Tethered Mac

[Chris Barrett]

The Firewire 800 connector sucks severely. It's not nearly as snug as FW 400 and I find that the cable to my DB frequently dislodges... leaving me with "Firewire Error" messages that force me to restart C1 Pro every time to regain connectivity. Anybody else ready to chuck their new MacBook Pro into the nearest body of water or am I alone in this frustration?

I never ever saw this error message with my old MBP and the straight FW400 to FW400 connection.

-CB

 

[dougpeterson]

We're making backwards progress:
SCSI: Solid as a rock: you can hold a 2 ton truck up by a SCSI connector
Full Size Printer Connector: very solid, almost as good as a SCSCI
Ethernet: confirmation click when it's inserted fully, strong connection, but not as strong as Printer or SCSI
Firewire 400: snug and somewhat firm but still possible to jossle free
Fireiwre 800: not snug, not firm, and easily jossles free
eSATA: don't look at it, breath, or think about it or it will pop out

Doug Peterson (e-mail Me)
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[Chris Barrett]

As I look down at my laptop, every port on the left side is occupied... power, ethernet (with broken safety clip), FW 800 to an external drive, USB ports and ExpressCard with two eSATA lines coming out... talk about flirting with disaster!

 

[thomas]

As I look down at my laptop, every port on the left side is occupied... power, ethernet (with broken safety clip), FW 800 to an external drive, USB ports and ExpressCard with two eSATA lines coming out... talk about flirting with disaster!

For tethered shooting I'm quite happy with the old Macbook with FW400.
It's of course not a great computer, not at all, but for tethered shooting only it does what it is supposed for. After shooting connect the MB as FW-drive to your production computer and copy the sessions.

 

[PoloDigital]

I usually zip tie the cable to the cart where the laptop sits. If you loop it once, that gives some additional strain relief. That way any tugging on the cable at the camera end doesn't yank the laptop around or dislodge the cable. At least it's a full size FW400 at the camera end. Ever try it with a micro USB connection on a DSLR?

 

[Clawery]

I think Mac took a step backward going with only FW 800 in their MacBook Pros and towers. Speed is nice, but at the sacrifice of good connectivity. So many current products are FW 400 that they still should have FW400 and 800.
I understand that laptops are tight, but a MacPro should have it mandatory!

Chris Lawery (e-mail Me)
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[carstenw]

I think the 400 vs. 800 isn't a big issue, since 800 is backwards compatible with 400, and a cable with a 400 on one end and 800 on the other end will do the trick.

Having said that, I don't like the connector much either. I think if I were tethering with this system, I would ducttape (how many years did I think that was duck-tape! quack quack) a short 800-400 cable onto the laptop or platform, and then put another 400 cable into that, which could pop out if stepped on.

 

[Bob]

I think the 400 vs. 800 isn't a big issue, since 800 is backwards compatible with 400, and a cable with a 400 on one end and 800 on the other end will do the trick.

Having said that, I don't like the connector much either. I think if I were tethering with this system, I would ducttape (how many years did I think that was duck-tape! quack quack) a short 800-400 cable onto the laptop or platform, and then put another 400 cable into that, which could pop out if stepped on.

Carsten,
To look more professional, wrap it in gaffer's tape LOL
-bob

 

[archivue]

vecro© is the way to go !

 

[Jack]

We should not need to truss our FW800 connectors to our laptops for reliable connectivity. The FW800 plug is a total joke, though arguably surpassed for stupid by the external eSATA connector...

 

[Guy Mancuso]

What kills me is ethernet cables have that little press down latch that has been around how long now. Why in the world did they not just use that latch on either the 400 or 800 is beyond logic.

 

[Chris Barrett]

Expresscard FW400? Or is that just begging for connectivity issues? I'd consider going back to a little older machine with built in FW400 but I loves me some 8 gig's o Ram and I already think P65+ redraws are too slow when moving around the image at 100%.

 

[archivue]

PC Sync should have been replace by a mini jack for ages... i keep have problem with this connection as well !