Wireless Tethering - Shoot Tethered... Wirelessly
I know it sounds like an oxymoron, however, this is one of the best examples of hack'n mod beating the cr*p out of store bought solutions.
Canberra Australia based photographer Jamie Carl, rigged together a great system that will wireless your USB setup (can you use wireless as a verb? not sure). This is so trivial that it just shouts, Why didn't I do this before.
Jamie says this setup helped hum nail a difficult car-rigged setup where he did not know how fast the car will be going, and as a result did not know what shutter speed to use for good motion blur on the road, but no camera blur on the car. Using a wireless USB Carl was able to sit shotgun and adjust the settings on the go.
Nikon has a similar setup called WT-4A for about $750. Jamie made this project for about $200. (And it can get even cheaper).
The setup includes A Nikon D300 as camera, a Cables To Go TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter ($132.69) as a wireless USB cable and an Asus EeePC 901 loaded with , Breeze
System’s nkRemote for remote controlling the camera.
The Camera-end connects to the camera along with a battery pack using a hot shoe mounting bracket.
In his post, Jamie refereed to where he got the idea, a similar system made by Pete Tsai. Pete uses a different wireless USB solution which does not look as slick but uses a less expensive wireless USB set.
And for the Strobist shooters, here is a version that mounts on a pocket wizard.
Now, before you run and by those babies, Pete lists a few BUTs to be aware of (still pretty cool even with the BUTs):
- No MAC support
- In a weird way the cordless USB adapter requires a power outlet. Both Pete and Jamie has slick solutions that eliminates this need.
- It takes a bit of time to establish the initial connection with Nikon Capture.
Looking at the amazon store, it seems like the cheap USB dongles are out, if you know where to get them, share in the comments.
Links:
- Pete's Wireless USB setup, Pete's blog does not seem very active, but the archives have tons of great DIY projects very recommended.
- Jamie's Wireless USB setup (and flickr)
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Comments
Brilliant!
I just love this idea! Awesome! Now I need to source something similar in South Africa
Work With all DSLRs?
Is this a Nikon specific capability or could something like this be done for Canon cameras? I konw BreezeSys makes a DSLR Remote program that works with Canon.
Re: vendors
This is from the second part of Pete's tethered post:
Quick update: Readers have reported this working with Nikon, Canon, and Sony cameras. An Olympus reader is having issues, I'll keep you guys updated
Great Idee!!!
Great Idee!!!
Mac compatible wireless usb?
Anyone know of a solution that will work with macs?
Should work with anything
Hi guys. Wow, thanks for the extra coverage on this. It really is a cool little gadget. :)
To answer the question, this 'should' work with any camera that there is software for. In fact, it should work with ANY USB device. I originally tested the Trulink kit with a USB mouse. All this really does is bridge the USB connection via a wireless link. The device itself knows nothing of the camera, which means it should work with anything.
Also, I know Pete's has a big of lag on start up, but with the Trulink kit I get almost instantaneous sync between the devices and connection between the software and the camera.
re: anything
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for stopping by. the lag can be the difference between 40$
WUSB and 130$ WUSB :) just a thought
Mac
I also would like to know if anyone knows of a diy set up that will work with macs? I'm also curious about why the ones mentioned on here don't work with macs.
Thanks!
Linda
No mac support
Basically, apart from the fact that Macs are hopeless and I hate them, the Trulink wireless devices do not have Mac drivers to run them. At the moment they don't even have Windows 7 drivers, but they are supposedly coming. Maybe Mac drivers will be available in the future.
No mac support
I wonder that he does not support macs. The most photographers use macs.
Why do it the hard way?
The article referenced shooting from within the car.. an active USBN cable would be whole lot easier and cheaper - like 30 bucks USD
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-U026-016-Certified-Extension/dp/B0002D6...
