K20D Tethering Options

soccerjoe5 · 11-12-2008, 11:08 PM

After a fair amount of searching on the boards, google, and trying out stuff with my gear, I found a way to tether my K20D (RAW file format) with okay results on my MBP.

I used the Remote Assistant to save the photos in a folder and set up Lightroom to auto-import the photos in that folder (set it as a watched folder). It works well but takes a good 20 seconds to show up fully rendered in Lightroom. That's just way too slow for client shoots (I shoot food mostly). So right now I just use it the way it is but the Remote Assistant is on display to show the photo faster (about 6 seconds) and when the client wants to view more shots, I just switch over to Lightroom.

As I said, it's okay but I wish it were faster.

Does anyone have a better method to tether photos? I'm quite certain that the limitations of the transfer speed is a hardware limitation of the K20D but I'll just have to ask: Is there a way to get better USB transfer speeds?

Also: Is there a way to maximize the screen of the Remote Assistant, the window that shows the photo just taken?

Also another question, has anyone found a way to tether the K20D to Apple's Aperture? I tried it out but I can't seem to get it to work. If someone has been able to get it to work, please let me know. I'd like to compare the importing and rendering speed of Aperture to Lightroom myself.

I am also thinking of getting myself an Eye-Fi for wireless tethering/transfering but as of the moment I'm not 100% sure of how it works. I am pretty certain it only copies JPEG files to the computer via a router, not directly to the computer. I wish it could also MOVE JPEG and RAW files to the computer. My idea would be to set up Eye-Fi to save to a folder like how I set up Remote Assistant and automatically import into Lightroom or Aperture.

soccerjoe5 · 11-25-2008, 12:29 AM

Anyone figure out a way to shoot tethered with Aperture yet?

Sondek · 11-26-2008, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by soccerjoe5

Anyone figure out a way to shoot tethered with Aperture yet?

Similar to tether options with Lightroom and Phase One, only with Aperture you need one additional step - you need to setup Aperture Hot Folder (look at: Automator Workflows: Hot-Folder Import).

It is rather slow, but works. Not that Lightroom or Phase One are any faster.

soccerjoe5 · 11-26-2008, 01:50 PM

Interesting! I'll try it out, thanks Sondek!

Diego

soccerjoe5 · 03-13-2009, 03:07 PM

This is an old thread but I figured I should bump it up again. I really need a way to shoot tethered FASTER. At a food shoot where the client needs to see the photos, it's just way too slow. About 20 seconds per shot!

Any help please? I'm thinking of resorting to just hooking up to an LCD TV but that will be relatively low res since the K20D only has VGA output.

soccerjoe5 · 03-13-2009, 03:46 PM

Just to give you an example, I just set my Remote Assistant to save files to a folder. I just used my phone's stopwatch to time how long it takes for a photo to move to that folder. It took 28.6 seconds to move a .PEF file.

Imagine shooting no less than 500 shots in a session. Taking around 35 seconds to view on the screen is excruciating. On a Canikon it supposedly takes less than 5 seconds. My client and stylist can get impatient

Anyone know a way to speed up file transfers?

krypticide · 03-13-2009, 05:49 PM

I tried setting up tethering, but got similar results. The fastest way seems to be with Bridge, but I didn't figure out how to get Bridge to automatically select the newest image to display. I had to manually click on it.

The plus side is that it definitely took less than 20 seconds for the image to show up.

soccerjoe5 · 03-13-2009, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by krypticide

I tried setting up tethering, but got similar results. The fastest way seems to be with Bridge, but I didn't figure out how to get Bridge to automatically select the newest image to display. I had to manually click on it.

The plus side is that it definitely took less than 20 seconds for the image to show up.

Really? Did you shoot in RAW (PEF) and did you use a K20D? I am able to let the newest image to display on Lightroom using the watched folder.

Using JPEGs it's pretty okay, about 10 seconds. I had some clients tell me though that some other photographers were almost instantaneous displays. One of them was using a camera about 200 times my gear haha. But I do remember Canikon gear showing up a lot faster using Aperture/Capture One.

I tried tethering using Aperture and Capture One a few hours ago to no avail

kenyee · 03-14-2009, 06:30 AM

Originally posted by soccerjoe5

Using JPEGs it's pretty okay, about 10 seconds. I had some clients tell me though that some other photographers were almost instantaneous displays. One of them was using a camera about 200 times my gear haha. But I do remember Canikon gear showing up a lot faster using Aperture/Capture One.

