Photoshop Insider

Shooting Tethered From Your Camera Into Lightroom

By Scott on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 6:04 am | updates.

I had a number of comments on my “Wedding Shoot” blog post yesterday, asking how to set up Lightroom and your camera to shoot tethered (where the images aren’t written onto your memory card—they go straight from the camera onto your laptop, so you can see them full size on screen). So, I thought I’d go ahead and show that today, so here ya go. The shot above, taken by RC, shows me shooting (along side makeup artist Shelly Giard) but I’m tethered very close to my laptop, because I forgot to bring my USB extender cable (I highly recommend picking up a USB extender cable. It’s really helpful, if you actually remember to bring it to the shoot).

Step One: To connect your camera to your laptop (or desktop machine), you need to use that little USB connector cable that came with your camera (the same cable that some people use to connect their camera to their computer to download photos as slowly as humanly possible). So, connect one end to your DSLR’s USB input, and then the other end into your laptop’s USB port.

Step Two: You will need a piece of software that goes between your camera, and Lightroom. If you’re a Canon shooter, you already have that software—it’s called “Canon EOS Viewer” and it comes free with your Canon digital camera. If you’re a Nikon shooter, you need Camera Control Pro 2, which sells for $160 at B&H, but you can download a fully working trial-version for 30-days from Nikons’ site (here’s the link).

Step Three: Make a folder somewhere on your computer (I put mine on my desktop), and name it “Watched.” Note: Since I’m shooting Nikon, I’m going to show how to set up Camera Control Pro 2 for Nikon shooters.

Step Four: Make sure your camera and laptop are connected, your camera is turned on, then launch Camera Control Pro 2. When the software launches, go under the Tools menu and choose Download options. When the dialog appears (shown above), click the Choose button (as shown here), and then find the “Watched Folder” you created in Step Three and choose it. That’s all you do in Camera Control Pro 2. On to Lightroom.

Step Five: Now you’re going to go to Lightroom, and set it up Go under Lightroom’s File menu, under Auto Import, and first choose “Enable Auto Import” (to turn it on) and then choose Auto Import Settings. When the dialog appears (shown above), at the top where it says “Watched Folder” click on the Choose button, find your watched folder, and choose it (now, any photo that goes into that Watched folder will get automatically imported into Lightroom, and that’s exactly where Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 is putting them). The rest of the dialog is pretty much like Lightroom’s normal import dialog, where you choose where the files are saved, what they’re named, and you add keywords.

That’s it—when you shoot now, the images go seamlessly through Nikon Camera Control Pro 2, and right into that folder in Lightroom. I select that folder in Lightroom, switch to the Grid view, double-click on the first photo so it zooms up to Loupe view size, and I start-a-shooin’. Hope that helps.

Comment form for this post

^#1

Thanks so much Scott, the info is rockin! I’m going to shoot tethered today for the first time. Much appreciated.

www.crashtaylor.com

Crash on March 26th, 2008 at 7:35 am

^#2

Thanks for the info Scott.

And thanks for your entirely work of developing knowledge websites and books, giving the opportunity for many amateurs to get a bit closer to the “pros”.

Greetings from spain. Have luck!!

Pablo Sanz on March 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am

^#3

It would seem to me that you could do the same thing with an Eye-Fi wireless SD card. This would give you a hundred feet or more of range without having to drag the USB cable around as you shoot. Just a thought…

Bill Lakenan on March 26th, 2008 at 7:52 am

^#4

Hi Scott,

Yes, this info does rock. I will attempt to shoot tethered this weekend.

See ya & wish I was coming to Orlando,

Mike

Mike on March 26th, 2008 at 8:36 am

^#5

I have loved the idea of shooting tethered. However, have you ever found a way to use a longer cable? The one that comes with a Canon camera is so short that it does not allow you any real movement from the laptop.

Adam on March 26th, 2008 at 8:37 am

^#6

What are you using to hold the laptop in the first photo? A portable stand of some sort would be perfect!

Kelly Gubser on March 26th, 2008 at 9:09 am

^#7

Scott, first of all thank you for all your good work (books, photoshop tv, kelby training etc).

About tethered shooting, last week I tried this with my D3 with Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 and Lightroom. But somehow LR didn’t import all images (however some were) that were put in the Import folder by Camera Control. Nothing I did could change that. Any clues?

