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Trouble tethering a Hasselblad H3DII-31

adaml

Member
I'm having some tethering issues with my Hasselblad H3DII-31 and would welcome feedback from fellow Hassy users on this forum.

I've updated the Hassy to the latest back and body firmware. I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.4 and the latest Phocus. My MacBook Pro has an SSD startup disk is blazingly quick.

I've got a new Hoya 15' firewire 800 cable with a tether tools jerk stopper on the camera. The ends of the cable are a bit thick - it fits snug in the back. The end that fits the MacBook Pro did loosen a few times just enough to lose communication with the camera, however that was not what was causing the majority of the trouble. I kept getting messages to restart the camera, that the camera was busy. And there were times that Phocus didn't see the camera and or the camera didn't see Phocus.

However the tethering communication issues were so abundant throughout the the shoot, it was unpleasant sweating it out in front of the client when the camera would lose communication and I'd have to pull the battery grip, pull the FW cable, restart Phocus many times throughout the day.

I know Phocus isn't perfect, however I would welcome any recommendations on how to better ensure uninterrupted tethered workflow, cable recommendations, or any particular insights to help me nail down a more consistent workflow.

Thanks,
Adam

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Adam Lerner | Photography | 718.219.3006
 

adaml

Member
Thanks Swissblad for that. I did some testing and it would appear that the cable must have been a major factor. I really do need a long cable - preferably 3 meters. So, does anyone have Firewire 800 cable recommendations? Tether tools? Tripplite? What are you guys using out there?

Thanks,
Adam

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Adam Lerner | Photography | 718.219.3006
 

Douglas Fairbank

New member
Firewire is limited to 4.5 metres (IEEE 1394 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) so I have never understood why anyone would make anything longer. You can use powered repeaters and with the available power being reduced in each new version of computer that has firewire to not even having firewire at all it must be a necessity to own one. I like to remind people that a powered firewire repeater can be used as a power supply for a back when it is used on a technical camera.
 
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