5D Mark III tethering to Lightroom

[lkeeney]

Is there a way to shoot with my 5D Mark III tethered to Lightroom on a Windows 8 computer and transfer only jpg images to Lightroom, and write the RAW files to the SD card?

Lawrence

[ebiggs1]

ileeney,

It is a moot point now since you already bought your fantastic 5D Mk III and it is nit-picking for sure but Sony does not make a pro level camera.  Most folks would be thrilled with any of those bodies but a camera is a sum of it's parts and not a single item.

This is where real pros and amateurs part.  Amateurs worry about whether their camera has the best sensor and that is it.  Pros are interested in the camera shooting thousands upon thousands of photos and will be ready tomorrow for that latest most important shoot.

It is the same with lenses.  They are a sum of their parts, too.

I know you will enjoy your new "baby". 

[lkeeney]

Thanks everyone for the reassurance that I didn't make a mistake in purchasing this camera.

I am presently shooting with the Olympus E-M1 which is a mirror-less camera. While this is a fantastic camera, and I have lots of lenses for it, I am hoping the 5D Mark III is just a little better in quicker focusing. I have not seen the stage lighting at the theater where this performance will be held, but this is another place where the 5D Mark III may be of help.

I recently did a shoot at the state level Miss America Outstanding Teen competition. This event was held in a small theater which was located in the back of a music store. The lighting was horrible and I was forced to sit a long way from the stage where I was forced to use my 100mm - 400mm (FF equivalent) lens. My shots with my E-M1 were not up to my expectations. A number of the teen girls were ballet dancers, and I had a hard time with capturing the dancing because the camera had a hard time focusing. On the other hand, I did a shoot in the dance studio where the lighting was excellent, and the same camera never missed a shot.

I will be photographing the Nutcracker Ballet for a relatively new ballet company, and with this being my first job for this companay, I don't want my equipment to be the excuse for me not getting all the shots.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Skirball wrote:

It should have been provided with your camera.  Depending on when you bought your 5d3, EOS ver 3 wasn't out yet.  Regardless, EOS 3 is currently only for full frame cameras - 1D, 5D, 6D.  So everyone else is using 2.xx, and I'd think they'd provide both copies with new FF cameras.

Shouldn't be hard to find, online but the difficulty may be installing it.  They use an "updater", instead of the full program which is only provided with new cameras.  The updater actually actually the entire program, but it looks for a registry from an older version, as a means of protecting against software piracy.  As if non-Canon users are trying to us EOS Utility.  There are simple ways around this, but it's silly, because you legally have the right to use the program.  

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/professional/professional_cameras/eos_digital_slr_cameras/eos_...

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The installation is trivial. The CD one needs to get started has been available on-line ever since Canon's realization that many Windows 8 tablet users had no access to a CD reader. To download the new FF versions, you have to supply the serial number of a FF camera; the serial number of my 5D3 worked fine.

What isn't trivial is the operation of the camera and the software if you're totally new to Canon. The OP is a professional photographer and will certainly figure it all out. But there will be a learning curve.

[Skirball]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@Skirball wrote:

It should have been provided with your camera.  Depending on when you bought your 5d3, EOS ver 3 wasn't out yet.  Regardless, EOS 3 is currently only for full frame cameras - 1D, 5D, 6D.  So everyone else is using 2.xx, and I'd think they'd provide both copies with new FF cameras.

Shouldn't be hard to find, online but the difficulty may be installing it.  They use an "updater", instead of the full program which is only provided with new cameras.  The updater actually actually the entire program, but it looks for a registry from an older version, as a means of protecting against software piracy.  As if non-Canon users are trying to us EOS Utility.  There are simple ways around this, but it's silly, because you legally have the right to use the program.  

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/professional/professional_cameras/eos_digital_slr_cameras/eos_...

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The installation is trivial. The CD one needs to get started has been available on-line ever since Canon's realization that many Windows 8 tablet users had no access to a CD reader. To download the new FF versions, you have to supply the serial number of a FF camera; the serial number of my 5D3 worked fine.

What isn't trivial is the operation of the camera and the software if you're totally new to Canon. The OP is a professional photographer and will certainly figure it all out. But there will be a learning curve.

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That's good to know.  I did a reinstall a few months ago and I was pleasantly surprised that all I had to do was put in the serial number.  But I put in 3.0, so I didn't know if they went back and fixed 2.xx or not.  Glad they fixed that, I had to do that registry edit a few years back when I lost my disk.  Simple enough, but unreasonable to have to go through that.

