- Pentax 645z Tethered Capture One
- Fujifilm Tethered Capture One
- Tethered Shooting Capture One Pro
- Capture One Tethering
Capture One Tethering Explained
This is Part 1 – Capture One Tethering Explained – in a series of three posts on tethering with Capture One. Topics in this post are:
The Capture tool tab is the gateway to tethered shooting with a Phase One digital back or supported DSLR. When connected to the computer, you can import photos directly into a Session or Catalog and store them on the hard disk or an external drive, avoiding importing from a memory card. Capture One allows full control over a compatible camera. When you are shooting tethered, Capture One Pro / for Nikon / for Fujifilm / (for Sony) saves images to a chosen location but it does not save images to the memory card because it could be quite time-consuming, which slows down the process of transferring images to the computer.
03:25 - Establishing a secure connection07:28 - Setting up a Session for tethered capture11:20 - Setting up capture naming13:40 - Controlling your ca.
- the location for storing your images
- naming incoming images in a sensible way
- remote triggering the camera from your computer
In Part 2 – Capture One Tethering Continued – you learn about:
- better control over composition and lighting with Live View
- improved workflow with adjustments that prolongate during the shoot
- full remote control over camera settings
And in Part 3 – Capture One Tethering In-Depth – you find:
- quickly evaluate your exposure
- define layout and composition during the shoot
- advanced file naming features
- configure your camera remotely
- control how tethered operation behaves
- setup Capture One Pro/DB for the best tether experience
- check camera battery status
Following Part 3, there is a consecutive post Using Capture Pilot with Capture One, the mobile companion of Capture One and a great tethering aid. It’s contents:
- connecting on LAN (WiFi and Ethernet)
- settings Capture One
- settings Capture Pilot
- using the Capture Pilot app
- using Capture Pilot web on Windows, macOS, Android
- Capture Pilot as a collaboration tool over the Internet
Tethering Is Key
One of Capture One’s key features is tethering. Tethering is available with Capture One Pro, Pro (for Sony), and DB. You can not tether with Capture One Express (for Sony) although you can use the Hot Folder feature. You find more on these running modes in Capture One 8 Modes.
Tethering features have evolved over the years in Capture One to what it is today. This post is based on Capture One Pro 10.
With Capture One Pro you can tether all cameras that are supported for tethering from Canon, Nikon, Sony, and of course Phase One and Mamiya/Leaf, a.k.a. Team Phase One. Always refer to the release notes of Capture One for details and exceptions.
Capture One Pro (for Sony) limits your tethering options to selected Sony models plus those from Team Phase One.
And last but not least, Capture One DB (digital back) is a free package that tethers with Team Phase One digital backs only.
What Is Tethering?
Tethering is connecting the camera with a cord to your computer. The computer display becomes the screen to view the image and the computer’s drive the storage device.
Pentax 645z Tethered Capture One
Tethering with Capture One means that the image is stored at the computer only, not in the camera.
Capture One supports two types of connecting cords: Firewire and USB. Network connections, either wired or wireless is currently not supported.
History Of Tethering
In the early digital days, digital backs had no display and no storage. They needed a computer and a connecting cord to come to life. Even power to the digital back was supplied by the computer through the cord. Shooting tethered was the only option.
Today we are familiar with storage, display, and power in the camera and digital back. As a result, we can shoot untethered, and even shoot outside! Still, the tethered operation has its advantages, and probably more then you might imagine.
The history of tethering is the future as well. Phase One just introduced the Phase One iXG camera for cultural heritage digitization. This is a remotely controlled camera that you connect to a system with Capture One.
Big Screen And More
In this part on tethering, we focus on the primary functions and advantages of tethering. In the next episodes, we explore more advanced features.
Probably by far, the biggest advantage of tethering is that you immediately can see the shot you just made on a big screen: your computer display. Anybody involved in the shoot from assistant, client, art director and more now can see what’s happening.
To make this work even in the most demanding situation with rapid firing shots, the connection needs to be fast. And fast it is, tethering with Capture One because the image is sent directly over the wire to your computer. No local storage is used.
In addition Phase One optimized the tethering software component in Capture One and faster interfaces like Firewire 800 and even more USB 3 add speed as well. Still, powerful hardware with SSD storage is highly recommended to keep it up.
Tethering Features
Next to viewing your shots quickly on a big screen, there are a few features that I consider mandatory knowledge. I mean you do not have to know all the bells and whistles of all tools, but the following three are definitely worth your attention before you start shooting tethered on a big assignment.
Let us look at the main features and next for the tools that provide that functionality.
Remote Triggering
You can trigger the camera shutter from Capture One. There are a few exceptions for mechanical cameras like technical cameras and older medium format cameras. A remote trigger is great when the camera is high at the ceiling or at an unreachable position. It also prevents camera shake.
You can find the trigger in the Camera tool, discussed below. There is also an icon on the toolbar and a keyboard shortcut (Cmd+K).
Storage Location
Now that your computer drive stores the images, you have probably more space available than on a memory card. You can see the amount of space left in the Next Capture Location tool.
Before starting to tether, you need to set the location on your drive where Capture One stores your images.
