Tethering a Pentax

I was just downloading the free trial of capture one's raw converter. Camera tethering for almost every brand except Pentax. Was just wondering as to why it was so difficult to tether the Pentax range ? Would this be a simple firmware update ?

The same is true of Lightroom. I have heard it said that Ricoh won't co-operate on supplying the IT information, API's etc, to allow a tethering interface to be built . There used to be a third party tethering application for Pentax but that doesn't work with the modern camera's. For Lightroom you can point the application at a particular directory and it will pick up any photo's which are saved there. Hence with Eye-fi for desktop you can set it up for the Eye-fi card to save files to your laptop/desk top from the camera in a directory monitored by Lightroom. I think you can do this using the Flu-card as well. Thus you have wireless tethering. It works better if you have smaller JPEGS because of the transfer times.

why would you want to tether a pentax

(let them roam and be seen then more people might buy them )


sorry couldnt resist that one


regards stu

The new K-S2 might answer your question. Connect to your smartphone or tablet.

For those of us who who are in the dark, can someone explain simply what tethering is please?

Basically, operating the camera via a laptop or other computer.

Hi. Tethering is when you can take a photo and this is instantly transferred to your PC. This is usually so that it can be shown on your PC screen, usually using an app like Lightroom which picks the image up and displays it. Its usually done by connecting a specialised cable between he camera and the PC though it can be done wirelessly either by a wireless SD card or if the camera has wireless capabilities.

i believe it is more than just showing an image on the computer screen , it is control of the camera via the computer, as John said

You can tether Pentaxes using the free program for windows PKTether (not available for iOS or Android AFAIK).

I use it a lot to take long sequences of 150 - 180 second RAW exposures in bulb mode for astrophotography on my K5, but it would certainly work for less specialised uses. I can set PASM mode (incl B), set the self timer, specify an exposure length and number of exposures, control bracketing, exposure compensation, select RAW or JPEG, select where I save the files on the PC and a host of other stuff. And its free. Whats not to like? I believe you can also set AF/MF but can't swear to that since I always shoot MF for Astro.

Paul

How do you communicate between the PC and camera?

Using the standard USB lead that came with the K5, one end into the camera and the other into the PC. This lead was around 0.5m long and I needed a longer link, so I got a 3m powered USB extension cable and connected the leads in series, which works fine.
Another piece of advice - when I first used PKTether it was very flaky and unstable. Some reading convinced me that this could be due to conflicts between USB drivers, so after some research I ran DriveCleanup, which gets rid of old USB drivers and cleans up driver entries in the registry. Extremely stable after that.
Obviously PKTether is not going to work for those who need wireless control, or want to control their cameras from phone or tablet, but for my requirements it works very well.
Paul

Interesting comments. I'll look into PKtether as all I really want to do. Is see a larger image up on a monitor when im doing a model shoot. rather than getting ack home to find that they are not quite what I thought..

Thanks Paul.

Anyone come across, use this? http://pktriggercord.sourceforge.net/

NB. Includes Android so should be ok on most tablets?

If I'm correct all you need is an HDMI lead from your camera to the monitor. What is shown on the cameras rear LCD screen is shown on the monitor.

Spot on dangie. Used with Live View it gives you a live picture, or you can have a picture of whatever is being played back. Wahtever appears on the rear screen appears on the monitor or projector. Very useful for giving talks.