Laptop for tethering: I recently bought a used Nikon d810 to try some product photography. I've been watching some YouTube videos about tethering. Any suggestions on what I need to...

Harrydavid

I recently bought a used Nikon d810 to try some product photography. I've been watching some YouTube videos about tethering. Any suggestions on what I need to consider when purchasing a laptop to take on site. I don't want to go cheap but don't want to over spend. Thanks in advance.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Harrydavid wrote:

I recently bought a used Nikon d810 to try some product photography. I've been watching some YouTube videos about tethering. Any suggestions on what I need to consider when purchasing a laptop to take on site. I don't want to go cheap but don't want to over spend. Thanks in advance.

You Tube must have videos to help with this.

MrPhotog

See what operating system the tethering software runs on.

I can tether my cameras to an Apple cell phone or iPad app, as well as a PC or Mac laptop. Used iPhones are pretty cheap, and must be abundant, since there are so many trade-in offers with upgrading.

If your software runs on a linux or chrome system there are lots of inexpensive computers around.

You shouldn’t need a lot of computer power for this. Older systems should be great.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Harrydavid wrote:

I recently bought a used Nikon d810 to try some product photography. I've been watching some YouTube videos about tethering. Any suggestions on what I need to consider when purchasing a laptop to take on site. I don't want to go cheap but don't want to over spend. Thanks in advance.

I use a 13" Mac Book Pro OS Monterey 12.6.3 bought used $600, PlusTether Tools Smart Shooter 4
You also need cables to connect to your camera and depending on how long your going to be shooting an ac>dc power supply.
A 13" is really too small, I use mine with a 27" monitor.

Harrydavid

Thanks for the reply!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Harrydavid wrote:

Thanks for the reply!

Your Welcome

therwol Loc: USA

Manglesphoto wrote:

You also need cables to connect to your camera and depending on how long your going to be shooting an ac>dc power supply.

I used a D810 to copy slides and negatives while tethered to a laptop. I discovered that leaving the camera in the Live View mode, required for tethering, sucked the battery dry very quickly. I second the advice to consider an AC adaptor that fits in the battery slot. By the way the USB cable supplied with the camera worked fine for connecting to the computer.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Lr includes tethering for Nikon cameras and, as of yesterday, this includes the Z9. I have a mid model, 16" MBP (Mac Book Pro) that works well for me. Best of luck.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Will the laptop run the software you want to use? That's a key question. Get the software that you want to use and most any laptop will do it. Large screen and plenty of memory are ley also.
I've got 2 or 3 old laptops running older operating systems because of older peripherals that only run on those operating systems.

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

Harrydavid wrote:

I recently bought a used Nikon d810 to try some product photography. I've been watching some YouTube videos about tethering. Any suggestions on what I need to consider when purchasing a laptop to take on site. I don't want to go cheap but don't want to over spend. Thanks in advance.

A few years ago I bought a second hand HP notebook computer on Ebay to tether to my Canon Rebel T7. I think it was $70. It has a 5 x 8 inch screen. I also bought a hood, I guess that's what you call it, that makes the screen more visible in daylight. And I bought a clamp that attaches to my tripod to hold the camera and notebook/hood combo. I tethered the camera to the notebook using Canon software. The T7 does not have the full tethering capability that more expensive Canons offer, nevertheless, the software was easy to use and worked well. The images could be saved to the notebook. However, aiming the camera with the notebook was difficult for me. I don't use it any more. Too much trouble. I miss photo ops. I guess I had a GAS attack.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

My D810 sucks up a lot of juice when tethering plus I found it to be very slow. of course that was 4 years ago and the laptop wasnt as fast as todays

therwol Loc: USA

bdk wrote:

My D810 sucks up a lot of juice when tethering plus I found it to be very slow. of course that was 4 years ago and the laptop wasnt as fast as todays

That's why two of us recommended an AC/DC power source. They power the camera through a "fake" battery that is connected to a power adaptor. When I used my D810, I had to be careful not to shut off the camera before a picture transferred to my laptop or I'd end up with a partial picture. I don't know whether the culprit was the camera, the USB connection or the laptop. The laptop was pretty old.