Pentax Image Transmitter 2

Features and Performance

On this page, we will walk you through using the software while analyzing its features and performance.

Installation

Image Transmitter 2 is very easy to install.  After inserting the CD into your computer, simply click on the autorun executable and after a few quick dialogs, the software will be installed on your system.

Image Transmitter 2 Disc

We also installed the software on a new laptop that does not have a CD drive. In lieu of purchasing an external CD drive, it is possible to simply copy the installation files from a desktop to a USB drive, or to mount an ISO image of the disk.  The installation files are only about 100Mb.

Following the installation, you should update Image Transmitter from the Ricoh software download web site.  Our review is based on version 2.2.0 of the software, released on May 19, 2016.  We would like to note that in addition to adding support for the K-1, the update corrects various stability issues.

Connecting the Camera

Ensure that your camera has the necessary firmware updates to support Image Transmitter 2 (i.e. version 1.10 or newer for the Pentax K-1).  Then, enter your camera's setup menu (wrench icon) and ensure that the USB mode is set to PTP.

Once this is done, you are ready to go.  Open Image Transmitter 2, connect the camera's USB cord to your computer, and power it on. The software will automatically detect the camera and show its name and data in the window.

When tethered, note that the monitor on the camera will turn itself off, even if live view is on.

The connection process really couldn't be easier, and it works very reliably.  The software will continue recognizing the camera even if you decide to turn it off and on again.  However, the software cannot turn the camera on if it goes to sleep.

The software itself loads extremely quickly, so it will rarely get it your way.

User Interface

The user interface is simple and fairly intuitive.  Not everything is self-explanatory at first sight, however, and it's a bit awkward that the shutter release button is not the biggest one.

Image Transmitter 2 user interface (live view off)

Many of the parameters shown in the window cannot be altered outside of the camera, such as the AF mode, drive mode, shooting mode, JPEG profile, and white balance.   We were surpised not to see any flash options.

Depending on the shooting mode, you will see dropdowns for shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and exposure compensation.  Thanks to Pentax's Hyper Program mode, on-the-fly changes can be made to the shutter speed or aperture without having to touch the mode dial on the camera.

Unlike the Image Sync Wi-Fi app, Image Transmitter 2 does support all of the camera's drive modes (except for interval shooting).

The remaining buttons let you reset exposure parameters to what the camera recommends, operate the AF on demand, or force the camera to acquire focus at the time the shutter button is pressed.  Note that the shutter button on the camera can always be used while tethered.

Live view on

Image Transmitter 2 also supports live view. You can click-to-select the live view focus point and zoom the same area to 100%.  Lesser degrees of zoom are not supported, and it is not possible to re-size the image window.  The image itself is in HD quality with some compression.

Live view zoom

The last photo captured is shown below the live view frame.  Having a list of recent files would be a welcome change.

If you are not using live view and don't want to view files in IT2, the button in the lower-right corner of the screen lets you hide the image pane entirely to free up screen space.

File Storage and Workflow

The field in the upper-left corner of the window allows you to select the folder path to which photos will be stored.  This allows you to easily integrate IT2 into your existing workflow, whether it be Lightroom, Adobe Bridge, Capture One, or something else.

The cog wheel icon opens an option page that contains a setting allowing you to integrate IT2 directly with Pentax's own Digital Camera Utility (DCU) such that captured photos can instantly be opened for editing in that program.  Of course, being able to perform DCU's basic editing functions directly in IT2 would have been more user-friendly.

By default, all photos you capture via IT2 are copied to the PC and stored on the camera's memory card(s).  IT2 allows you to disable memory card storage if desired.  The file format (RAW, RAW+, JPEG, TIFF) cannot be selected in IT2, though the checkboxes at the bottom of the left pane allow you to limit the file types that are transferred.

Performance

As we have already mentioned, installing Image Transmitter 2 and connecting it to the camera is quick and easy.  The remainder of IT2's functionality is somewhat less refined.  The live view image suffers from about a third of a second of latency, and the picture freezes while the camera focuses. The same latency is also present when changing exposure settings, but thankfully to a lesser extent when releasing the shutter.

File transfer speeds will vary by camera model but generally only take a few seconds.  The 645Z transfers files faster (up to 30 Mb/s over USB 3) than the K-1 and 645D (up to 12 Mb/s over USB 2).

IT2 essentially locks up while files are being transferred, and since there is no progress bar, this can potentially cause some confusion.

New Untested Features

In April, 2017, the next major version of Image Transmitter 2 was released.  It added support for changing the following camera settings:

• White balance
• Custom image
• Image format
• RAW format
• Composition adjustment (KP only)
• Bulb timer exposure
• Focus assist
• Exposure bracketing (645Z only)

It also added the following features:

• Live view magnification levels
• Live view focus fine adjustment
• Starting and stopping movie file transfers (only K-1 (without live view) and KP)

Overall, these features provide quite a bit more flexiblity; the ability to finely tune the focus in live view is an especially welcome addition.  We have not currently tested this version of the software.

Verdict

Image Transmitter 2's interface and features are quite basic, but the software works reliably (at least with the latest software update) and goes beyond the functionality of Pentax's currently-supported Lightroom tethering plugin (which equates to a very fancy shutter release button).

In terms of performance, IT2 does leave something to be desired.  Perhaps future versions of the software will be able to cut down on latency and add a progress bar to show when files are being transferred.