I want to shoot directly to my laptop - how?

[ksp]

Hello, I'm posting here first because I'm not sure if this is a Canon question,

an Apple question, or other? I have a Canon EOS 30D & 5D and would like the

ability to shoot directly to my MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz laptop. What do I need in

order to do this? I've seen the cost of doing this wirelessly and it's not in

my budget right now. The alternative is obviously cables...but which ones?

Also, is there specific software I need or is it already built into either the

laptop or camera - I'm already gritting my teeth on this answer as I know both

Apple and camera manufacturer's in general will sell EVERYTHING separetely as

an accessory!

 

Please help...

 

Ken

[holgerto]

Hello Ken,

 

shooting directly to your Laptop is a pretty easy and straightforward thing.

First you need to install the programs that came with your camera. Especially the driver and a program called EOS Utility which contains a subprogram called Remote Shooting.

If you do not have these programs, you can download them from the Canon website.

After that, you just need to connect your camera with a USB cable.

There should be one coming with the camera, however this is very short and I would recommend that you get a 10ft cable in Office Depot, CompUSA or similar.

 

Keep shooting,

Holger Tobuschat

[miklosphoto]

Hi Ken,

here's my technique: I use a 6 feet USB cable to connect. Just as Holger said, I also use the Canon EOS Utility, then I specify there the folder where the images are saved. I use Adobe Lightroom to display the images. That is I specified the same folder where the EOS Utility saves the images as the Lightroom watched folder, so they are automatically imported into Lightroom. In Lightroom I close all the side toolpalets and darken the area around the images, this way all I see is the image full size on my monitor.

The only disadvantage here is that there is few second (5 sec maybe) before the image show up on the screen.

I still want to try to work around in a way that I would shoot both RAW and jpeg and try to figure out if I can diplay the jpegs only so the processing time would be at least 2 or 3 times faster. The RAWs just would be saved in the background, I am not sur eif that is possible but I will try.

regards

Miklos

[bob_osullivan]

That sounds cool. When you are doing that do you leave the CF card out of the camera? Or does it write the datat to both the CF card and the laptop?

[miklosphoto]

Yes, th CF card has to be in the camera (simply because I disabled shooting without the card - I got burned once because of that and since then I disabled that and never change that setting) but it does not save there. I guess that is how the 5D's firmware is designed. If you have it connected to EOS Utility, it does not save on the card. I wish it it did as a back-up just in case. I wonder if someone knows if there is a workaround.

Miklos

[greg_moss2]

I use DSLR RemotePro

http://www.breezesys.com/DSLRRemotePro/index.htm

It has nice advantages over the EOS utility but it cost $95. Check out the trial version.

[ksp]

Thanks everyone...didn't realize it was that easy - FINALLY something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to do! Just a thought on the speed of the images going to the laptop from camera, but could it have anything to do with the read/write speed of the CF card you are using?

[miklosphoto]

Ken,

I don't think it has to do anything with the CF card since the camera is not writting to the card while connected to EOS Utility.

Miklos

[richardgbowen]

If you are using/have a firewire connection, that will help speed. Also, as noted above if you shoot with jpeg only it is faster, as file size is the key.

[ksp]

Miklos, I am playing around with this now and although I haven't added Lightroom to the

scenerio just yet, I have figured out how to shoot to a folder on the laptop AND save it to the

card as backup. Simply click on Preferences under EOS Utility and ensure the box that says

"also save on camera's memory card" is checked. Hope that helps.

[miklosphoto]

Ken, now that you mentioned that I remember that feature. Good point,

Miklos

[gary_hammond1]

When shooting with a Nikon D70 or D200 how is the process done to shoot directly to a laptop?