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Running Capture 1 on a netbook for tethered digital back?

gsking

New member
Has anyone tried this? It would be a lot lighter than my laptop, and I presume the netbook would have enough horsepower just for capturing and reviewing shots (no editing).

There seems to be only one netbook I can find with an ExpressCard slot to run the firewire (Lenovo S10). I already have 12V power covered.

And if it would run, would it be better to stick with Win XP, or will C1 work on Win 7?

Thanks for helping me get some weight off my back. ;-)

Greg
 

yongfei

New member
If you shoot tethered, the internal battery may not provide enough current for the back.

I used to have an Eyelike M11 thethered to a Power Mac 4 12" laptop. Running on internal battery, it would take a few pictures, then suddenly shutdown.
 

gsking

New member
No, PC's don't provide ANY power for their Firewire (unlike Mac). That's why I said I have power covered...I use 12V lithium packs that plug into the second six-pin port and backfeed power onto the 12V lines to power the back. It works great and gives me more than enough power to shoot. I've never worn one out, so I don't know how many shots they give me. One is 2400mah and the other is 4000mah.

But they don't seem to build 1394 into any laptops I can find, and they are taking the expresscard adapter out of most netbooks. Even the new S10E and S10-2 don't have Expresscard.
 

narikin

New member
get a tablet PC - netbooks are simply too underpowered for tethered work with C1. they also have power saving indoor screens, that are hard to see on location. Maybe if you are using an older back with less MP, and shooting landscapes with a lot of patience thats fine, but otherwise its not worth it.

I bought a Fujitsu T5010 - it has a range of processors that match the Mac line from fast to very fast, has a super bright outdoor screen, converts to tablet form, (C1 and Windows 7 works great with touch screen inputs), Live View focusing works great, oh and yes, it has Firewire built in. and guess what - Fujitsu are selling them cheap on eBay right now. I put an SSD into mine and its great.

You just flip the screen to to tablet form, hang it from the tripod, tether the back and away you go. Yes its not as light as a netbook, but we are caught here - we need processing power to do Raw processing of MF digibacks on the move, and that simply does not come in small light packages. Other than weight (4lbs, not SO bad) it has everything we want.

you dont need 6 pin Firewire. set the back to use its own power and 4 pin is fine.

there's plenty of windows tablet machines out there - Lenovo and HP too, just make sure you get a super bright outdoor screen on them, as well as Firewire, of course.
 
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gsking

New member
Thanks for your input. I'll stick with my laptop. No point saving a couple pounds since it'll be in my backpack anyways.

Wow, that Fujitsu T5010 is quite pricey huh? I could put that toward an untethered back. ;-) My back has no battery...so it has to be shot tethered.

Curious...what's your advantage to shooting tethered? Bigger screen for review? Or do you actually do some editing on the fly?

Greg
 

gsking

New member
Wayne,

Very cool. So it looks like an Atom can handle the workload....and the tablet form factor is obviously a benefit. I tried something similar by tethering a small frame (or even my cell phone) to my laptop (yes, two tethers...one in, one out)....but it would only transfer completed JPG's from C1. To review them, you'd have to untether to take the device out of file transfer mode and put it in playback mode.

Japanese market only? Not much on it around.

http://www.pocketables.net/2009/01/sony-vaio-p-vs.html
 
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