focusing & shooting without touching

zoran

Hi, i own a D7000 and i wish to take pics without touching the camera. I not only wish to press the shutter, but i also wish to make focusing adjustments without touching the lens (AFS Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8G) Is this possible?
The ending goal of what i wish to do, is to do Focus Stacking with the photos i will shoot, so i do not want to touch the camera/lens at all.

mhedges

You can get a remote release to take pics without touching the camera. Looks like the ML-L3 IR remote would work. Or you could get a wired trigger like the MC-DC2 or any number of similar 3rd party products, some of which have extra features like intervalometer etc.

The focusing thing is a bit harder. Not sure what could be done there. Many of the newer cameras have a built in focus stacking feature but I'm pretty sure D7000 doesn't.

MrFotoFool

I am not familiar wtih D7000. I do know my D850 has a focus stacking feature that focuses any AF-S lens on its own. You just set the initial point of focus then program in the menu how many photos you want the camera to take and how large of an interval you want it to move the focus between each shot. This official Nikon tutorial on focus stacking only mentions the D850, so maybe that's the only Nikon DSLR that has this feature? I assume the new Z mirrorless cameras have it.
https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/focus-shift-the-basics-stacking-focus.html

zoran

mhedges said:

The focusing thing is a bit harder. Not sure what could be done there. Many of the newer cameras have a built in focus stacking feature but I'm pretty sure D7000 doesn't.

How can i be more certain about this? Who can inform me about how can i have total control of the shooting without touching?

mhedges

Sorry but I don't think there is a solution. The D850 and D780 are the only DSLR's with focus stacking / bracketing. I don't think there is any remote control that can do focus for your D7000 either. There are wifi apps for some of the newer DSLR's that let you select the focus spot, but it looks like the D7000 does not have Wifi support.

Can you tell us a little more about what you want to do? Maybe someone can figure something out?

zoran

I wish to control a photo shoot, fully from my iMac. I would connect my NIKON D7000 and my iMac, with a cable and then apply settings to a software for focusing, for zooming in/out, set aperture and speed and finally release the shutter

ggbutcher

Qdslrdashboard may get you most of the way there. I haven't verified it with my copy, but it apparently lets you select focus modes and focus points.

mhedges

What lens do you plan to use?

MrFotoFool

mhedges said:

What lens do you plan to use?

It's in their opening post.

Ton14

Capture One does this fine, if you connect the camera to the computer with a cable. Tethering is built into this program, you can adjust everything with your computer. I use it with my Surface Pro 7.

Better stay away from Qdslrdashboard, because the last time I wanted to test this, there was malware in the download.

mhedges

MrFotoFool said:

mhedges said:

What lens do you plan to use?

It's in their opening post.

Yes but they also mention computer controlled zooming and the lens in the opening post is a prime. Perhaps they mean cropping? I'm not aware of any F mount powered zoom lens.

Ton14 said:

Capture One does this fine, if you connect the camera to the computer with a cable. Tethering is built into this program, you can adjust everything with your computer. I use it with my Surface Pro 7.

Better stay away from Qdslrdashboard, because the last time I wanted to test this, there was malware in the download.

What cable do you use to connect the camera?

ggbutcher

Ton14 said:

Capture One does this fine, if you connect the camera to the computer with a cable. Tethering is built into this program, you can adjust everything with your computer. I use it with my Surface Pro 7.

Better stay away from Qdslrdashboard, because the last time I wanted to test this, there was malware in the download.

Just downloaded 3.6.4 from the website and scanned it, nothing found.

https://dslrdashboard.info/

No tie to the software, just found it handy when I was measuring camera spectral sensitivties.

Ton14

@mhedges That depends on the camera and the PC. The cable supplied with the camera works, but it is always too short. To connect the D600 to the PC I bought a "Tethertools" extension cable, but for the Z6 I use a regular USB-C to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A cable, works fine.

Ton14

@ggbutcher Right, just checked the Windows version and F-secure found nothing now either, so that's solved.

The advantage of Qdslrdashboard is that you have live view, there is an Andoid version and this on a tablet is convenient, however you need Wifi connection and that gives the necessary problems.

In the new version of Capture One there will be Wireless Tethering for Canon, maybe in the future for Nikon.

I have tested Snapbridge as a Wireless connection and then I have live view, but it works much too slow, so it is still useless for that. Snapbridge is perfect for up to 2mb photos to the mobile phone or tablet, I always use it for that.