5DMkIII tethered shooting with LR4.2

[ereka]

I've just started using tethered shooting for product shots, using a 5DMkIII with LR4.2

I have a couple of queries that I haven't been able to resolve so far and I'd be grateful for any advice.

1) Tethered shooting carries on OK for several frames, but then everything 'locks up' i.e. the camera controls stop responding (e.g. live view, shutter release - basically, everything freezes); the only way I've found to resolve this is to close LR and start over - has anyone else experienced this and if so, do you know why it happens and how to avoid it?

2) There doesn't seem to be any way to focus or to control the camera settings (e.g. aperture, ISO etc) directly via LR, other than the shutter release - is this correct?

3) Is LR the best option for tethered shooting (in particular for product shoots) or do you prefer a different solution - if so, why?

[sanfranchristo]

I don't have MkIII myself yet, but I was on a shoot this week with a pro shooting tethered with one using Capture One software. It seemed to work very well for what it's worth (and looks like you can control everything that you are looking for according to specs: http://www.phaseone.com/en/Image-Software/Capture-One/Features.aspx)

[ereka]

I don't have MkIII myself yet, but I was on a shoot this week with a pro shooting tethered with one using Capture One software. It seemed to work very well for what it's worth (and looks like you can control everything that you are looking for according to specs: http://www.phaseone.com/en/Image-Software/Capture-One/Features.aspx)

Thanks, although apparently live view is not supported for Canon or Nikon cameras

"The extent of tethered support will vary depending on the back/camera connected. Live View is not supported for Canon and Nikon."

[sanfranchristo]

I don't have MkIII myself yet, but I was on a shoot this week with a pro shooting tethered with one using Capture One software. It seemed to work very well for what it's worth (and looks like you can control everything that you are looking for according to specs: http://www.phaseone.com/en/Image-Software/Capture-One/Features.aspx)

Thanks, although apparently live view is not supported for Canon or Nikon cameras

"The extent of tethered support will vary depending on the back/camera connected. Live View is not supported for Canon and Nikon."

Hmm, I guess not - though isn't 'live view' one of the primary benefits of shooting tethered? You have a much larger screen to actually check focus, depth of field and everything else? Unless you're sensitive about shutter count I suppose. In the situations where I've seen studio pros shoot tethered I've never seen them use live view on the camera itself, but to each his or her own.

[heyandy]

I've been tethering a 5DmkIII to LR4.2 since its release and am also finding it less reliable than earlier versions were with other cameras (7D and 5DmkII).

1) Tethered shooting carries on OK for several frames, but then everything 'locks up' i.e. the camera controls stop responding (e.g. live view, shutter release - basically, everything freezes); the only way I've found to resolve this is to close LR and start over - has anyone else experienced this and if so, do you know why it happens and how to avoid it?

I've been tethering a 5DmkIII to LR4.2 since its release and am also finding it less reliable than earlier versions were with other cameras (7D and 5DmkII) but my experience hasn't been this bad. For me any interruption of the camera power - dead battery, turning the camera off, or changing the memory card - will kill the tether connection in a way that can't easily be restored. I can usually get it going again by unplugging the USB cable, turning off the camera, relaunching LR and then reconnecting. It's a significant inconvenience.

2) There doesn't seem to be any way to focus or to control the camera settings (e.g. aperture, ISO etc) directly via LR, other than the shutter release - is this correct?

This is correct. Native LR tethering has never offered any camera control.

3) Is LR the best option for tethered shooting (in particular for product shoots) or do you prefer a different solution - if so, why?

I've tried CaptureOne and although it's a powerful tool, I find Lightroom is better all-around for me. As an alternative to the native tethering, you can use EOS Utility to capture and get the images to your computer and Auto-Import into Lightroom. This works well, but there is no way to have a crop applied to incoming images (and almost every shot I do is composed to fit a specific crop). If you go with EOS Utility, and are on a Mac, you can use Image Capture to tell the computer to launch EOS Utility whenever the camera is connected. It's a pretty reliable setup and allows for camera control and live view from the computer.

Hope this helps,
Andy