Do any of us really care about HDMI out on Sony or other cameras?

<p>I love technology. HDMI is a wonderful interface for HDTV, since it passes both video and audio signals digitally. And having it on a camera isn't a BAD idea, but is it really a selling point? Is it really valuable to anyone in the forum?</p>

<p>Sony DSLRs don't currently offer video/audio capture, so I feel at this point, HDMI isn't really of much value. Oh, I guess if you were at a family function and shot some photos you'd like to show on an LCD TV for family enjoyment, it might be nice, but you've got to buy one of those special mini HDMI to HDMI cables just to hook it up (seeing as how Sony conveniently doesn't pack one in the box).</p>

<p>I dunno, I really don't see this as being much value. Now, when they add live HD video capture to these cameras, it might become useful. At this point, not so much.</p>

<p>I'm just musing here.</p>

<p>I can see how it could be useful in a studio environment.</p>

<p>I sometimes hook my cameras up to a large flat screen TV mounted on my studio wall so that the model and crew can see the images as they are shot in order to evaluate the modeling and styling. As you know, SDTV resolution is no match for that of a computer monitor (especially on a shot in protrait orientation), but HDMI resolution would allow for a truer representation of the camera's capture.</p>

 

<p>Bryan, does it auto-rotate the verticals?</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>I've used a family room TV to display to share a slide show of what I captured, all in-camera, and especially to share a video I captured -- much to the awe of the octogenarians watching. Priceless.</p>

<p>I've got tether software to use a computer screen to control my camera -- a feature specifically targeted to professional studios.</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>Steve C. wrote:<br>

"Bryan, does it auto-rotate the verticals?"</p>

<p>Yes, with the Sony body. No with the 7D body. (Never understood why Minolta didn't set the correct rotation bit with a firmware update -- annoying).</p>

<p>Doesn't effect me at all. It simply wouldn't cross my mind when buying a camera.</p>

<p>"I've got tether software to use a computer screen to control my camera -- a feature specifically targeted to professional studios."</p>

<p>Pete BM, I'm curious, exactly which camera do you have that is controllable from your computer? You've only said that you use a Minolta Dimage A1, so did you get some other digital camera? (And a <strong>short</strong> answer would be appreciated, as I don't need to know how to control a camera from my computer, nor do I need to know the history of controlling a camera by computer, nor the software that you use. I'm <strong>only</strong> interested in knowing the name and model of the camera(s) being used. Keep your answer to less than 20 words, thanks.)</p>

<p>Robert,<br>

The A1 can be remotely controlled with Dimage Capture over the USB connections. Not that it's relevant to the OPs topic. Perhaps your personal equipment questions for Peter would be best handled by e-mail or even a new thread, instead of taking so many threads off topic.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I've got tether software to use a computer screen to control my camera -- a feature specifically targeted to professional studios.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Well, since the topic was "Sony or other cameras"....<br>

I've used tethered shooting with Nikon DSLRs since the D1X and D100. With the D3, I prefer to use the HDMI out instead.</p>

<ol>

<li>It gets images up on the screen considerably faster than shooting tethered to a computer or laptop. </li>

<li>For liveview, there's less lag between subject movement and the liveview display on HDMI than when shooting with a tethering program.</li>

</ol>

<p>There is one advantage to tethering, it's possible for an assistant to be looking at a previously shot image while you're continuing to shoot. This is a theoretical advantage, I've never had that need come up.</p>

<p>If you hook up with HDMI, will it transfer images to a laptop hard drive, or is it only for visual display?</p>

<p>I couldn't give a fig about video capture on a dslr..... but when they make an affordable video camera that you can lift a decent 12x10 still off i'll be the first to buy. It's nearly with us, there are highend video cameras now that you can lift a fair 5.6mpl image off out there.</p>

<p>I like it to do slide shows for others on my 50" HD plasma, it looks great. Not a huge differance between the video jack and the HDMI, but enough to see . You can pick up the mini hdmi cable on ebay fot around 10 bucks.</p>

<p>Nope, never ever used it.</p>

<p>Wayne, I can lift a 12 megapixel image off my A700 without any unwanted video frames on either side of it to suck up space on my memory cards. It's pretty cool, actually.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>If you hook up with HDMI, will it transfer images to a laptop hard drive, or is it only for visual display?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Only for display. Storage is still on the camera. I prefer it this way. It's about 10x faster, and more secure.</p>

<ul>

<li>I've never timed a Sony. My Nikon D3 with SanDisk Extreme III 16 gig cards (the newer ones labeled 30mb/s) puts away a raw file to CF in 0.5 seconds, as opposed to 5 seconds for a USB 2 tethered connection to a laptop.</li>

<li>CF cards are inherently much more reliable than mechanical hard drives. For an added level of safety, the D3 supports mirrored writing, load two 16 gig CF cards, and you've got an instant backup and a 1400 raw file capacity. </li>

</ul>

 

<p>I've never tried the HDMI as I would have to buy the cable. Using the camera as a slide show generator doesn't appeal to me that much. Other things to spend money and more importantly, time, on.</p>