[lkeeney]

I want to thank everyone for their input on this question. I received my camera and received version 27.2 of the EOS Digital Solution Disk,

This software allows me to send only the .jpg images to the computer and puts both the RAW and the jpg image on the card.

I struggled for a long time trying to get my 5D MIII to tether to the computer using Lightroom, but it was taking 2 minutes to transfer the image to the computer. With the EOS software, it is taking 2 seconds to display a high quality medium size image to my computer.

I do have one problem I have not been able to correct and that is when the tethered image is displayed, about 5 seconds later the Digital Photo Professional program opens up on top of the tethering program. I have not been able to figure out how to prevent this program from opening up automatically. Does anyone have any ideas?

[RobertTheFat]

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@lkeeney wrote:

I want to thank everyone for their input on this question. I received my camera and received version 27.2 of the EOS Digital Solution Disk,

This software allows me to send only the .jpg images to the computer and puts both the RAW and the jpg image on the card.

I struggled for a long time trying to get my 5D MIII to tether to the computer using Lightroom, but it was taking 2 minutes to transfer the image to the computer. With the EOS software, it is taking 2 seconds to display a high quality medium size image to my computer.

I do have one problem I have not been able to correct and that is when the tethered image is displayed, about 5 seconds later the Digital Photo Professional program opens up on top of the tethering program. I have not been able to figure out how to prevent this program from opening up automatically. Does anyone have any ideas?

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The newest versions of the EOS Utility (which is what I believe you say you're now using) claim a closer integration with DPP than earlier versions had. Some things that you used to be able to do only in one of the programs, I believe you can now do with the other. So I'd look for a setting in EOSU that specifically mentions DPP, especially as a program to be called to perform certain actions. If you find such a setting, turn it off and see if that solves the problem.

[lkeeney]

Thanks Bob,

I did find a way to turn off the automatic opening of DPP. The selector to turn off this feature was on the right hand side of a menu. It is not normally visible and I had to slide the menu to the left to be able to see this feature.

My work flow when shooting in the studio is to use the computer just to display the image taken so the client can view it quickly. I use this when photographing ballet dancers who are performing  jumps. They like to see the image as soon as it is shot so they can make changes in the jump if the image isn't showing what they want to see.

[ebiggs1]

You say you have Lightroom?  LR 5, I hope?  

My preffered way is to use EOS Utility to transfer photos to a pictures only hard drive.  This is backed up every Friday to 2 external hard drives.  Hold overs from my working days but it still works!

After they are on the first HD, I import them into Lightroom 5.  From this point on LR becomes the photo controlling utility.

Not Windoze or DPP, no other software no nuttin.  Just Lightroom.

If a picture needs more than LR, I use Adobe ACR and that goes into Photoshop.  Adobe ACR is the ultimate in editing software.  It is simply the best, bar none.

A couple tips:  Always shoot RAW and set your camera to AdobeRGB.  

[lkeeney]

Thanks ebiggs1,

I keep the displaying of images on the computer in my studio completelly separate from the storage of my images. Prior to switching to Canon, I was using Olympus cameras for the past 14 years. For my tethering I was using a combination of two different programs where one transferred the image to a  folder on my computer and the other displayed the image. With this combination I was able to display the image in 5-6 seconds after taking the shot. Seeing this software was designed to work only with the Olympus camera, I thought I would use Lightroom 5 to do the same thing with my Canon camera. Unfortunately, it was taking about 2 minutes to do the transfer and display of the image.

With the EOS Utility I can display the image in 2 seconds.

As I mentoned in my previous response, the process of storage of my images is completely different from the display of my images. After the shoot, I delete the jpg files that were used to display the images. 

I always shoot raw images which are stored on the card in my computer. After the photo shoot, I use Lightroom 5 to convert these raw images to DNG files as they are being sent to a network connected HP MedisSmart server. After they are all stored on the HP MedisSmart server I copy the files to a network connected Drobo as backup.

When I process my images, I use Lightroom 5 for the basic functions such as straightining, noise reduction, exposure compensation, and a few other tweaks. I then use Photoshop for final processing. I use the program Qimage for all my printing. I do use the AdobeRGB profile.

I just photograped three separate performances of the Nutcracker Balle,t and ended up with about 2600 images. I just finished processing all the image using the procedure described above.

[ebiggs1]

 Thoes were the days. I am glad I remember them.  Sounds like you got things where you want.  All the best.