Tether D800 to an iPad in 2016

atteism

Hi all,

I tried out the first version of the eyefi card many years ago. It was fun the few times I, slowly, got a picture from the camera to the iPad. Did not use it much.

Now I recently started looking at the F-stoppers DVD about interior/architecture photography and they mention they use real tethering (with camera control) on the iPad via CamRanger usb-dongle connected to the camera. Reading up on that I see that the hardware is from 2013.

So my question is now: what is the best way to tether a D800 to an iPad today?

Ironheart

Camranger.
Are you married to using an iPad? The next best way is to connect an external monitor via HDMI.
Personally I would use a laptop (in my case macbook pro fully maxed)

atteism

Oh, sorry, yes, Camranger.

I have tried using my MBP a couple of times, for studio portraits and product shots. It works quite well.

But I'm thinking with an iPad it would feel less of a hassle and something I would do more often. Maybe even be a reason to save up for an iPad Pro :-)

HockeyMan

I have tethered an iPad Pro to my D800, but it's not tethering with control, it's just the ability to transfer files from the D800 to the iPad with the proper USB cable. They sell them at apple stores for like $19 US. If you want to control the camera, you really have to use something like the cam ranger thing. I believe the apple folks said that although cam ranger isn't updated, it will work on an iPad Pro.

paulr

I use the D810 with the Camranger all the time If you use it with a Ipad you can touch screen to change the focus point, I tend to use it witha laptop for a bigger screen. [None Touch]Down side is with the D8xxx the file sizes are large in RAW unless you use S Raw or jpeg. I find the system works well when you cannot use/see the live view screen on the camera. I bought the camranger when they first came out and apart from some firmware updates nothing as changed. still works perfect. I copied over a 1000 prints for a local club without any problems .

atteism

Thank you for your input! Looks like Camranger is the way forward.

Snowleopard

I have a camranger, and the idea is nice, but it is so god aweful slow on a D700.... I would hate to have to use it for 36mp images from a D800/D810...... I only use it with Samsung tablets, or my Laptop now, I have used it with an ipad in the past.

paulr

Strange Snowleopard, I used a D810 in full Raw with a a Mac Pro and the speed was ok rather slow,As I wrote, did over a 1000 images of old prints for a local camera club and it did not take that long, being able to see the position of the prints on the laptop certainly speeded things up.

atteism

I assume the D700 has USB 2.0 while D8x0 has USB 3.0, that would explain your different experiences.

Nikonsince1974

Why not try downloading digiCamControl (it is free-ware) and try that? It works perfectly with my D700 and you can adjust essentially all parameters with it.

paulr

atteism said:

I assume the D700 has USB 2.0 while D8x0 has USB 3.0, that would explain your different experiences.

Good point atteism plus would depend on the power of the computer