My guess is they're downloading the "preview" JPEG at low res, then they download the rest of the image and redisplay afterwards. Pentax would have to change the protocol to support this. There's no way those other systems are going that fast over a plain USB2.0 port...even copying via a memory card reader takes a while for the large images from a K20D.

10sec JPEG is roughly what I see as well (I think I replied in another thread about this) and roughly 15sec for RAW. If you're doing RAW+JPEG, it'll be 30sec.

soccerjoe5 · 03-14-2009, 06:37 AM

I think I'm going to get a relatively small LCD with video input for my tethered shooting. I hope Pentax puts HDMI output in their next cameras!

krypticide · 03-14-2009, 01:54 PM

Yeah, it was in PEF. If I get a chance to try it again I'll post my findings.

kenyee · 03-14-2009, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by soccerjoe5

I think I'm going to get a relatively small LCD with video input for my tethered shooting. I hope Pentax puts HDMI output in their next cameras!

DH, aka Strobist, suggested using a portable 9" DVD player w/ composite input. Less junk to haul around...
If you find something better, let us know...

soccerjoe5 · 03-14-2009, 04:35 PM

Originally posted by kenyee

DH, aka Strobist, suggested using a portable 9" DVD player w/ composite input. Less junk to haul around...
If you find something better, let us know...

That's an option for me, I'm thinking between that or the LCD with composite inputs. Found a 22" LCD with inputs for an equivalent of about $180 USD. Not as great as Samsung screens but good enough for checking composition and exposure. Thinking of getting it later for this week's shoots

kenyee · 03-17-2009, 08:12 AM

Another option, if you can shoot JPEG only, is the EyeFi wireless SD card.
Some folks have written standalone servers for it so you don't have to use eye-fi's stupid services:
Return Boolean True: Eye Fi Standalone Server
Thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know...

soccerjoe5 · 03-17-2009, 08:44 AM

Originally posted by kenyee

Another option, if you can shoot JPEG only, is the EyeFi wireless SD card.
Some folks have written standalone servers for it so you don't have to use eye-fi's stupid services:
Return Boolean True: Eye Fi Standalone Server
Thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know...

I thought of that too! Has anyone tried this? The card isn't available here. The only thing that's worrying me is (1) speed of transfer, and (2) size of the card. I also wish that you can directly connect to a laptop's wifi instead of having to go through an access point.

11-12-2008, 11:08 PM	#1
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343	K20D Tethering Options After a fair amount of searching on the boards, google, and trying out stuff with my gear, I found a way to tether my K20D (RAW file format) with okay results on my MBP. I used the Remote Assistant to save the photos in a folder and set up Lightroom to auto-import the photos in that folder (set it as a watched folder). It works well but takes a good 20 seconds to show up fully rendered in Lightroom. That's just way too slow for client shoots (I shoot food mostly). So right now I just use it the way it is but the Remote Assistant is on display to show the photo faster (about 6 seconds) and when the client wants to view more shots, I just switch over to Lightroom. As I said, it's okay but I wish it were faster. Does anyone have a better method to tether photos? I'm quite certain that the limitations of the transfer speed is a hardware limitation of the K20D but I'll just have to ask: Is there a way to get better USB transfer speeds? Also: Is there a way to maximize the screen of the Remote Assistant, the window that shows the photo just taken? Also another question, has anyone found a way to tether the K20D to Apple's Aperture? I tried it out but I can't seem to get it to work. If someone has been able to get it to work, please let me know. I'd like to compare the importing and rendering speed of Aperture to Lightroom myself. I am also thinking of getting myself an Eye-Fi for wireless tethering/transfering but as of the moment I'm not 100% sure of how it works. I am pretty certain it only copies JPEG files to the computer via a router, not directly to the computer. I wish it could also MOVE JPEG and RAW files to the computer. My idea would be to set up Eye-Fi to save to a folder like how I set up Remote Assistant and automatically import into Lightroom or Aperture.

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11-25-2008, 12:29 AM	#2
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Anyone figure out a way to shoot tethered with Aperture yet?

11-26-2008, 01:05 PM	#3
Sondek New Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 8	Originally posted by soccerjoe5 Anyone figure out a way to shoot tethered with Aperture yet? Similar to tether options with Lightroom and Phase One, only with Aperture you need one additional step - you need to setup Aperture Hot Folder (look at: Automator Workflows: Hot-Folder Import). It is rather slow, but works. Not that Lightroom or Phase One are any faster.