When you shoot tethered into a Session in Capture One it stores your images in the Capture Folder. This is one of the four default Session Folders.
In case you shoot tethered into a Catalog you can store the incoming images inside your Catalog folder (known as fully managed) or outside the catalog in a designated folder (referenced).
Tip: make sure that the storage location is on an internal drive; external drives are more susceptible to tethering issues as their connections for power and data are not as reliable as the internal drive.
You can find the required settings in the Next Capture Location tool, which I discuss below in more detail.
Naming Your Images
Fujifilm Tethered Capture One
When tethering with Capture One Pro you have extensive possibilities in naming your image files during capturing. Assume the incoming image files are ready to be saved but they need a name.
Unlike other solutions on the market that first store the image on the camera’s memory card after which it is copied to the computer, Capture One directly receives the no-name-file and takes care of storing and naming. This is a much faster and more reliable solution because it is not affected by card issues (card full or corrupted).
When naming the file you can use a combination of fixed characters and tokens including sequence numbers. The possibilities are virtually endless.
You can find the settings in the Next Capture Naming tool, which I also discuss below in more detail.
The Capture Tools
All the tools that relate to tethered capture with Capture One Pro are bundled at the Capture tool tab. It is easy to recognize from the camera icon.
When you open it you see it is quite a collection and there are many options in each tool. In this episode, I will discuss the most important tools.
- Next Capture Naming tool
- Next Capture Location tool
- Camera tool
Tethered Shooting Capture One Pro
Let’s have a closer look at each tool and its main functions.
Next Capture Naming Tool
This tool has three labels: Format, Name, and Sample.
The Format field is where you create the structure and contents of your Capture name. You can use any combination of fixed text and tokens, or only tokens. The default is a combination of the Name and Camera Counter tokens. I prefer to use the Capture Counter token instead for more flexibility (see below). In the next image, I have stacked both options for comparison.
The Name token is what you fill in in the Name field below the Format field. By default, this is the name of your Session or Catalog but you can alter that. You often use the name of your client, name of the model, subject of shoot or something else that you can easily relate to the shoot later on.
The Camera Counter is a number beyond your control as it is controlled by your camera. If you are working with only one camera, that may be just fine. I prefer to use the Capture Counter token, which I can set and reset and vary from 1 to 6 digits (I like to use 3 digits). See the action menu of the tool (click on the three dots top right) below.
Last, the Sample field displays what you filled in in the two fields about it. You can not alter anything here.
Next Capture Location Tool
As you can see in the screenshot below, this tool is very simple. The layout depends on whether you work with a Session or a Catalog.
Session Location
With a Session, you have only one setting, the Destination field with a drop-down box. Here you select a folder and the text shows the name of that folder.
The default Capture refers to the default Capture Folder of the Session. You can select a different folder here, which will become the new Capture Folder for that Session.
In case you are an advanced user of Capture One and have a high workload, you might create additional folders for capturing in a single session.
Here in the Destination field, you can select another folder as Capture Folder. Creating a new folder and making it the Capture Folder can be done from either the Library or the Next Capture Location tool.
More details on Sessions can be found in Sessions Explained and consecutive posts.
Catalog Locations
When you work with a Catalog the working of this tool is a bit different as Catalogs work from a different concept regarding the physical organization of files on disk in Folders versus the logical or virtual organization internally in Collections. The tool reflects this perfectly because you have two settings to look after Destination and Collection.
The default Destination is Inside Catalog which means that when you shoot tethered the captures are stored inside the catalog folder. If you prefer, you can always move your images to a specific folder outside the catalog folder later on.
Alternatively, you can select a specific folder in the Destination field by clicking on the drop-down list.
This is similar to importing images from a memory card to either the Catalog folder (inside) or a folder of your liking (outside, a.k.a. referenced).
In addition, your images are shown in a Collection under the Catalog Collections, Recent Captures in the Library tool. Again this is similar to importing images and the consecutive Collection under Recent Imports. In the Preferences, Capture tab you can set how often Capture One creates a new Collection under Recent Captures, varying from once a day to up to 5 minutes of inactivity.
In the screenshot above I not only changed the Destination to a folder named Tethered Captures, but I also told Capture One to show my images in the Capture Collection.
Capture Collection
You can make all captures appear in an Album under User Collections in the Library tool. This Album must also be set as the Capture Collection. Here you mimic the concept of the Capture Folder in a Session. You accomplish this in a three-step process.
- create the Album
use the Library tool - set the Album as the Capture Collection
right-click on the Album and select Set as Capture Collection or use this option in the File menu (on Mac) - make the captures go into the Capture Collection
in the Next Capture Location tool, Collection field, select Capture Collection
The final result will look similar to the screenshot below. Note the camera symbol at the right of the Album named My Captures. This tells you that this Album is set as the Capture Collection.
Please note that if you have set up a Capture Collection the captures will always show up under the Recent Captures section as well.
Also, note that there can only be one Capture Collection in a Catalog. If you assign it to another Album, it is removed from the previous Album.
More details on Catalogs can be found in Catalogs Explained and consecutive posts.