If Mac support is needed for wireless USB, there are options
100 feet 4 port extension for Windows, Mac and Linux ( 200 ish USD)
http://www.amazon.com/Gefen-Wireless-USB-2-0-Extender/dp/B0017H52JO
This company specializes in USB connections for musical instraments. It would easily be adapted
http://www.lightsnake.com/
kowea
At the moment they don't even have Windows 7 drivers, but they are supposedly coming. Maybe Mac drivers will be available in the future.
Why do it the 'hard way'?
To Mr Michael Sweeney. The reason I did this "the hard way" is because a) it's not so hard and b) It's really cool and c) I really don't like having to end up in photoshop that much. If I used a cable I'd be cloning it out of every photo I took. Pain. In. The. @ss.
And to anyone else that feels like this is a dumb solution because there are "easier ways", you are missing the point entirely. Sure I could have just used a cable but when it's really not that hard to build something like this and it makes actually doing the work so much easier, then why wouldn't you?
wirless tethering
Hello All
I managed to get the trulink device from cables to go via The USA to UK.
The unit works really great with the power pack attached as above. Thanks a bundle for the post. However I have a question. the unit works really great with a wacom tablet and a printer but will not connect to my Nikon D3S (which was the whole purpose of buying and building the kit) I am using Breeze systems Nikon remote v 1.4.1 (which works really great with a usb tether) but will not connec with the trulink adapter.
I spoke to a Tech from trulink who talked me through the tethering and with the other accessories for USB it works fine. Am i missing something in the nikon tethering???
Thanks in advance.
Barry John
I have this happen
I have this happen occasionally with mine. Two things we causing it. One, I had a grounding issue in the batter pack. To fix I just made sure that all the wires were sealed and secure. That fixed one problem.
The other seems to be a 'quirk' with the Nikon cameras and the Trulink. I've found that to make it work consistently, just make sure that the Trulink device is turned on and has power first BEFORE switching on the camera. The trulink seems to not correctly detect the camera if it is already on.
Hope that helps.
wirless tethering
Dear Jamie
You are a star
after hours of frustration i now have a fully working system wit the Nikon D2xs and the Nikon D3s
I very very happy bunny indeed.
Thanks a million I will get some pics posted asap
Regards barry John
Jamie, I've asked you a
Jamie, I've asked you a couple of questions in your own blog. Could you please check them out and help me? Thanks
What is the battery life?
Hi Jamie what is the battery life with 4 AA's? Im using 2 6V 4LR44 batts in parallel to get the current up, but it doesnt last long.
That's a really good
That's a really good question. Unfrotunately the closest answer I can come up with is "hours" because I top the batteries up before any shoots where I'm using it. I use 4x 2900mah AA batteries so they should go for a while. I might do a little test over the weekend and see how long they last.
I reconfigured my design. I
I reconfigured my design. I tossed the 2 4lr44 6v batts cause they didnt have enough runtime. While at it I picked up a 4x2x1in hobby box from radioshack, took the casing off the Trulink adapter and also took the casing off a Yongnou 2.4ghz wireless flash trigger, and shoved it all into the hobby box. This give t a clean look, kinda like the pocket wizards. So room is cramped because of the cr123 batt to power the Yongnou trigger, I had just enough room for 2 AA batteries. So I bought an Energizer energi-to-go and gutted the 3v to 5v dc-dc converter. So I was able to fit 2 Lithium AA battery and all the circuitry inside the hobby box.
Wireless
I have doubt that this works can you explain how you got this to even function. The support of the wireless device is only 30ft. Where you with in the 30ft radius? Did you also have to hack the program to get the device to work with out the drivers attached to the software?
you got to be in the same
you got to be in the same room(30ft). and no need for hacks, just install software on computer
I tried this while walking
I tried this while walking around and I can still go to the next room without any problems. Obviously, if your walls are 50cm thick stone-made, it may have issues but with normal brick walls, everything works OK. I went out in the yard and shoot my kids without a hick-up. Maybe the fact that there is a window in my office looking to the yard helped? I do not know.
New Version
For anyone still subscribed to this thread, I have a new version of this to show off. :)
http://www.jamiecarl.com.au/blog/wireless-tethering-the-next-level/
Check it out. The update makes it much easier to live with.
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