11-26-2008, 01:50 PM	#4
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Interesting! I'll try it out, thanks Sondek! Diego

03-13-2009, 03:07 PM	#5
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	This is an old thread but I figured I should bump it up again. I really need a way to shoot tethered FASTER. At a food shoot where the client needs to see the photos, it's just way too slow. About 20 seconds per shot! Any help please? I'm thinking of resorting to just hooking up to an LCD TV but that will be relatively low res since the K20D only has VGA output.

03-13-2009, 03:46 PM	#6
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Just to give you an example, I just set my Remote Assistant to save files to a folder. I just used my phone's stopwatch to time how long it takes for a photo to move to that folder. It took 28.6 seconds to move a .PEF file. Imagine shooting no less than 500 shots in a session. Taking around 35 seconds to view on the screen is excruciating. On a Canikon it supposedly takes less than 5 seconds. My client and stylist can get impatient Anyone know a way to speed up file transfers?

03-13-2009, 05:49 PM	#7
krypticide Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,079	I tried setting up tethering, but got similar results. The fastest way seems to be with Bridge, but I didn't figure out how to get Bridge to automatically select the newest image to display. I had to manually click on it. The plus side is that it definitely took less than 20 seconds for the image to show up.

03-13-2009, 09:27 PM	#8
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Originally posted by krypticide I tried setting up tethering, but got similar results. The fastest way seems to be with Bridge, but I didn't figure out how to get Bridge to automatically select the newest image to display. I had to manually click on it. The plus side is that it definitely took less than 20 seconds for the image to show up. Really? Did you shoot in RAW (PEF) and did you use a K20D? I am able to let the newest image to display on Lightroom using the watched folder. Using JPEGs it's pretty okay, about 10 seconds. I had some clients tell me though that some other photographers were almost instantaneous displays. One of them was using a camera about 200 times my gear haha. But I do remember Canikon gear showing up a lot faster using Aperture/Capture One. I tried tethering using Aperture and Capture One a few hours ago to no avail

03-14-2009, 06:30 AM	#9
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Originally posted by soccerjoe5 Using JPEGs it's pretty okay, about 10 seconds. I had some clients tell me though that some other photographers were almost instantaneous displays. One of them was using a camera about 200 times my gear haha. But I do remember Canikon gear showing up a lot faster using Aperture/Capture One. My guess is they're downloading the "preview" JPEG at low res, then they download the rest of the image and redisplay afterwards. Pentax would have to change the protocol to support this. There's no way those other systems are going that fast over a plain USB2.0 port...even copying via a memory card reader takes a while for the large images from a K20D. 10sec JPEG is roughly what I see as well (I think I replied in another thread about this) and roughly 15sec for RAW. If you're doing RAW+JPEG, it'll be 30sec.

03-14-2009, 06:37 AM	#10
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	I think I'm going to get a relatively small LCD with video input for my tethered shooting. I hope Pentax puts HDMI output in their next cameras!

03-14-2009, 01:54 PM	#11
krypticide Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,079	Yeah, it was in PEF. If I get a chance to try it again I'll post my findings.

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03-14-2009, 02:59 PM	#12
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Originally posted by soccerjoe5 I think I'm going to get a relatively small LCD with video input for my tethered shooting. I hope Pentax puts HDMI output in their next cameras! DH, aka Strobist, suggested using a portable 9" DVD player w/ composite input. Less junk to haul around... If you find something better, let us know...

03-14-2009, 04:35 PM	#13
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Originally posted by kenyee DH, aka Strobist, suggested using a portable 9" DVD player w/ composite input. Less junk to haul around... If you find something better, let us know... That's an option for me, I'm thinking between that or the LCD with composite inputs. Found a 22" LCD with inputs for an equivalent of about $180 USD. Not as great as Samsung screens but good enough for checking composition and exposure. Thinking of getting it later for this week's shoots

03-17-2009, 08:12 AM	#14
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Another option, if you can shoot JPEG only, is the EyeFi wireless SD card. Some folks have written standalone servers for it so you don't have to use eye-fi's stupid services: Return Boolean True: Eye Fi Standalone Server Thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know...

03-17-2009, 08:44 AM	#15
soccerjoe5 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philippines Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,343 Original Poster	Originally posted by kenyee Another option, if you can shoot JPEG only, is the EyeFi wireless SD card. Some folks have written standalone servers for it so you don't have to use eye-fi's stupid services: Return Boolean True: Eye Fi Standalone Server Thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know... I thought of that too! Has anyone tried this? The card isn't available here. The only thing that's worrying me is (1) speed of transfer, and (2) size of the card. I also wish that you can directly connect to a laptop's wifi instead of having to go through an access point.