Shooting tethered means shooting with your camera connected to your computer. Many photographers like to do this because it pings the images to their computer. As well as saving the images directly to the computer hard drive, it means that you can see your shots on a large screen immediately after taking them.
Tethered shooting is usually done in the studio or at home, but you can actually do it anywhere that you take your laptop.
Not just for pros
You might dismiss the idea of tethered shooting if you’re not a professional or commercial photographer, but it’s also very useful for enthusiasts and hobbyists. For example, it’s far easier to check the detail in the shadows and highlights, make sure the exposure is spot on and ensure that you’ve nailed the focusing. And if you’re shooting a macro subject, it’s a lot easier to assess the depth of field on a large screen.
Sony’s free Imaging Edge software, which includes Remote, also allows you to control your camera remotely via your computer. That means you don’t even need to touch your camera to adjust the focus, white balance, exposure and more, so you can avoid introducing any vibrations that may blur your images. But if you prefer, you can hold the camera and shoot as normal
How to tether the Sony A7 III, A7R III or A9
- Follow the link to download and install the Imaging Edge software
- Install Imaging Edge on your computer.
- Turn on your Sony camera, press the menu button and navigate to USB Connection. Press the button at the centre of the navigation pad to access the options and select PC Remote. Press the centre button to confirm.
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- Now scroll down to PC Remote Settings and press the centre button again. Select each option in turn and press the centre button to access the available settings. This is where you select whether you want still images to be saved on the computer and the card in the camera, or just on the computer. You can also select the image format that you want to save. Once you’ve finished, return to the main menu.
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- In the camera menu, navigate to Control with smartphone and make sure it’s set to off.
- Turn the camera off and connect the cable to the USB-C port. Connect the other end of the cable to your laptop. Sony supplies a USB-C cable in the box with the camera, but it’s very short, so we recommend using a Tether Tools cable. Tether Tools makes a range of cables for different cameras and computers. The easiest way to find out what you need is to visit the Tether Tools website and use the online guide.
- Now turn on your camera and fire up the Remote application on your computer. It has to be done in this order. The software searches for a camera connection and then activates the live view. The camera controls are all arranged to the left of the image preview.
- Click on the box next to the Save in destination near the bottom of the controls on the right of the screen. Now find and select the folder where you want to save the image. If you use Lightroom, you can set it to import images from this folder.
- You can trigger the shutter using the button the camera as normal, or using the icon on the computer screen, just click on it with your mouse.
Purchase Tether Tools kit in the UK from Amazon UK, Wex Photo Video or Park Cameras
Purchase Tether Tools kit in the US from Amazon.com, Adorama or BH Photo Video
Sony Remote not connecting to your Camera
There a couple of bugs that stop the Remote software from connecting to the camera. If you find you have this problem, make sure that you deactivate Dropbox and Google backup and sync. Once that’s done, try again.