40D Tethered

[waple]

Well, I did it. I got the 40D. Now I just need to wait till it comes in next week to play around with it.

Since I do a lot of product/commercial photos, I think the live view will be a great feature for me. I believe I have read that you can tether it to a PC and look at your live view on that screen. Is that true and if so, how is it done? Also, can I proof shots on the PC as well? I have a really hard time doing that with my 30D on a Vista laptop.

Thanks again for all the advice people gave. Now that I (will) have this, I just have to wait for a 5D upgrade and I can trade in my 30D toward that and I'll be set.

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by waple

Well, I did it. I got the 40D.

Congratulations!

Now I just need to wait till it comes in next week to play around with it.

Since I do a lot of product/commercial photos, I think the live view will be a great feature for me. I believe I have read that you can tether it to a PC and look at your live view on that screen. Is that true and if so, how is it done?

It is done by using EOS Utility, you can download the latest version (EU2.3) from the Canon USA website, will work with your 30D too, and DigitalPhotoProfessional, latest version 3.2.

You hook the camera up on your laptop, either with a USB2.0 cable (note: better not add a extension cable, buy a dedicated USB2.0 rated cable with the proper plugs, maximum lenght without signal loss is 5 meters), or with the WFT-E3 wireless file transfer thinghy (beaucoup $$$$$ )

If software installed correctly, EOS Utility will start after you plug in and activate (set to ON) your 40D.

After you have set your 40D to liveview, You can then see the image on your PC, zoom in (on the screen, no zooming of the lens!), adjust focus, aperture, shutter, metering mode, EC, etc, and take picture

After the picture is taken it will 'immediately' show in a different window/program: DigitalPhotoProfessional

Also, can I proof shots on the PC as well? I have a really hard time doing that with my 30D on a Vista laptop.

Yes, see above, if you run VISTA, check the Canon USA download website: there are several VISTA-specific plugins and updates (Vista s*cks )

...& hope this helps you, *my* €0.02 worth....

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[HuBBaTheMan]

Congratulations to a great camera =)

I also have a 40D and shoot tethered on pretty much every shoot including using liveview to check macro focus on product shots.

I've personally found EOS Utility to be a bit flakey under Vista and it sometimes crashes to desktop which is a bit annoying.

As Capture One doesnt support tethered shooting with the 40D (until the 4 Pro is released god knows when) there is a utility called DSLR Remote that works best so far. It's made by Breeze software and controls a 40D perfectly through tethered shooting including live view and remote focusing.

So if you are using a lot of tethered shooting in studio environment, its well worth the investment.

Cheers,
Henrik

[waple]

Thanks for the info. I'm gonna check for the vista stuff on the canon site.

What about setting up so that photos open in Lightroom? I can do that on my XP desktop, but that's one of the things I can't do on my Vista laptop which is what I take on location. What seems to happen a lot is I plug my 30D in and it shows "busy" on the top LCD, often not allowing me to do anything else. Or, it'll show a screen on the back asking what images I want to transfer that I can't exit out of, even if I tell it to transfer files and it does, it'll still stay on that screen. Hopfully the Vista fixes will help with that.

Max, you say a longer cable will degrade the image. What happens? Will the image actually look different or just take longer to appear? What do I need to look for to see if I'm having issues? I have a 6' USB and 2 10' extensions that I've been using. Or is that what may be causing my Vista issues?

I just went to the Canon site and looked for software updates and when I selected Vista as my OS, it said nothing was available. Where and what were you suggesting I download for the Vista stuff?

[cyclohexane]

Max, you say a longer cable will degrade the image. What happens? Will the image actually look different or just take longer to appear?

It just won't get there.

What seems to happen a lot is I plug my 30D in and it shows "busy" on the top LCD, often not allowing me to do anything else. Or, it'll show a screen on the back asking what images I want to transfer that I can't exit out of, even if I tell it to transfer files and it does, it'll still stay on that screen.

Are your USB settings on the camera set to "Peer-to-Peer" ("PTP")?

[HuBBaTheMan]

As for longer USB cables, you need to use Active cables. They have a built in repeater that will extend the range a lot. I use 2 active cables of 5 meters and then the normal camera cable. Works like a charm and total length is 12 meters.

If you use passive cables, the max range is about 5 meters. After that it may loose connection frequently.

And the Wifi unit is sexy .. but costs an arm and a leg =)

[waple]

Originally Posted by cyclohexane

Are your USB settings on the camera set to "Peer-to-Peer" ("PTP")?

Where do you see that? Closest I see is in my Menu under Communication where my only options are Print/PC or LAN(WFT-E1), and that's set on the Print/PC one.

[cyclohexane]

Nevermind... I was assuming the 30D was like the 20D where you could set "Mass Storage" vs. "PTP" but that option's been replaced with "Print/PC" vs "LAN" under "Communications".

[trentchau]

Hey,we never met. I would suggest an ACk-E2 also

Nothing is cooler than using your monitor to focus your live view 40d going straight to your PC.

[waple]

Originally Posted by trentchau

Hey,we never met. I would suggest an ACk-E2 also

Funny you mention that. Just a few hours ago I was wondering if there was a way to use AC power with the camera. I'll definitely get one of those in the future.

[Max@Home]

Originally Posted by waple

Max, you say a longer cable will degrade the image. What happens? Will the image actually look different or just take longer to appear? What do I need to look for to see if I'm having issues? I have a 6' USB and 2 10' extensions that I've been using. Or is that what may be causing my Vista issues?

what cyclohexane said: it won't show up at all. Your extensions may very well have something to do with your VISTA problems, try without the extensions, and you know...

I just went to the Canon site and looked for software updates and when I selected Vista as my OS, it said nothing was available. Where and what were you suggesting I download for the Vista stuff?

If you select XP as your OS, you get several 'codec upgrade' files for WinXP and Vista, also on/via this site overhere : download and install the XP/Vista RAW codecs files for Canon, I have read reports that they seem to do more for Vista than just updating the codecs

...but only from hear-say, so might be only *my* €0.002 worth...

Kindest regards!

Max@Home

[CI Photography]

Congratulations! I'm glad you went for the 40d over the 30d. I don't think you'll be sorry.



Joe

[evoryware]

Originally Posted by HuBBaTheMan

As for longer USB cables, you need to use Active cables. They have a built in repeater that will extend the range a lot. I use 2 active cables of 5 meters and then the normal camera cable. Works like a charm and total length is 12 meters.

If you use passive cables, the max range is about 5 meters. After that it may loose connection frequently.

And the Wifi unit is sexy .. but costs an arm and a leg =)

I agree, you need to specifically ask for active repeating extension cables or you will have a problem.