Tethered shooting: I am considering the purchase of a small laptop or note book ($200 or less) for tethered shooting. Looking for suggestions and recommendations. Thank you...

Foozer

I am considering the purchase of a small laptop or note book ($200 or less) for tethered shooting. Looking for suggestions and recommendations.
Thank you

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I think it depends on the camera you intend to use and what software you want to use with it?

Hank Radt

You can never have too much RAM nor too much disk space, but these come at a price - you're not likely to get enough of either for $200 or less. At this price point, pick the one that has the most; I'd probably err on the side of more disk space, given the increasing size of images, sacrificing a bit of speed (RAM). Alternative is to get the most RAM you can, and store your images on an external drive (which is good for backup in any case). I wouldn't worry whether it is MAC OS or Windows - both can do the job.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Foozer wrote:

I am considering the purchase of a small laptop or note book ($200 or less) for tethered shooting. Looking for suggestions and recommendations.
Thank you

If you already have a tablet or smartphone, for $299, you could buy a Camranger, and shoot tethered without wires.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you have a tablet or smartphone and a Panasonic camera, there is a free app called "Panasonic Image App".

(Download)

Foozer

bsprague wrote:

I think it depends on the camera you intend to use and what software you want to use with it?

Using a Canon Rebel T6i

Shootist Loc: Wyoming

With most mid to upper range Nikons you can tether your camera with your smartphone either with an inexpensive cable or with some models the in camera WIFI. There is some pretty good software either for free or for a fee. If your smartphone has a decent size screen it may be all that you need. Don't know about Cannon but would be surprised if the same capabilities weren't there also.

Foozer wrote:

I am considering the purchase of a small laptop or note book ($200 or less) for tethered shooting. Looking for suggestions and recommendations.
Thank you

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Foozer wrote:

Using a Canon Rebel T6i

If you are savvy enough, you can make a Camranger-like device to use with a tablet for about $30.
https://www.diyphotography.net/wireless-camera-control-and-liveview-diy-hack-only-30/

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Yes, I use a CamRanger and you can usually find a like new one on eBay for about $200. I use it with my laptop, but you can use other devise with it too.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

DWU2 wrote:

If you already have a tablet or smartphone, for $299, you could buy a Camranger, and shoot tethered without wires.

PGHphoto Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Foozer wrote:

I am considering the purchase of a small laptop or note book ($200 or less) for tethered shooting. Looking for suggestions and recommendations.
Thank you

A suggestion to consider - if your camera has an HDMI output and all you want to do is have a display of the photo for review, you may be able to go with a good monitor and an hdmi cable. It can save you half of what you need to spend. You didn't mention the camera or the overall intent so hope this helps. My Canons support the display by just plugging in the cable - no software needed.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

bsprague wrote:

If you have a tablet or smartphone and a Panasonic camera, there is a free app called "Panasonic Image App".

I use that Panasonic WiFi app all the time for macro photography! Great stuff.

Canon DPP is a long-time favorite tethering app of Canon users. It downloads to a folder on a Mac or Windows PC. It’s free with Canon dSLRs.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

You can also setup Lightroom to watch a folder and import the files into Lightroom automatically. I do that with the CamRanger as well. Probably can be done with other applications like Capture One and others too.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

burkphoto wrote:

I use that Panasonic WiFi app all the time for macro photography! Great stuff.

Canon DPP is a long-time favorite tethering app of Canon users. It downloads to a folder on a Mac or Windows PC. It’s free with Canon dSLRs.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

You can also setup Lightroom to watch a folder and import the files into Lightroom automatically. I do that with the CamRanger as well. Probably can be done with other applications like Capture One and others too.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

"When selected Canon, Nikon, or Leica digital cameras are connected to the computer, you can import photos directly into a Lightroom Classic CC catalog." — Adobe site

I don't see any of the popular mirrorless camera brands (Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony) supported yet. Apparently, Adobe doesn't think we need it...

The GH5 has a tethering program available for it. Several Panasonic cameras have third party solutions available. I don't know about the other brands.

Hank Radt

burkphoto wrote:

"When selected Canon, Nikon, or Leica digital cameras are connected to the computer, you can import photos directly into a Lightroom Classic CC catalog." — Adobe site

I don't see any of the popular mirrorless camera brands (Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony) supported yet. Apparently, Adobe doesn't think we need it...

The GH5 has a tethering program available for it. Several Panasonic cameras have third party solutions available. I don't know about the other brands.

I know CaptureOne supports tethered shooting by Sony and am going to take a logical guess that it supports tethered shooting by any camera that the program supports. However, I only have the Sony version; perhaps someone who has the full version can confirm.

Haydon

Hank Radt wrote:

I know CaptureOne supports tethered shooting by Sony and am going to take a logical guess that it supports tethered shooting by any camera that the program supports. However, I only have the Sony version; perhaps someone who has the full version can confirm.

IMO it's the best tethering application out there. It's faster than LR with a set of tools unmatched for tethering. I was using LR at first until I saw CaptureOne in action. Won't ever go back to LR.

Notorious T.O.D. wrote:

Yes, I use a CamRanger and you can usually find a like new one on eBay for about $200. I use it with my laptop, but you can use other devise with it too.

Best,
Todd Ferguson

If one is patient and willing to look on B&H frequently I've seen the Camranger discounted to $199 twice in the last three months.