Nikon's Camera Control Pro

[Michael Smith]

I’ve been playing around with a 30-day free trial download of Nikon’s Camera Control Pro ($65 or thereabouts at B&H). After it’s installed, you can plug your Nikon into your computer (I’m using a laptop on a stand next to the camera) via a USB cable and control your camera via the on-camera controls (I use a remote) or a control panel on your screen. All the settings (aperture, shutter speed, focal length, etc) and controls show up under tabs and sliders and buttons are used to control things. When the shutter release is press on the camera or on the screen, the image file is sent directly to your hard drive, not the camera’s memory card, and appears full size on the laptop screen. Pretty cool! Now I can see if anybody blinked! If you have Bridge it can “watch” for the image, automatically import it, and display it also. I’m using a D70 so Camera Control Pro is available for the “low” end of the Nikon series as well as the “high” end. There are even wireless transmitters and receivers for the high end Nikons if you don’t like being tethered to your computer. This would be a great addition to anyone’s studio.

Doc

[ChrisPurves]

Originally Posted by Michael Smith

I’ve been playing around with a 30-day free trial download of Nikon’s Camera Control Pro ($65 or thereabouts at B&H).

Hi Michael:- I've been using Capture 4 for a couple of years now and really like the way it works. I tried Camera control pro last week. It is very close to the camera control included with Capture 4. You can pick up Capture 4 with the control module included for cheap (less than $ 20.00) on ebay. It might be worth a try.

Cheers
Chris

[Michael Smith]

Hey Chris -

Yeah, I really like the feedback it gives you. I have it loaded on a 3 year old Dell Inspirion with a 6' USB cable on a table next to the camera tripod and it works just fine for now. If I start using it heavily, I'll probably upgrade to something with more RAM and a second hard drive. I'm getting a 16' USB cable ($10) and an Instand CR3 laptop stand ($119) next week. You may want to look into the CR3 - it adjusts up to 41" in height. I like to work at computers standing up just up for a change.

I first saw CCP demonstrated by Scott Kelby on PhotoshopTV with Adobe Bridge 3 and I was under the impression that Camera Control Pro was the replacement for Capture 4, but I may be wrong.

Mike

[ColinRobinson]

Nikon cature 4 include two modules- a raw converter and capture control - the computer control module. When Nikon introduced Cature NX- their latest raw converter software, they decided not to bundle capture control with it as people were objecting to paying for something some did not want to use. They then introduced capture control pro which is sold as a stand alone piece of software. There is not much difference between the old capture control included with capture 4 and the new capture control pro standalone. hope this helsps
Colin

[ChrisPurves]

Originally Posted by Michael Smith

Hey Chris -

Yeah, I really like the feedback it gives you.

I use it to bring the files into the computer quickly, rename them and display the photo.

Originally Posted by Michael Smith

You may want to look into the CR3 - it adjusts up to 41" in height.

We shoot dog shows I have the laptop on a table behind the shooting position. The photo comes into the computer and is also displayed on a 19"lcd so the customer can see the photo without moving from the pose.

here's a shot of our setup. Kind of cramped at times but it gets the job done.
I couldn't do it without shooting teathered. I want to get to a wireless connection 'cause the outdoor shows are further from the camera to the viewing stations. So I am saving up for a D2X.



Cheers
Chris

[David_Buzzard]

All of my commercial shoots are done tethered to the camera with Nikon Capture 4. I tried the Camera Control Pro, but couldn't tell the difference between it and Nikon Capture, so I didn't upgrade. Basically, I frame the camera up using the viewfinder, lock it down on a tripod, and that's the last time I touch the camera. I just use the computer to set the exposure, check the focus, and to make sure that the white balance is correct. It's also a lot easier to get feed back from your client.

Eventually I'd like to upgrade to one of the wireless transmitters. My thoughts are that I only really need lower resolution JPG's to check the image, and I could leave the NEF files on the card. That would give me a nearly real time download speed without having to trip over wires all the time.

Back in the day, we used to do this with Polaroid film backs on RZ-67's and 4x5 cameras. That was $3.00 a shot, and it took 2 minutes for the Polaroid to develop. All that adds up quickly when you need to do 10 Polaroids to set the lighting. You can't believe what a quantum leap going to tethered digital has been to the commercial photography industry.

David Buzzard's Technical Blog

[LarryLetzer]

We do some 100 of these events yearly. All of our cameras are tethered especially in the studio to a computer using Camera Control Pro. I tried the wireless transmitter and it sends the images too slowely to the computer.

At military balls, we photograph a couple every 45 - 60 seconds. This includes posing them, taking the photo and letting them approve the image on the laptop. When tethered using Camera Control Pro and Picture Project with the larger image simultaneously going into Photoshop, it takes about 1 second for the image to show up in Picture Project.