Use camera while connected USB is connected to the computer.

[bryan250]

Is there a way to use the camera while the camera is connected to a laptop via USB.

I am running an event where we are taking pictures and printing them out imidiately. I need to be able to take a picture and get it on the laptop quickly so I can print it and the camera person can take the next picture.

I have tried the WiFi sd card and it is crap and slow.

Any suggestions?

[jrhoffman75]

Canon EOS Utility. 

[TTMartin]

Here is a video from the Canon Learning Center on how to use EOS Utility for tethered shooting.

EOS Utility 3: Tethered Shooting

QuickGuide to Remote Operation With EOS Utility Software

[TCampbell]

When you do "tethered" shooting you'll probably want a longer USB cable.  I picked up a 15' cable from Amazon - just search for a "usb tether cable" and it needs to be USB with a type A male connector on one end and USB with type Mini-B male connector on the other end.  My cable was less than $10.

Next -- when shooting tethered you have to control the camera from the computer -- not the camera.

I've done this with the Canon EOS Utility... but perhaps more convenient was doing it from Adobe Lightroom because the image comes directly into Lightroom and you can immedaitely apply adjustments to it before printing (e.g. white balance, sharpening, blemish removal, etc... whatever you need.)  

The WiFi SD cards (e.g. the "EyeFi" card) is painfully slow.  I've since switched to using the "CamRanger" device... it's much faster (it also supports connection to the computer via wired ethernet in addition to wifi).  The CamRanger is an external device about the size of a cellphone and it uses a very short USB cable to tether to the camera.  The camera believes it is tethered to a computer.   But the CamRanger requires that you use their dedicated software (they make software for PC, Mac, smart devices such as iPhones or Android phones and tablets.)   If you skip the CamRanger and just use a long USB tethering cable then you can use ANY software that supports tethering (e.g. Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Canon EOS Utility, there's probably quite a long list of programs that support tethering.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@TCampbell wrote:

When you do "tethered" shooting you'll probably want a longer USB cable.  I picked up a 15' cable from Amazon - just search for a "usb tether cable" and it needs to be USB with a type A male connector on one end and USB with type Mini-B male connector on the other end.  My cable was less than $10.

Next -- when shooting tethered you have to control the camera from the computer -- not the camera.

I've done this with the Canon EOS Utility... but perhaps more convenient was doing it from Adobe Lightroom because the image comes directly into Lightroom and you can immedaitely apply adjustments to it before printing (e.g. white balance, sharpening, blemish removal, etc... whatever you need.)  

The WiFi SD cards (e.g. the "EyeFi" card) is painfully slow.  I've since switched to using the "CamRanger" device... it's much faster (it also supports connection to the computer via wired ethernet in addition to wifi).  The CamRanger is an external device about the size of a cellphone and it uses a very short USB cable to tether to the camera.  The camera believes it is tethered to a computer.   But the CamRanger requires that you use their dedicated software (they make software for PC, Mac, smart devices such as iPhones or Android phones and tablets.)   If you skip the CamRanger and just use a long USB tethering cable then you can use ANY software that supports tethering (e.g. Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Canon EOS Utility, there's probably quite a long list of programs that support tethering.)

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"Next -- when shooting tethered you have to control the camera from the computer -- not the camera."

Well, that's more or less the definition of tethered shooting; but does establishing a USB connection to the camera, for the purpose of downloading images, require you to shoot tethered? Downloading and tethered shooting are two independent operations within EOS Utility, aren't they?

That said, in the situation the OP describes, there may be an advantage to tethered shooting, because the computer can give you a particularly good look at the picture as it's being taken. And it doesn't sound as though there's going to me much opportunity for do-overs. If I were doing it, I might use two computers, connected by an Ethernet cable - one for the photographer to use for composing the pictures, the other for use by the person downloading and printing them.

[TCampbell]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@TCampbell wrote:

When you do "tethered" shooting you'll probably want a longer USB cable.  I picked up a 15' cable from Amazon - just search for a "usb tether cable" and it needs to be USB with a type A male connector on one end and USB with type Mini-B male connector on the other end.  My cable was less than $10.

Next -- when shooting tethered you have to control the camera from the computer -- not the camera.

I've done this with the Canon EOS Utility... but perhaps more convenient was doing it from Adobe Lightroom because the image comes directly into Lightroom and you can immedaitely apply adjustments to it before printing (e.g. white balance, sharpening, blemish removal, etc... whatever you need.)  

The WiFi SD cards (e.g. the "EyeFi" card) is painfully slow.  I've since switched to using the "CamRanger" device... it's much faster (it also supports connection to the computer via wired ethernet in addition to wifi).  The CamRanger is an external device about the size of a cellphone and it uses a very short USB cable to tether to the camera.  The camera believes it is tethered to a computer.   But the CamRanger requires that you use their dedicated software (they make software for PC, Mac, smart devices such as iPhones or Android phones and tablets.)   If you skip the CamRanger and just use a long USB tethering cable then you can use ANY software that supports tethering (e.g. Apple Aperture, Adobe Lightroom, Canon EOS Utility, there's probably quite a long list of programs that support tethering.)

---

"Next -- when shooting tethered you have to control the camera from the computer -- not the camera."

Well, that's more or less the definition of tethered shooting; but does establishing a USB connection to the camera, for the purpose of downloading images, require you to shoot tethered? Downloading and tethered shooting are two independent operations within EOS Utility, aren't they?

That said, in the situation the OP describes, there may be an advantage to tethered shooting, because the computer can give you a particularly good look at the picture as it's being taken. And it doesn't sound as though there's going to me much opportunity for do-overs. If I were doing it, I might use two computers, connected by an Ethernet cable - one for the photographer to use for composing the pictures, the other for use by the person downloading and printing them.

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Actually I was wondering if the OP was trying to use the shutter button on the camera body (the physical button) to take the shot and thinking it would then download to the computer as they take the shots.

My response was meant to convey that when you use a USB cable to connect to a computer, the only way to control the camera at that point is by using the computer.  

I've used EOS Utility, Aperture (works with Mac only), Kuuvik Capture 2, and Lightroom to do tethered shooting.  

I prefer Aperture and Kuuvik Capture 2.  My ding against Lightroom is that I really want to shoot my RAW files as Canon .CR2 but when you use LIghtroom it seems to insist that it pull the data in and save them on the computer as ".DNG" files.  There are lots of programs that can read Canon ".CR2" files, but only Adobe seems to recognize ".DNG" (though the point of the ".DNG" is to be a universal RAW file format regardless of camera brand, etc. it seems like only Adobe have adopted their own standard and nobody else.)  So if you wanted to use a different (non-Adobe) program... you may find it can't open the ".DNG" files.

[jrhoffman75]

You can operate the camera via shutter button when tethered to EOS Utility, and you can select which software will open the downloaded images.

So photog could be at camera and a secon person at computer viewing images.

[TTMartin]

You might want to look at EOS Utility again since they upgraded the program to version 3.

EOS Utility 3: Tethered Shooting