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Tethering with older MacBook?

weinlamm

Member
I'm thinking about the possibility for shooting tethered. I only own Windows-PC, so I hadn't any firewire. :rolleyes:

Now I'm thinking about buying a MacBook for this. I found some older one and would know, if I could shoot with a 13-inch MacBook or MacBook Air ( found in ebay 2006 - 2009 ) tethered with my back.

Or do I need a newer Mac for such things?

Thanks for helping! :thumbup:
 

b&w

New member
Hi,

you can not realy say, you will use a Mac which is older than 6 months :D

I am using a MacBook late 2007 with a H3-39 - good enough for work ;)
 

MartinN

Well-known member
In my opinion a 'used' and 2nd hand MacBook/ Pro is really viable for not a so serious amateur that has no absolute needs for processing speed and/or features. I like older macbooks because they have firewire 400 ports for direct MFDB tethering and some also the faster firewire 800. On current MacBook Pro:s some are required to have a Thunderbolt-Firewire dongle that in my opinion is a bit awkward.

There is different Intel processors, I would perhaps avoid Core Duo processors because they are 32 bit and some software (CaptureOne 6,7) requires 64bit. Therefore I would go for Core2Duo that are 64bit. Then the operationg system: some have still OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and I would then buy the Apple CD with upgrade to OS X 10.6 (Snow leopard). In my opinion Snow Leopard is a good OS and definitle adequate for an amateur. However some software requires OS X 10.7 (Lion) or OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) so all in all you should definitey know what software you are going to run and what is the minimum requirement of that software
 

MartinN

Well-known member
I use myself : CaptureOne 5 and Lightroom 3.6 on CoreDuo MacBookPro, OS X 10.6 and one another setup : CaptureOne7 (and Lightroom) on Core2Duo, OS X 10.6.
Then for example SinarCaptureFlow Studio requires OS X 10.8 :confused:

My CoreDuo pro has 'only' 2GB of RAM and that is inadequate. A newer MacBook with Core2Duo can have 4GB of RAM and some even more.

But a conclusion coming from the Windows world - OS X is quite fast and lightweight and older MacBook:s run considerably faster than their Windows equals in age. So my recommendation would be - go for a Macbook / pro for tethering and forget Windows Laptops.
 

JonMo

New member
I still shoot tethered with an old apple product.
I own a Leaf Aptus 65s (and still love it after all these years) However;
the old Aptus requires the removal of the battery to connect the firewire.
So, when shooting on the Cambo and want to be tethered mobile, out comes the Powerbook 13" with G4 processor.
Yes I understand that it is sooooooo old that you have to pull start it and it runs on diesel.

However; it provides ample power to run my back, will run an ancient version of leaf capture and/or Capture one, store my files on a large(ish) hard drive and provide me with a screen I can see. Granted the "live view" is OK, but good enough.

Of course, if you have a back from Phase the extra power in the firewire line is irrelevant.
But this does save me from having to cart around the firewire repeater and all the other paraphernalia I did before.

The Powerbook cost a entire $180.00 with two batteries.

Wow, I really am cheap.
 

weinlamm

Member
Thanks for your help! I actually think, that I don't need too much power - I only need a Book, which could start Capture One and could tether my back ( this is the next problem... one Phase with FW400 and one Leaf with FW800 :loco: - but I think I would prefer the FW400 ).

So I think, I would have a look for an older MacBook next time and try out.

An other option, I found, could be a PC-laptop. My wife has a laptop with Express-card option. But she told me, that she don't want to give up her laptop. "This is nothing for gambling" she told me... :rolleyes:

We will see, what I will found. I will report.
 
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