Photography: Reducing the Risk of Tethered Shooting Using a HONL Speed Strap

I photograph food a lot and goes without saying, I tether my EOS 5D Mark II to a 17 inch Dell Studio laptop. There’s really no other way when critical review is key to decisive, quality results. Thing is, working with any sort of exposed cable comes with an inherent risk that requires no explanation. Last week, during a routine shoot, I accidentally stepped on the cable closest to the camera and there was no slack, resulted in a good tug that fortunately didn’t cause any damage to either connectors. I may not be so lucky next time.

Tripping hazard: working with exposed cable comes with inherent risk.

A quick search on the web revealed several kinds of brackets designed for HDSLR videographers to hold HDMI cables securely. This one in particular is designed to interface all 6 cables on EOS 5D Mark II/III and 7D bodies.

This CoolProtector is designed to protect the 6 cable interfaces of your DSLR CANON 7D 5D-2 5D-3(Super expensive to repair your DSLR’s cable interface such as HDMI Cable interfaces).

It’s not my style to buy gadgets online or spend time searching for stores that carry them. So I put on my thinking cap, looked around the studio room for ideas and came up with a perfect instantly available solution that does the same thing — using a HONL velcro Speed Strap. It’s rubber lining provides sufficient traction that when securely fastened around the tripod leg, it offers plenty of protection against a repeat accident.

Using a HONL Speed Strap I’m able to secure my 5M long USB cable to the tripod. This effectively stops the cable from being pulled out of its socket reducing the risk of damage to delicate pins.

I am Official Samsung Mobile’s Fan of the Month

For many years I was using a NOKIA E71 I was a “NO”-body. In the last two months or so after switching to a SAMSUNG I became a “SAM”-body :) — quite the honour to be the official Samsung Mobile ‘Fan of the Month’. During this time, one of my blog posts was also featured on SamMobile, a leading resource on all things Samsung mobile. Thank you Samsung! Switching from a QWERTY Nokia phone to the S III the only learning curve is getting used to the touch screen keypad which I still find challenging to type accurately even with the help of the excellent predictive text.

Featured Tips: USB Tethering the Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Tethering USB Flash Drive

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USB Tethering the Canon EOS 5D Mark II to the Samsung Galaxy S III

Tethering a 5D Mark II to a Smartphone – whatever for?

If you’re a photographer, professional or otherwise, chances are it has crossed your mind more than once of the inadequacies of the on-board 3″ LCD for critical viewing. And with the immense popularity of the Apple iPad and other Android or Windows based 10-inch tablets you would think the concept of tethering required nothing more than buying a long enough USB cable and plugging into your favourite tablet. Unfortunately this is not the case. The iPad for one only adds misery to your day if you spend too much time wishful thinking – at time of this post, it can’t be done. Period. Your only saviour is either an Android (maybe Windows too) tablet (see compatibility list). This blog post began for reasons (and disappointment) I have explained in the opening paragraph of Tethering USB Flash Drive and Memory Card Reader to the Samsung Galaxy S III.

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Replace the smartphone with a compatible 10″ Android tablet and you’ll have a great external display for critical viewing. I only wished I had this set-up during my two week hotel photography assignment in Singapore. Would have eased my workflow when client would be certain “we got the shot.”

With an appropriate USB cable and DSLR Controller tethering “Live View” is finally possible and real as these photos indicate. There’s just one problem — ability to control my camera isn’t really what I need or even desire. What I do need is quite simply one that works like Canon’s EOS Utility and ZoomBrowser combined much like how I’ve always been able to use on my Windows 7 laptop. I’m hoping this blog post gets the attention of the person behind Chainfire  to develop an app specifically for this purpose.

A close-up of the DSLR Controller user friendly interface on the Samsung Galaxy S3