Reviewing images on a laptop as shots are taken?

The deeper I dive into the small home studio scene the more questions I seem to have.

Last night I had a thought, take shots with my Canon 350D and review them on my laptop screen in real time. This way I could get a better and larger view of the image. I had no idea if it could be done with my camera or not. So I did some reading and testing and after downloading some software from Canon and utilizing a usb cable I found I can do more than I wanted to. I can actually control the camera from the pc, never having to touch the body once everything was initially set.

So now that I have this new found ability, how many of you actually review your shots in real time on a larger computer screen during the shoot?

I am mainly starting out by taking portrait of my immediate family and close relatives.

I have a setup ready but havnt used it yet, i have a 9" portable dvd player to view the pics on, but obviously i cannot use this to contol the camera, just preview the pics.

I do it all the time. Not only is it good for me to see more detail but I set it up so the clients can see the shots as well and they tend to feed off this and do better with posing, relaxing, etc. Especially for kids, they love the instant results. Also, I use my iPod Touch with OnOne remote app to control the camera, exposure, and fire the shots so I can be anywhere in the area of the shoot and fire it. This makes it easier to interact with the clients while shooting. And I get the shots on the iPod instantly as well. When I have the shots come up on my computer I have them come up in Lightroom and they all get a little Lightroom action automatically to bump the contrast, color and sharpening a little so they look nice.

I do this with my 450 - I'm tethered to my Macbook Pro, running EOS Utility and Lightroom.

When I take a pic, the camera transfers it to EOS Utility, which saves it in a drop folder that Lightroom watches. As soon as it's in Lightroom, it pops up in the gallery on the laptop monitor, and full screen on the big monitor. (I much prefer the way Lightroom displays pictures than the EOS utility, an it let's me take an overview of all shots taken at a glance and seeing the current shot at full size.

It's a nice way to work, although with USB and RAW images, it can take about 7 seconds from shutter to computer display - but in practice, it works fine for review purposes.

I don't tend to do much live view shooting via the computer, but it's a great feature to have, specially for studio type shoots, like food or lightbox photography... I do it from time to time...

I almost always shoot tethered in studio, not only is it great for you too see better and for the clients but it also saves import time after the shoot. You will most likely want to pick up something like this http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_0_Booster_Exte​nsion.html so that you have some room to move around.

I'm planning on getting an Eye-Fi Pro in the near future to facilitate reviewing on my laptop wirelessly. The ad-hoc networking seems to work like a breeze with them.

Unfortunately the eye-fi is only sd card based, afaik. My body uses cf cards.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will definitely be shooting "tethered" while doing home studio work.

Ever try the "poor man's" tether? Video out from the camera to video in on your flat screen.

I always shoot tethered when shooting in the studio.

Another use for shooting tethered is when I teach photography I use it in the class room and shoot live with instant results so the students can see the effect changing settings has on the image. I also switch everything to manual, flashes, camera, etc. and purposely set it so it will not expose properly, then give the remote to a student and test them on dialing in a decent shot. This way the only gear they touch is my iPod and I don't have to worry about the camera, etc.

Macrosill wrote in post #9043039
Unfortunately the eye-fi is only sd card based, afaik. My body uses cf cards.
.

If your camera body accepts type II CF cards, you can use an Eye-Fi Pro card with an SD-to-CF adapter. I've used my Eye-Fi Pro in an adapter with my 5D Mark II and it works fine.

Here (in the red circled area) you can see a Canon RAW image being downloaded from my 5D2 via the Eye-Fi Pro card/SD-to-CF adapter combo. The laptop has an adhoc connection active so no router is involved. The transfer is straight from the camera to the computer:

IMAGE IS A REDIRECT OR MISSING! HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

shooterman wrote in post #9043061
I always shoot tethered when when shooting in the studio.

Damian75 wrote in post #9042889
I almost always shoot tethered in studio, not only is it great for you too see better and for the clients but it also saves import time after the shoot. You will most likely want to pick up something like this http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_0_Booster_Exte​nsion.html so that you have some room to move around.

Me too- LOVE IT. It helps for clients too, so they can be more involved in the shoot rather than just twiddling their thumbs. I let them rate photos, too, so I hasve a smaller number to edit when the shoot is done,

all the time..Great for product shoots

tetrode wrote in post #9043725
Here (in the red circled area) you can see a Canon RAW image being downloaded from my 5D2 via the Eye-Fi Pro card/SD-to-CF adapter combo. The laptop has an adhoc connection active so no router is involved. The transfer is straight from the camera to the computer:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

How much time is typical transfer time of a RAW file from your 5DII?

tetrode wrote in post #9043725
Although it works and can be extremely useful, the Eye-Fi card is no replacement for tethered shooting with the Canon Utility.

Dave F.

Dave, why is that? I'd love to cut loose from the cable and this is an inexpensive route.