Shooting Tethered From Afar!
Posted on 01. Nov, 2008 by Terry Reinert in Hardware
One thing that has always driven me nuts about shooting tethered is how close to the camera I have to stay due to the length of my tether cord. The standard USB tether cord that comes with almost all Canon SLR camera systems (excluding the high end ones that come with firewire) is only 4 feet in length. I do not know the exact length of the standard Nikon cable but from what I can tell it isn’t much different from the Canon one (look at the photo of Scott Kelby shooting tethered with his Nikon HERE). Neither the Canon cable or the Nikon cable give you a whole lot of room to move around and that can be very bad thing for those photographers that are very animated and like to shoot from crazy angles (i.e. people like me) that still want to shoot tethered to a computer.
What many people do to solve this problem is one of the worst possible things that you can do; they add a few USB extension cables to the standard cable. I cannot criticize too much because I am guilty of using a 3′ USB extension cable in the past. But the problem with adding any extensions cables to any device is that each connector in the data path decreases signal quality which results in decreased transfer speeds and an increased chance of data corruption. Not only that, but many people do not know that the USB 2.0 specification lists the maximum cable length as 5 meters (~16.4 feet). Many that do know that believe there is a length constraint due to voltage and current levels on the wires but that is not true. The real reason for the length constraint is due to the timing of the high speed digital signals.
So how can you extend your tether cable beyond 5 meters without losing quality or speed? Use an active USB extender cable!
There are two main types of data cables; passive and active. A passive cable is nothing more than wires. The signals generated by the device are transmitted onto the wires of the cable and that is it. An active cable contains various forms of circuitry to affect the signal being transmitted. There are many different things you can do to a digital signal such as amplify it, buffer it, and even completely change it in order to transmit it on a different medium. It all depends on the active device as to what it does to the signal. However, most active USB extender cables simply buffer and amplify the signal. I have seen some products that actually change the transmission cable to a CAT5E (standard network cable) for transmitting even further distances.
Here are a few active USB 2.0 extension cables that I found with a Google search. Note that I am not recommending that you buy them from these vendors… As always, shop wisely on the internet and only buy from websites that you feel are reputable.
IC INTRACOM 16FT USB 2.0 ACTIVE EXTENSION CABLE
The next link is to an interesting product… It is an active USB extension but it converts from the standard USB wire to a CAT5E cable and supports distances up to 100 feet!
So there you have it. If you are looking for a way to shoot tethered from a greater distance than your camera cord will allow, pick up an active USB extension system. While I have not used any of these products yet (I am planning on buying something soon) I have found reviews on all of them saying that they do work well with cameras. Take that for what it is worth. When I do pick one of them up I will be sure to write a review and post it for all of you to see.
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Raymond
01. Nov, 2008
The cables with repeaters are a bit like having a cable with a hub built in to the end of the cable. At least that is how think them, but in practice I find they rarely work for me — it’s hard to get a good quality one.
I stick with the passive extender and don’t go over a total of maybe 3 meters which seems fine. Quality is still an issue though. You have to get a good cable, not a cheapie.
Terry
01. Nov, 2008
That is very interesting to hear as it differs from what I read on various forums and reviews. So it is really good to hear the other side of the story too. Thanks! So now I am starting to rethink buying one of these products… I was really looking at the USB-to-CAT5E converter/extender. Very interesting.
Anyone else already try these things and have an opinion on them??
Oh, and I will agree completely on the “you get what you pay for” topic. You cannot expect to get good results with the super-cheap Radio Shack brand cables. Not a good idea when you’re dealing with professional digital photos!!
Alex G
05. Nov, 2008
these work great for me
15ft USB cable – $1.70
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030302&p_id=3898&seq=1&format=2
15ft active extension – $8.55
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=2779&seq=1&format=2
works like magic, no need to pay any more for the same cables relabled by some expensive brand.