with LR1. it used isync and some automator actions, i believe.

 

[Thaddeus]

random internet articles aren't exactly gospel ..but this link talks about canon and LR2 tethering, while making quick mention that Nikon users will need to go the CCP 2 route.

http://pixsylated.com/2008/08/benefits-shooting-tethered-into-lightroom/

 

[joey]

If you only want to shoot and see a small preview of what you have taken, you can do it on windows directly w/o any software dedicated for shooting. You are limited though to a small preview without any adjustments.
With the D2x, you can use the original Nikon Capture software. Capture control is built into the software. No need to buy Camera Control Pro. Won't work with the D300 though.

 

[PeterRH]

Nikon Transfer

If you only want to shoot and see a small preview of what you have taken, you can do it on windows directly w/o any software dedicated for shooting. You are limited though to a small preview without any adjustments.
With the D2x, you can use the original Nikon Capture software. Capture control is built into the software. No need to buy Camera Control Pro. Won't work with the D300 though.

Yes I used to use Nikon Capture v4 with the D2x for tethered shooting using the USB cable option.

However I don't use capture anymore since moving to the Mac, but do use Nikon Transfer for both 'normal' transfers from a card reader and for tethered shooting.

It can be set up to choose whatever program you already have on your computer to open the files after transfer, so no need to buy any new software/functionality.

The potential downside for you is that you do have to tell the transfer software to start the process (you click on the camera source, it downloads thumbnails, and you choose which ones/all images and click on start transfer) so that may be one stage too many for you.

However this process would work across all Nikon DSLRs so you'd have no need to use different software for different cams.

 

[Electromen]

On a Mac use Image Capture. It's free and part of the OS. Look under Applications.