Camera Tool
When you connect your camera to your computer, switch it on and start Capture One, you see the camera listed in the Camera tool, with the main settings in a copy of the camera’s LCD display.
I now focus on the biggest circle, the capture button. It triggers the shutter of your camera remotely. Note that during image transfer, an orange circle is briefly visible around the button.
The smaller circle at the left of the shutter button is for live view. I will discuss that later.
The rest of the tool displays the main camera settings as they are also visible at the camera’s display. Values in bright white you can change. Just click on it and a list of options appear.
More
Here ends part 1 in a series on tethering with Capture One. I continue this series with Capture One Tethering Continued.
Thank you
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Best Regards,
Image Alchemist
Impressed by those fancy videos of photographers shooting and seeing the shots in real time on their computer? It’s called tethered shooting, and you can do it too with minimal equipment and setup. This is meant to be a short guide to help you do just that!
Why Shoot Tethered?
If you’re reading this post, you may already be convinced about the benefits, or shooting tethered. If that’s the case, you can skip ahead to the next section.
If, on the other hand, you’re not sure if shooting tethered is worth the extra expenses and setup, here are a few things that shooting tethered can do for you:
- Instant feedback for you as a photographer to really see the images and be able to tell if the lighting, posing or any other aspect needs tweaking.
- Allows clients or the rest of the team to also see the pictures as they are shot. This could help a makeup artist see areas of the makeup that would need some touch-ups, for example.
- No need to download your photos from a memory card after the shoot, they’ll already be uploaded where they need to be.
- You can set things up so that a backup of your shots gets created on the fly to a separated hard drive. I’ll cover doing this in a different post.
- You can apply presets and edits, and have those automatically applied to subsequent shots, so that you see the shots as close to the final look you’re looking for as possible.
- Your model will also be able to see the shots in real time and get a better idea for the feel/mood of the images as well as instant feedback about whether the posing is working or needs some tweaking.
For me personally, when shooting in studio, I now find that shooting tethered is a must and helps both me and the model get at a great shot much faster. The only downside really is the extra cable that runs between the camera and computer, but that’s something that I quickly got used to.
What You’ll Need
You’ll likely need one or two additional pieces of equipment in order to shoot tethered, at a minimum. But don’t worry, it won’t set you off by too much.
The most popular supplier of the gear you’ll need is called Tether Tools, and that’s the company I recommend buying from for your tethering needs.
The single most important piece of equipment you’ll need is a tethering cable. Your camera most likely came with one, but it’ll most likely be short and not as high-quality as a cable you’d get from a company like Tether Tools.
For your 1st tethering cable, I recommend you get the starter kit from Tether Tools. The page will guide you through choosing the right cable for your specific camera, and on top of the cable you’ll also get some useful extras like cable ties, and jerk stoppers which help prevent strain on the connectors or accidentally pulling the cable out.
You’ll see in videos that many photographers use the orange cable, and the reason for this is so that it’s easy to see and that people are less prone to trip in the cable.
Tether Boost
The next piece you might need is something like the TetherBoost from Tether Tools. If you start off without it and find that your tethered connection gets lost for no apparent reason, or you struggle to get a connection in the first place, the TetherBoost should fix those issues!
What happens is that on many computers today the USB is slightly underpowered and the strength of the signal gets lost along the way. This is especially true when you start shooting with longer tethering cables.
So in summary, you’ll need:
- A good high-quality tethering cable (15 feet is ideal to start) with connections that match your specific camera and computer/laptop. If you go with a starter kit, you’ll get the cable and some helpful extras with it.
- A TetherBoost if you find that you have connectivity or lost signal issues.
Shooting Tethered Into Lightroom
Just connect you tethering cable to your camera and your computer, and in Lightroom head over to File > Tethered Capture > Start Tethered Capture…
Once you set the settings for file naming and where the captures should go, click Ok and Lightroom will automatically detect your camera and you’ll see a new widget appear on screen that shows your camera settings and allows you to trigger a shot. Mac fonts for pc. From that widget, you can also specify develop settings to apply automatically to captures.
Capture One Tethering
And now you can start shooting and you’ll see your shots appear automatically inside of Lightroom!
Shooting Tethered Into Capture One
Capture One has been built with tethered shooting in mind, so it’s naturally very easy to start shooting tethered without any special setup. Just plug the tethering cable to your computer and camera, power-on your camera, and head over to the Capture tab. You’ll see a camera panel on there and your camera make, model and current settings should automatically appear:
You can now start shooting and you’ll automatically see the shots appear in Capture One. Under that same camera panel, you even have a button to trigger a shot directly from Capture One, which can be useful especially with product photography.
By default, the edits applied to the last shot will be automatically applied to the next shots. This is one of the handiest features and allows to create adjustments on the fly and see it on all the shots. You can change the behavior under the Next Capture Adjustments tool from the Capture tab.
✨ And there you have it! You should now have the knowledge needed to start shooting tethered and reap the benefits.
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I'm Seb and I'm creating Purple11. I'm into photography (duh!), but also music, design, meditation, healthy living and just spending time in nature. You can read more about what I'm up to on my Now page.
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