5 Tips: How to Properly Care for your Tethering Cables

Good tethering cables may be a bit more expensive, so it’s up to you and your photo assistants to take the best care of them prolonging their life. Here are 5 tips on how to properly care for your tethering cables.

Tip #1: Proper Coil

Throwing cables in a bag or just bundling them up in a case is a big ‘no-no’ in the tethering world. It is so important to have a proper coil to your cable when packing it away. This will keep the port ends somewhat safe, allow for no kinks in the cable and also save you room when packing cables away.

Tip #2: Store in case

“How do you store your cables?” – this is one of those common questions we hear on a regular basis. The best answer we can give is to always store cables away in a Cable Case. Depending if you need a Large Cable Case (holding 3 or more cables) or a Standard Cable Case (holding 1-2 cables), find the right bag or case for your cables keeping them safe when packed away.

Tip #3: Don’t step on it

Because cables are made of of tiny little fibers, any impact or stress that is put on a cable can cause the fibers inside to slowly breakdown. So this tip is plain & simple – try to NOT step on the cable while in the studio. If there are people walking around in the studio where this is hard to avoid, try looking at using Gaffer Tape to secure the cable to the floor making it much more apparent so people avoid stepping on the cable.

Tip #4: Don’t roll over it

Same rules apply here. Again, the fibers in tethering cables will slowly breakdown if not properly cared for. As you can see in the photo above with the TetherPro High-Visibility Orange Tethering Cable, the padding around the cable is thick, but the insulation inside will help protect the cable fibers. As Tether Tools puts it:

We stand behind them and you now can see for yourself. Quality Matters. Insulation, Shielding, Braiding. It all matters. Period. – Tether Tools

Tip #5: JerkStopper it

This is a simple one – secure it with a JerkStopper. For anyone who has ever damaged a port on a camera from ripping the tethering cable out or packed away cables improperly, the damage can add up into some big $$$. So one way to keep things from going south – add a JerkStopper. There are a few options here to help keep cables safe. So very quickly, let’s cover the top 5: