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Tethered Capture


dwphoto

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Just an update on tethering:

 

I got a quite stable connection in the meantime to Lightroom.

 

However after a while shooting Lightroom will show a progress bar "image transfering"...that progress bar will never finish and the images shot in that time are lost. There is also no copy on the SD card.

 

I did try to setup watch folder with Leica Image shuttle. Sadly that did not really work. LIS did not store the images shot in the selected folder, for some reason. 

Testing at the office it was working, but not on the job.

 

It's really getting annyoing. I can not tell customers that a great scene we just shot is not in, because of a technical problems. I shoot scenes with people. Such scenes can not always be 100% reconstructed in feeling/emotion.

 

If anybody found a workaround, please advice.

 

 

Just had a tether job using LR with SL yesterday.  After the most recent software updates, the tether does seem more stable. BUT, I was shooting primarily product, which is a slow fire-rate.  Even at that, I did have one issue where the LR was transferring image.  I quit LR immediately, LR interrupted implying it was transferring an image, but I quit anyway.  Did not loose the image and did not have the issue again after restart.  Love my SL, but never had this tethering issue with my Canon gear.  

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As you said it might be fine for a few product shots.

I shot in studio today and had to give up. Even Leica Image Shuttle is giving up after 20 minutes or so, and then all restarting and reconnecting only helps for a few minutes until it fails.

So not a studio camera for cases where you need tethering. 

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I have also had good success with tethering when shooting architecture, but then again, architecture moves along at a slower pace than product photography. I want to reinvestigate using a hot folder both with light room and capture one. I seem to remember that in the past it was a more stable method of tethering. I'm just growing tired of experimentation.

 

As far as contacting support goes especially with Adobe, that would be an effort in frustration worse than any tethering issue. I have had zero luck with Adobe tech-support for the decades I've been using their products. I have much better luck working through forums like this with users Constantly testing.

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I finished a four hour shoot of table top pieces with the SL last week. I used LIS 3.5 running on a 2016 MacBook Air 13" with macOS Sierra 10.12.2, connected through the supplied SL USB cable. The computer has 8G RAM, a 500G SSD, and image files went to a USB3 external drive. The SL is on firmware 2.2. Approximately 450 exposures were made, all raw. No problems whatever. There's absolutely nothing special about the installation or computer configuration.

 

I haven't had a chance to evaluate the latest LR plugin as yet. 

Edited by ramarren
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I finished a four hour shoot of table top pieces with the SL last week. I used LIS 3.5 running on a 2016 MacBook Air 13" with macOS Sierra 10.12.2, connected through the supplied SL USB cable. The computer has 8G RAM, a 500G SSD, and image files went to a USB3 external drive. The SL is on firmware 2.2. Approximately 450 exposures were made, all raw. No problems whatever. There's absolutely nothing special about the installation or computer configuration.

 

I haven't had a chance to evaluate the latest LR plugin as yet. 

 

That's good to hear.  I think the progress made in tethering since the SL's release is huge, and will only get better. I still find it somewhat inconsistent, but rarely.  Recently, app has never locked up; only received the "transferring file" message once.  Thursday I'm shooting headshots in the AM, and architecture in the PM, all tethered.  I'm wishing myself luck!

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I did write to Leica support with all the details from my setup, I tried several computers(macbook and 3 of the latest imac). Leica did not consider this worth answering till now.

I did use latest SW/FW and original Leica USB cable.

After 20 minutes the fun is over. Restart/reconnect will only hold up for a few shots.

 

Lightroom is worse, besides loosing connection also the settings are not applied.(neither with option previous nor a saved preset).

LIS and accessing it via hotfolder is the better solution.

But as said it's not stable.

 

Either it's software or it's the camera fw or over heating.

Anyway I always say problems can happen with anything, it is how the manufacturer reacts does make the difference for professional use.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over the last couple of weeks I've done several multi-hour tethered shoots with the SL using LIS (late 2016 MacBook Pro 15"). The camera and LIS performed generally as intended and are mostly a pleasure to use, but there were noticeable glitches when disconnecting and then reconnecting the USB cable from the computer (to change setup location for example). Upon reconnecting the cable, LIS often failed to detect the camera, or behaved incorrectly. In all problem cases quitting/restarting LIS and camera battery removal/reinsertion quickly cured the problem. Of course, its not clear if the root cause of such issues is in the SL firmware, LIS, MacOS, or a combination.

 

To summarize: SL/LIS with MacOS works generally well, but still has bugs that can show up in everyday workflows, and need to be addressed.

 

On the positive side, I tried several inexpensive USB cables from Amazon and they all appeared to work just as well as the Leica-supplied cable.

Edited by ModernMan
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  • 1 month later...

Things were going smoothly with tethering until...

 

I updated my 2013 MacBook Pro to LR2015.9.  The update completely killed tethering on my Leica SL, Canon DSMKIII and 7D.  All cameras same issue, tried 4 cables including Leica’s USB-3 cable. Memory cards in body, and out of body.  Don’t suggest wireless transfers; too slow.

 

I'm running Sierra, 10.12.3 on both my 2013 MacBook Pro, and my 2016 12" MacBook.  Running the previous version of LR (2015.8) on my dog-slow and underpowered 12" MacBook.  All bodies tether fine but the 12” MacBook is too underpowered to accomplish fast production processing after the shoot.

 

The problem is with the most recent LR update, as the previous version is rock stable and fast to tether SL or Canon.

 

I’ve relegated using C1Pro V10 for tethering with my Canon bodies. The hot folder in C1Pro works for the SL, but is a bit kludgy and less than reliable. 

 

Adobe had one suggestion, to go to a web page listing the usual solutions; rebooting, relaunching, different cables, checking firmware etc., etc.  Didn’t work and I’ve not heard anything from Adobe since.

 
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I believe I saw an update to the Lightroom tethering plugin available either early this week or last week. Did you try that?

 

It's available to download from the Leica Owners Area on the Leica website.

Edited by ramarren
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I believe I saw an update to the Lightroom tethering plugin available either early this week or last week. Did you try that?

 

It's available to download from the Leica Owners Area on the Leica website.

 

Thanks Ramarren.   Downloaded the update and all is now well with tethering.  It would be beneficial if Leica would push out update notifications to registered users when the updates become available.  From now on if I have a tethering issue, I'll go right to the owners area and check.  Again, I appreciate your help!

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You're welcome! I'm glad that solved the problem. I've updated my systems to LR6.9 and downloaded the plugin, but I haven't had time just yet to put it to the test. 

 

I found out about it through a mailing from Red Dot Forum, or something like that. I with Leica would send notices based on the registrations in their Owners Area... 

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You're welcome! I'm glad that solved the problem. I've updated my systems to LR6.9 and downloaded the plugin, but I haven't had time just yet to put it to the test. 

 

I found out about it through a mailing from Red Dot Forum, or something like that. I with Leica would send notices based on the registrations in their Owners Area... 

 

Yes, and not coincidentally I think; after the Leica LR tether update, my Canon gear is now tethering to my MacBook Pro.  I felt confident enough in the result to just update LR & Leica Tether software to my 2015 12" MacBook and both Canon & SL also tether.   Starting a rumor here; Canon and Leica in collusion to make tethering work?  Unfathomable  :)

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Yes, and not coincidentally I think; after the Leica LR tether update, my Canon gear is now tethering to my MacBook Pro.  I felt confident enough in the result to just update LR & Leica Tether software to my 2015 12" MacBook and both Canon & SL also tether.   Starting a rumor here; Canon and Leica in collusion to make tethering work?  Unfathomable  :)

While I doubt that they are intentionally collaborating, it's quite possible that just the act of installing an updated plugin has reset some funky initialization in LR that was blocking proper operation before.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well as luck would have it, or lack of luck(!), my positive solution took a big dump, right in the middle of a shoot yesterday with client breathing down my neck. My LR tether to my DSMKIII just stopped. Was shooting video with the SL so that camera was not an option in this scenario. Tether did not even see the camera "no camera connected".

 

Beyond fricking frustrating. Clients expect things to work unabated. It's also unfortunate that I felt it necessary to warn her ahead of time that tethering, while beneficial is very quirky. Once I switched to capture one in mid-job everything worked as it should. I just prefer the LR workflow for client viewing/selecting of files while shooting but if it is unreliable it's not worth the stress & embarrassment. Not sure on how to fix the tether issue this time around.

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  • 1 month later...

i foolishly upgraded my imac to el capitan months prior to considering and finally purchasing an SL.  i cannot tether to Lightroom as the camera will only tether to the earlier version of OS 10.  i called leica usa and asked when Leica was going to update the camera's compatibility to OS el capitan.  the fellow i talked to called Germany and answered back that they hadnt gotten around to it yet.  i wait.....  does anyone have a useful workaround for the sl and tethering to an Imac with el capitan?

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i foolishly upgraded my imac to el capitan months prior to considering and finally purchasing an SL.  i cannot tether to Lightroom as the camera will only tether to the earlier version of OS 10.  i called leica usa and asked when Leica was going to update the camera's compatibility to OS el capitan.  the fellow i talked to called Germany and answered back that they hadnt gotten around to it yet.  i wait.....  does anyone have a useful workaround for the sl and tethering to an Imac with el capitan?

 

Not sure why this is happening to you, I'm currently using LIS 3.6 (and before that 3.5), OS Sierra 10.12.5 with no issue, and before that with El Capitan.  I'd go through a recheck of connections, reboot, reinstall if necessary.

 

Bon chance!

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Not sure why this is happening to you, I'm currently using LIS 3.6 (and before that 3.5), OS Sierra 10.12.5 with no issue, and before that with El Capitan.  I'd go through a recheck of connections, reboot, reinstall if necessary.

 

Bon chance!

 

As much trouble as I've had with LR tethering in the recent past, I will say that stability has improved.  If all else fails, use LIS and setup a hot folder.  I'm doing that with C1Pro (now my preferred processor) and even C1 tethers well using the hot folder.

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