Shooting Tethered with Lightroom

In a previous post, I discussed how to set up a computer, camera, and tether line in the studio to allow you to take photographs and have them automatically download to your computer (in my case an iMac) and display on your monitor.

There was some question at the end of my post as to what software I could use to best import, organize, and display images on the monitor. The choices were 1) the software that came with the camera, 2) Capture One Pro, or 3) something else.

I discovered what the "something else" is for me: Adobe Lightroom. At $500 for Capture One Pro ($400 at Amazon), I was not going to buy it. I already own and use Lightroom heavily, so I decided to give that a try. -- It works perfectly for this tethering automation we want.

The steps I followed:

1) In the EOS Utility that comes with the Canon SLRs, there is a menu option called Monitor Folder. Select that option and you will be presented with options to set up your folders. In Destination Folder, I selected Change... and created folder called \Pictures\RemoteShootingImages. When the camera snaps a photo, this is the directory into which the photos are placed.

2) While you are in the Destination Folder window, notice the other tabs across the top. These tabs allow you to change other options in your automation process. I discovered this quite by accident, I believe there is a Preferences... button on the main EOS Utility window as well to get you to all of these options.

3) You can explore these options if you'd like (there is a tab for Linked Software that looks interesting), but I'd like to quickly point out the Remote Shooting tab, which is where you can find a setting called "Save also on camera's memory card." I checked this option, because I wanted to have the images stored both on my computer and card at the same time. I feel safer when there are backup copies around, just in case something goes wrong.

4) Now we've set up how images get onto the machine and where they are initially placed. We can now go into Lightroom and enable a bit of automation there as well. In Lightroom, there is a menu item File > Auto Import > Auto Import Settings. On this settings screen, change the "Watched Folder" at the top to the \Pictures\RemoteShootingImages folder you set up in step 1.

5) Under Destination, I set up another folder where Lightroom to move the photo into. I recommended treating the Watched Folder (the EOS directory) as a temporary folder, and the Destination as a more permanent home for your photos. Before each session, you can come to these settings and create a destination folder specifically for the shoot you are doing. You can adjust the other settings at will but these are the important ones. Click OK when you are done.

6) In the main menus, check if File > Auto Import > Enable Auto Import is selected. It probably is not, so go ahead and select it if you need to.

7) Now back in Lightroom, go into Library mode. Assuming that you set up your system according to the previous post and above, snap a photo on your camera. It will be copied to your EOS folder, and then Lightroom will automatically move it to the permanent folder, and then import it into the Lightroom catalog. In a couple of seconds, you will see them image appear on the screen. I discovered that the automatic display of the image only happens when you are in Libary mode (even though it is imported successfully in all of the modes). Maybe there is some Lightroom setting that allows auto-display to happen everywhere.

That's it. I saved the cost of unnecessarily buying Capture One Pro -- $400-500. You still need a copy of Lightroom ($280), but you already have that anyway, right?! If not, run over to Amazon and pick one up ASAP (and don't forget to use my Amazon link to the right to do that -- support this site!).