2018: How to tether Canon 5D?

[PhotographyNewb]

I just purchased a 5D to get a feel for what it's like to shoot full frame. I'd like to be able to shoot tethered like I am able to do with my 700D. I'm on Windows 10 64 bit and using Lightroom Classic CC.

Is there a way for me to connect a USB cable from my camera to my computer and shoot tethered? If not, are there reasonably priced alternatives? I'm wondering if I should look into getting a wireless SD card and put it in an SD to CF adapter. Would that even work?

[MikeSowsun]

Older cameras without Live View are not compatible with the EOS Utility. 

A WiFi SD card will transfer images for you, and there are CF adapters that are advertised to work.

I don’t know of any other way to view your images directly from the camera.

[PhotographyNewb]

Forget EOS Utility, then. I should be able to tether with Lightroom Classic CC, right? I keep getting a "no camera detected" message. 

[RobertTheFat]

---

PhotographyNewb wrote:

Forget EOS Utility, then. I should be able to tether with Lightroom Classic CC, right? I keep getting a "no camera detected" message. 

---

The "original" 5D goes back to the time when there were two competing protocols, only one of which has survived, for connecting a camera to a computer. Some Canon cameras of that era had a menu option to choose between them. Get out your instruction manual (or download it if you don't have one) and make sure you're using the current protocol.

[PhotographyNewb]

OK - this sounds a bit more promising. What exactly would I be looking for? My 5D's menu system has everything on one long screen as opposed to splitting them up into separate tabs. Is that a clue?

If I don't have the right 5D, then I might look into the WiFi SD card option.

[RobertTheFat]

---

PhotographyNewb wrote:
OK - this sounds a bit more promising. What exactly would I be looking for? My 5D's menu system has everything on one long screen as opposed to splitting them up into separate tabs. Is that a clue?

If I don't have the right 5D, then I might look into the WiFi SD card option.

---

Frankly, I forget what the two protocols were called, but somebody here will know. (Tim Campbell, for instance, is a walking photographic encyclopedia. I'd bet money that he knows.)

I've never looked closely enough at an original 5D to have seen the menu system, but the instruction manual could be of some help. I think Canon has them all on their Web site, so you should be able to download it if you don't have one.

I'd curb my optimism about the WiFi card if I were you. Old WiFi cards could be hard to find, and I suspect that the newer ones wouldn't be recognized. But maybe you'll get lucky.

[TCampbell]

You might be thinking of "PTP" and "Normal".  PTP = Picture Transfer Protocol.  "Normal" means the computer treats the camera as if it's a USB memory stick.... it just sees the files on the memory card as if it were an external drive.

There are caveats & catches for each.  PTP was desinged to be a driverless universal standard for talking to cameras.  This allowed you to connect a camera to a Windows PC or Mac ... without installing any drivers ... and software that knew how to speak the PTP language could interrogate the camera and pull images across.  Since PTP was made specifically for talking to cameras, it allows things that "normal" mode would not allow ... such as camera-specific commands.  If you want the computer to control your camera, put it in PTP mode.

In "Normal" mode, the camera is treated like a storage device.  Of course you can't normally send commands to a storage device that have anything to do with ... changing exposure settings or commanding the camerra to take a photo.  Storage devices are limited to filesystem operations like reading & writing files.

Using camera-specific commands requires a bit more intimiate knowledge of the camera.  Unforunately there is no universal standard that I am aware of that allows you to control even basic functions.  It would be great if there was some universal standard to do things like change the the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, take a picture, etc.  We have to rely on proprietary software from the manufacturer or their developers & partners.

Canon has the EOS SDK (SDK = Software Development Kit).  Canon provides a library of functionality that softwave vendors (like Adobe and others) can use to remotely control the camera ... this is the advanced functionality that lets them put the camera into "liveview" mode, change exposure settings, take photos, etc.  This is the mode that is used when EOS Utility is remotely controlling the camera.  These are not industry standards.  There's no universal standard to set an exposure on the camera using the computer ... you need camera-specific software either from the manufacturer directly (e.g. EOS Utility from Canon) or you need third party software that was developed using Canon's SDK (and if it's another camera brand... you need their software or their proprietary SDK.)  

Note the EOS SDK is not meant for end-users... this is for software developers.

[mratajczak]

I have the canon 5D. This is what works with tethering with the 5D (classic)

LIGHTROOM 3

CANON 5D

WINDOWS 7 (LAPTOP)

Windows 10 and lightroom 3 will NOT let you tether. It sucks so the MKii is the next move (it looks like).

I hope this help someone.

Mark

[g16]

Bummer, I don't have Win7 anymore, but it's handy to know it works! Thanks for the info.

[ebiggs1]

"Is there a way for me to connect a USB cable from my camera to my computer and shoot tethered?"

I used to use a 5D, back in the Stone Age.  I don't remember using LR to tether it.  I did tether my 5D Mk II though.  I think anyway?    You can't tether a 1D Mk II so maybe the 5D is in that category.  Without an actual 5D, I doubt anybody here can tell you for sure whether it will work or not. I don't have mine any longer.  With some cameras LR requires it to have a CF card installed or it won't work.

My gut feeling is it won't tether but I could be wrong.