Thanks

Hans Bakker on March 26th, 2008 at 9:34 am

^#8

USB male-female extension cords are sold at computer stores, should be around 10$ for 15′. Don’t go for excessivly long ones because USB signal strength is limited.

Andriy on March 26th, 2008 at 10:42 am

^#9

Hey Scott! Question, can you tell me what you are using to mount your laptop to the tripod? I’ve been wanting get a setup like that since I saw the Nikon lighting dvd and haven’t had any luck trying to figure out what pieces are needed to secure a laptop on a tripod.

Thanks!

Steven on March 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am

^#10

Scott — what a cool tip! I’m going to find myself buying USB extension cables now — this is great!

Tim O on March 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am

^#11

I also would like to know about the tripod computer mount.

avery on March 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am

^#12

Do you use any software or general methods for calibrating your laptop display? I have G4 Powerbook and have noticed all my images show up about a half stop darker on other screens and when printed. Do you do your more serious color checking on a desktop before printing or do you let a lab with calibrated displays do final tweaks? Just trying to get things roughly closer at home. I know it is a complicated topic!

Josh C on March 26th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

^#13

The last time I looked at the specs one of the biggest disadvantages to the Eye-Fi is that it does not support transferring RAW images, which would definitely be a limitation in this case. Hopefully it’s something that’s addressed in the future, but the Eye-Fi isn’t really aimed at the professional market right now - they’re going for the larger “I want to upload my latest photos to facebook” demographic first.

Eric Falconer on March 26th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

^#14

Eric, you’re write, the Eye-Fi does not support RAW images and so would not be useful in this regard. Plus, I could never get the gadget to work for using my Airport card.

Anyway, I like this idea, but has anyone found an extended cable longer than 6′ for the Canon cameras. I’m having a hecka time finding one on Amazon.

Bakari on March 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

^#15

Awesome info! Thank you so much Scott for taking out the time to answer this question. Now I know how I’m setting things up for my photoshoot this weekend.

Jason on March 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

^#16

Scott,
Can this shooting tethered process be done into Bridge in a similar fashion to what you’ve shown into Lightroom?
Many thanks

Stan Burman on March 26th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

^#17

Does Nikon’s software come free with the D3 or D300, or do you still have to pay for it?

Dak on March 26th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

^#18

I’ve been trying to get this to work for the last couple of hours using the Canon EOS Utility and LR. It’s been buggy and inconsistent.

I went on the Canon site and saw that there’s a update (3/08) for the EOS Utility, but that also has been buggy. They note in the fine print that the Utility does not perform well with Power PCs (like the Powerbook G4).

I wanted to use tethered shooting in an upcoming demonstration I’m giving, but I can’t chance it.

Any Canon shooters getting this work? Please email with suggestions if you are. bakari@surewest.net

Bakari on March 26th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

^#19

Can anyone describe how to configure this with Canon’s software? I us a PC with Windows XP but I imagine those with other operating systems would also have interest.

Rick on March 26th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

^#20

Thanks for the great site & tips Scott. I recently picked up the second volume of “The Digital Photography Book”, and you’d discussed shooting tethered there too (page 61)! Glad you share some of the wonderful tips from your books here as well.

Rich C on March 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am

^#21

Scott,

I would appreciate your help with a situation I find myself

Lets just say you only owned one camera body, as I do at the moment (NIkon D300) and you had to shoot a wedding for a relative, and you had access to both a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR and a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, and you don’t want to have to switch lenses on your single camera body, which of these 2 lenses would you choose to keep on your D300 and shoot the entire wedding with? That’s the position I find myself in.

I ask b/c I noticed you recently did a bridal shoot with both of these lenses (albeit on a D3 AND D300, but we’re talking about you now, Scott. Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of mulaaa!!

Thanks for your help with this situation.

Best regards,

-Ade

Ade on March 27th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

^#22

Hey Guys:

RC here. Figured i’d jump in and share more background on the tripod rig: The tripod is a Gitzo GT3540 Tripod, and it has a Manfrotto 3153B Arm. Top that off with a Gitzo G065 Laptop Platform. The head on the right is a RRS BH55 ballhead, Probably the coolest of setups if you are going to be in studio or on location shooting and really want to see the shots and not guess as to whether you ‘got it’

Joe McNally has got a cool post on the rig, check it out over on his blog:

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2008/01/28/the-mcnally-tripod-rig/

Hope it helps,

RC

RC on March 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

^#23

The MacBook Pro in the photo has a support surface attached to the tripod where did you obtain the support from because I need something like that ??

simon on March 27th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

^#24

Thanks for another great little tutorial. You’re always an inspiration to try to do more. I use and love Lightroom for all of my photography now.

