Tethering the Z into Capture One

[Terrible Photographer]

I'm considering a move from the D810 to a Z7 for studio work and have a couple questions.

• Does Capture One fully support tethering the Z7 as it does the 810?
• Is the live view feed still lousy?
• Is file transfer any faster than on the 810?
• If focus adjustment from the computer supported like it is on the 810?

I'm not convinced the IQ difference between the 810 and Z7 at ISO 64 is going to open up new possibilities in retouching, but I do appreciate the benefits of full time live view in a dark studio, and the fact that on the Z, I'll be able to adapt virtually any lens to it.

Also cross posting this in the EOS R forum because Canon lenses are generally better, and they make a 135mm T/S.

 

[OpieCunningham]

I can only help with some of your questions, as I haven't used a D810. I used a demo of Capture One v12 when looking for a preferred tethering solution w/ my Z6.

• Capture One does support considerable functionality with the Z series. Comparing it to Lightroom (tethering for Z6/7 added just this week) and Nikon's Camera Control Pro, Capture One appears to have the most support for camera control - though I did not attempt to use all the available functionality in Capture One, which is basically all contained in a very long and unwieldy single palette, so I can't speak to how well it all works (it's a bit surprising the apparent level of control vs. Nikon's own capture software - which is itself very capable - conversely, Lightroom is basically useless in terms of camera control).
• The live view feed is lousy. As it is on Nikon's Camera Control Pro. If I had to guess, it's a limitation of the feed supplied by the camera.
• I can't compare to the D810. Transfer speed is good though. Seems to be comparable to Camera Control Pro. Maybe 2 - 4 seconds (might be a bit slower on the Z7 due to increased file size).
• Focus adjustment from the computer is supported in Capture One, as it is in Camera Control Pro. I didn't dig into it much, but Capture One seems to have tools to help evaluate focus accuracy. Both support stepping forward/backward via button controls and click on Live View to move focus point (actually, I don't recall if Capture One has that, but I believe so).

I ended up going with Camera Control Pro as the controls I need are easier to access vs. Capture One, my workflow is generally remote shutter release with the computer screen as a review station (Camera Control Pro will automatically open the file in ViewNX, which can be full screen 100% of the time - less UI junk vs. Capture One).

 

[Terrible Photographer]

Bummer if transfer is that slow, that's a non-starter for me. When you're shooting fast, 2-4 seconds per image means the computer/DIT/client is 20-40 frames behind, all the time. Nikon's generally tether slow anyway, I was hoping the Z was faster now that it has USB-C.

Canon's starting to look a lot fresher these days.

 

[OpieCunningham]

Bummer if transfer is that slow, that's a non-starter for me. When you're shooting fast, 2-4 seconds per image means the computer/DIT/client is 20-40 frames behind, all the time. Nikon's generally tether slow anyway, I was hoping the Z was faster now that it has USB-C.

Canon's starting to look a lot fresher these days.

To be clear, it's 2-4 seconds from shutter release to image fully rendered onscreen. Half that time is probably just the application rendering the preview. I did not try continuous shooting.