GF1 shooting tethered

[jhob]

Does anyone know if it's possible to shoot tethered to a laptop with the GF1? I'm working a series of self portraits where the ability to shoot tethered would be really useful but I'm not sure if the GF1 can do this, does anyone know if it can?

 

[jhob]

I should clarify that what I want is to be able to see the live view from the lcd on my laptop screen, or at least the image that has just been taken.

 

[Ranger 9]

I've been looking like crazy for any sort of tethered solution that will work with the G1, and there doesn't seem to be any. I assume the same is the case for the GF1.

You'd think it would be possible, but unless someone writes special software, it appears that it won't be.

 

[jhob]

From my research I had come to the same conclusion. Hopefully someone will write some software to do this, it would be a very useful feature.

 

[cstevens]

Hi Guys

I have a solution for both of you. I too would love to shoot teathered in the studio as I feel I could do much of my studio work with lightweight m4/3 instead of heavy Nikon kit.

There seems no way to do this physically via cable, but there is the solution of using a WiFi SD card!

Something like these guys http://uk.eye.fi/ these I believe are the original and best cards to use. It looks like if you shoot RAW you will need the Eye-Fi Pro, which is around £120, but Jessops are currently doing these for £99.

From what I have read, all you need is a router and a PC that you are hosting an FTP service (standard as part of Windows install). You can even connect a router to the back of a PC thus keeping it seperate from your existing wireless network.

You can then have something like Lightroom "watching" the ftp folder.

I am going to give this a try at some point, but I think this is probably the only solution, but might actually be the best solution. Having a cable attached to such a small camera is just asking for trouble.

http://support.eye.fi/product-info/camera-compatability/compatibility/is-the-eye-fi-card-compatible-with-my-camera/panasonic/

 

[Ranger 9]

Hi Guys

I have a solution for both of you...a WiFi SD card...!

Thanks for the suggestion. I had looked into that idea some time ago and found that back then, EyeFi's compatibility page said their cards were NOT compatible with the G1; now it says they are, so maybe it's worth another look!

Small warning: Check the 'Product Features' page on the EyeFi website carefully before deciding which version to buy. The lower-end cards DO NOT support uploading files directly to your computer -- they only let you upload to various photo-sharing website.

Potential caveat: When PDN tested the EyeFi Pro card, they found it was slow. Mind-bogglingly slow. Pretty-much-unusable slow. It was taking them several minutes per file to transfer raw files, when they transferred at all.

(For comparison, my Nikon WT-4 takes about 11 seconds to transmit a 12-megapixel NEF file. And yes, that still seems slow when you, the subject, and the director are all standing around the laptop waiting for the next image to appear...)

Anyway, thanks for starting this idea again, and I'll give it another look!

 

[spark]

The manual isn't very clear, but doesn't the video cable output the liveview as long as the EVF is not attached (pg146)? If so, you just need a USB tv tuner dongle to see the video feed on your laptop. It would seem you could watch it by video or HDMI depending on what the dongle can support and what you are willing to pay.

 

[jhob]

The USB TV dongle idea is a good one, I suppose a USB S-video input would also work, I might investigate that route.

There's been some really helpful input into this thread, thanks everyone!

 

[jhob]

I just tried plugging my GF1 into the TV via the s-video cable but unfortunately it will only show image review - the TV screen is blank during shooting. This is a shame as it surely wouldn't be a difficult feature to include, although I guess, not an especially popular one,

 

[absolut]

It's ridiculous how my 2MP 9 year old powershot can do this yet GF1 can't. I too am looking for a tether solution.

 

[jhob]

lightroom 3 beta 2 supports tethered shooting which could be a solution, I've yet to test it, looks promising though.

 

[rcrum]

I'm trying to tether my gf1 to a laptop, too. The gf1 feeds a live view through the outlet in the back of the camera that the electronic viewfinder plugs into. Does anyone know if that's any kind of standard outlet? If one could plug a cable into it and adapt it to a jack on an external monitor, you might get tethered that way.

 

[tam]

It occurs that you could maybe make the eye-fi faster by getting one of the X2s (cos they're faster anyhow) but one that only supports JPEG (if it has the other features you require). Then shoot in RAW+JPEG (at the lower jpeg quality setting). The eye-fi would then transmit the much smaller jpeg, and you can fetch the raws off the card later.

 

[Sam Roberts]

Just fired up aperture 3 and there's a tether option, can't try it at the moment but will try and have a go with my GF-1 tomorrow and let you know.

EDIT: Course if you use Windows that will be of no use, but I'm sure LR beta 2 will be similar

 

[Bokeh Diem]

I just got this in the mail in response to a pointed question sent out two weeks ago....


"Thank you for your email.

"The Panasonic camera will not support the SDK function (Interconnection between the camera and the laptop) and there are no plans for it in the future from Panasonic.

"The only thing you could use is the the remote shutter model DMW-RSL1 and a tripod to avoid any kind of shake.

"Sincerely,
Panasonic Canada Inc.
Customer Care Centre
SM"

 

[RDM]

It's very ridiculous indeed

It's ridiculous how a 2MP 9 year old powershot can do this yet GF1 can't. I too am looking for a tether solution.

I second that. What the heck is wrong with Panny and Oly to not include this feature in any µ4/3 camera.

 

[eawesterhuis]

No tether for GH2 either

I've been trying to get tethering for my GH2, but I don't think it's going to work.

I tried various software, but my research has led me to believe that Panasonic has neither written any software nor released any coding for someone else to write it either.

Bogus.

Love the camera though. It's been great for shooting video.

Edward