Have full control of your Fuji camera from your computer – Tethered shooting
I love tethering my camera when I’m shooting portraits of product, really any time I can shoot form one location I’m tethering my camera to my computer. There are many reasons to do so and here are a few that I like & the reasons I choose to bring the extra equipment with me.
The ability to have the images saved in the computer. This saves time importing the images but more importantly the client can see the shots as they happen in real time (well almost, it’s takes a second or two) on the computer screen. I can also see these images in a much bigger form than on the 3 inch real screen of my camera. That makes checking for the little things much easier and me and the client can talk through the shots during the day and adjust as necessary.
During a headshot session we can take a short break between looks to see if the client if seeing what they need in the shots, I ask them to have a look through what we have shot so far and give me feedback. This gets us much closed to their needs quickly and reduces the time in picking their favourites as they can do them there and then meaning I can get to work very quickly and, more importantly, return the finished shots to them promptly. Everybody has a happy day when you can do that.
With Capture One you can also have the images ‘beamed’ to an iPad via the desktop app, they call this Capture Pilot. You can download their app from the App Store and all it takes it a wifi network to link up, your Mac can make one of those with a click. The images appear very fast & the person who has the iPad can add star ratings and swipe to the next image. This is a great tool for the client as most people feel more comfortable using a tablet over a computer.
Capture One also lets you control your camera from the computer when tethered, all the main setting like Focus, Shutter Speed, ISO, Aperture…. and some of the more obscure ones like Film Sims, Grain, Dynamic Range…. Really quite cool to be able to push a few buttons and have the camera change what it’s doing even if it’s 30 meters away.
So all you need to get started is a camera (Fuji in the case of the above vid but any supported camera will do the same) a computer to run Capture One & a high quality USB cable. I use those bright orange ones that Tether Tools make. They work really well ever time, I’ve used some other cables but have been let down. That can’t happen for me in work so I spend the extra and get the right stuff. IT works and one less thing for me to worry about in the end & that’s worth the spend for me.
Kim is a professional photographer & Official Fujifilm X-Photographer living in Celbridge Co Kildare, Ireland. When not shooting Portraits and Weddings or Corporate & Editorials he can be found searching out the best coffee shops or running round after his two kids.
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