Does My Camera Shoot Tethered?
Posted by: Tom Pitts on Oct 10, 2016
Shooting tethered can help fine-tune image quality, simplify the selection process, and in turn, save a lot of time. This is especially true if you’re shooting for clients. Your client can be on set, checking shots as you go, and you’ll all know the shot is perfect in a fraction of the time that it might take otherwise.
Before you can begin shooting tethering, you need to learn the specific requirements for both your camera and computer.
Camera Requirements for Tethering
Most DSLR, mirrorless and medium format cameras are USB – or Firewire-compatible, meaning they have a USB or Firewire port for copying images from a card to a computer. However, this does not necessarily mean that the camera has tethering capabilities.
Tethering is the ability to transfer images immediately during the capture process. Growing demand for tethering has led manufacturers to introduce and improve tethering functionality in many newer cameras. Even so, you should reference your camera manual to confirm that it’s capable of tethering and if so, identify which types of images it’s designed to transfer – JPEG, RAW or both. Remember to look for the phrases Direct Image Transfer and Instant Image Transfer as well as any references to tethering.
Some camera models support Parallel File Writing, where images are written simultaneously to both the memory card and the computer or tablet to which you are tethered. As of this writing, Canon is the only manufacturer offering this solution. For those using Sony, Nikon and other manufacturers that do not offer parallel file writing in camera, we offer some work-arounds later in this guide. Some cameras require their manufacturers’ proprietary software in order to tether, while others can use many of the familiar tethering software solutions we discuss in Chapter 3 of the Ultimate Tether Guide.