Tethered Shooting To A Wireless iPad – Very Cool!!!!!

iPad Users… You are going to LOVE this posting!!!!!

When the iPad was first announced, I was very excited about the using this device for photography.  Besides the obvious benefits of displaying photos, I imagined using the iPad as a tethered monitor for high resolution display of images in the field without having to lug a laptop around.  Alas, I was disapointed to hear that there was no USB connection on the first model.  While I love my iPad I had all but given up the thought of using it as a convenient high resolution monitor for tethered shooting.  Then all of a sudden I had a brain wave about how I could make this work.  When I tested it out, it worked like a treat.   I haven’t seen any mention of this on the internet anywhere, so hopefully this blog posting will help other photographers turn their iPad into a super convenient wireless monitor for tethered studio sessions.   Check out this video which will show it to you in action.

How Does It Work?

This should work with any Canon or Nikon camera

It definitely works with a Mac, however I’m not sure if there is an equivalent solution for Windows.

Here’s what you need.

1. Camera (I know it will work with Nikon and Canon, but probably other brands as well)
2. USB cable that you would normally use to shoot tethered.
3. Mac Computer (Works fine on a Mac Pro laptop, iMac etc.)
4. Tethering software (that runs on the Mac) I am using Lightroom 3, but you could also use Sofortbild or Canon tethering software.
5. Air Display Software for the Mac (free) from Avatron
6. Air Display Application for iPad ($9.99) from the AppStore on your iPad

Start by installing Air Display on your iPad.

Then download the Air Display Application for your Mac from Avatron.  You can get this by clicking here.

Get Airdisplay working as an extended desktop first (pretty cool eh)?

If you don’t have a wireless network operating in your shooting location, then you can create an Ad-Hoc Network from your Mac.  This means you don’t need a wireless router to communicate with your iPad… Your Mac computer will talk wirelessly to the iPad without any other hardware.

Then I started my tethering software (in my case it was Lightroom 3) and I configured my virtual second monitor into Loupe mode

Once I started my tethered shooting session the images just appear beautifully on my iPad.

If you drag the tethering control window onto the virtual monitor on the iPad you can remote trigger the camera.

Now I just need to design a cool little holder for my tripod… any suggestions?

I hope you find this posting useful… look forward to your comments and reactions.

Brent

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Cool Resource for Nikon/Mac users

Hey Folks

I am doing some research / prep work for an upcoming Night Photography workshop that I am planning to run.  I’m designing a very cool workshop that I think is going to be a lot of fun and during the workshop I have determined that I want to shoot tethered so that all the workshop participants can essentially view the shots being made instantly on a large monitor.   After a bit of research I came across a fantastic bit of software that allows Mac Users to fully control their camera from their Mac and see high resolution images on the Mac the second after you take the shot.  This is exactly what I want for my workshop.  The best thing about this is that the software is FREE!!!!

Yup, you heard it right.  Even though it’s free, if the sofware checks out OK I am going to make a donation to the college kid that wrote it via Paypal.

To find out more about this software click here.

Enjoy

Brent