Jon Van Dalen on March 28th, 2008 at 1:14 am

^#25

I’m a “Kelbyaholic”- thanks for all your great info. In your books you use Adobe Bridge for photo viewing and organizing, etc. I don’t understand what Lightroom is for then. Can you shoot tethered into Bridge? If you have Bridge then is LightRoom needed? Thanks again so much, -Matt in Albuquerque

Matt Timmons on March 28th, 2008 at 3:02 am

^#26

Hi Scott, like many I am a huge fan. I would love to shoot tethered but I use a Minolta Dynax 5D, can this be done?

TeeJay on March 28th, 2008 at 4:57 am

^#27

Cool information… Do you think that would be possible to do that with out an assistant?
Paulo Jordao
www.paulopics.com

Paulo Jordao on March 28th, 2008 at 11:04 pm

^#28

I’m interested in doing something similar to this, however I will be doing it with a Sony a700. I have seen it set up, and know it works in a very similar way to how you have outlines above. I am intending to use it for other types of events though.

The question I have relates to times. How responsive is the system? Does it prove fast enough for a reasonable feedback loop?

If for example you take a burst of 8 photos in 2 seconds, how long does it take for the last image to be on the screen and zoomable?

Do you find that buffer issues prove problematic due to the slower rate of transfer? It should be noted here that the specifications of my camera varies wildly from yours (in several ways, negative and positive) so your experiences are likely to be a little off of what I would find, but I’d still be interested in what you have to say.

Thingomy on March 31st, 2008 at 5:52 pm

^#29

has anyone tried one of those USB extenders that uses an adapter on each end and a CAT6 patch cable between? They claim 150ft extension.

They are on ebay cheep. under usb extenders.

I would love to have 100ft for a horse project I am working on..

Cheers

Charlie T on April 1st, 2008 at 9:56 pm

^#30

Why not just use Aperture? I can shoot tethered (Canon 1Ds Mark II) directly into Aperture w/out going through other software (and setting up “watched” folders). I used Aperture on an ad shoot recently and it worked wonderfully…

David Zaitz on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pm

^#31

Hi,

I have been doing some research and it seems no one can get the teather to work with the 5D. I have the canon software update and I am runnin Vista. Any ideas? It just bugs out and wont setup.

Thanks,
D.

Dsel on April 4th, 2008 at 12:40 am

^#32

The bit I love about Lightroom for tethered is that you can apply developer settings as the photos come in. There are some typically things I apply as a preset, and I can see how that will look, as I’m shooting.

Geoff Wilson on April 11th, 2008 at 6:19 am

^#33

If someone addressed this in an earlier post (I didn’t read them all), I apologize. But, as far as long usb cables to tether with, Terry White posted a review of a powered lengthy usb extension cable that I’m getting today as a matter of fact. It’s the IC INTRACOM 16FT USB 2.0 ACTIVE EXTENSION CABLE
$22.99 on Amazon.com.

Toby Fairchild on April 11th, 2008 at 10:09 am

^#34

Tried this with my Pentax k10d and the “Pentax Remote Assisant” software. Didn’t work, Lightroom refuses to import the pictures. Has anyone got an idea as to why this is?

Micha on April 12th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

^#35

Can you share the steps for a Canon user? I am not a Camera Control Pro 2 Nikon shooter.thx

JR on April 14th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

^#36

I have a sony a100. can you tell me a way to tether to a mac. or shooting tethered from camera to portable dvd player.
Thanks

Patty Ali on April 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

^#37

Good tip Scott !!! As always….

JT

Johnny T. on April 19th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

^#38

Dear Mr. Kelby,

I have followed your instructions to the letter, about 10 times, and I keep getting the camera dialog box, with no camera found. I am using a D2xs Nikon and a mac laptop, just like you use. Any hints?

1 I downloaded the updated version 2.1 for 10.5
2. I started programs after camera was hooked to Laptop,

Nikon is useless with customer service so I apologize for the question but I would like to get this going in my studio

Thanks
Roger

Roger Benson on April 24th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

^#39