Lightroom: Tethering Bug: OSX 10.6.8 + LR 3.4.1 [Nikon]

Lightroom 3.6RC has been posted. It should fix the tethering problem with the Nikon D3 (where it stops pulling in photos partway into the shoot), and the problem reported here for Canon cameras (changing the lens or some lens settings causes a disconnect).

However, I've learned today that it apparently does NOT fix the problem for the Nikon D3x, or, more specifically, a new issue has arisen from the previous fix just with this camera. I had not had a chance to test it against the D3x previously, but I'll be looking into this problem this week.

So, if you were having tether problems and have a Nikon D3 or a Canon with the problem mentioned above, please download the latest RC and post your results.

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjourn...

I would like to add that I too shoot for a living and am experiencing the same issues as Scott.
Im shooting to a new MBP. OSX 10.6.8 using a Nikon D700 body.
The tethering session seems to lose contact with the camera at random. Once I close the session and restart it things are fine again for a few minutes before the problem reappears.

We'll take a look this week when everyone returns to the office. Most of our North American engineers were off last week for the holiday.

Hi Jeff, thank you for the message about this. I initially posted this over at Adobe Forums (when I was troubleshooting and trying to establish if the problem was with me/my gear/my machine) and got a few replies over there from other photographers (shooting both Nikon and Canon) experiencing the same problem with LR 3.4.1 and the OSX 10.6.8 upgrade. You can see their comments here http://forums.adobe.com/message/37883.... I really appreciate your help in solving this -- as professional photographers, we rely heavily on your products. Thank you, Scott Woodward

I have had this same problem while using os 10.6.8 with lightroom 3.4.1. I tried deleting this lightroom and reinstalling an older version but that did not work either.

Hi all,

We're running two D3X under tethered mode with LR 3.4.1 and 3.4 and we're easily able to reproduce this erratic issue since we upgraded to 10.6.8.......

Even LR 3.4 experiences that issue!

I have noticed something strange indeed. While LR was "stuck" during file transfer, monitor utility indicated that Apple's picture transfert extension was requesting 100% time processor...

Everything was running fine since 10.6.7...... So bad.....

Hope LR team will be able to fix that issue!!

I have the identical problem. OS 10.6.8 (Mac Pro), LR 3.4.1. Canon 1Ds Mk3 (x2 separate bodies). I made the mistake of upgrading LightRoom & the OS at the same time & immediately lost the ability to shoot tethered reliably. Took me a while to find the root cause, but using the latest LightRoom on a slightly older OS on an iMac solved the problem. Upgrading that iMac immediately introduced the problem again. So, it is the OS ...

We've started looking at this and we're trying to track down when/where things broke down.

Tether problems with Canon 5D mk2 and Windows 7 (not just a Mac/Nikon issue)

I am shooting in studio with a Canon 5D mk2. I have LR 3.4 installed on a system running windows 7. Its a 64bit operating system and LightRoom is installed in 64 bit as well. AMD Quad core processor with 8GB of RAM, 2 internal hardrives with lots of free storage.

The camera is connected to the computer via a Canon 15 ft USB 2.0 cable.

When I shoot everything seems to work fine for the first 20 images or so and then it simply does not load from camera to Lightroom after a while. I shoot with a 16gb sandisk card installed in camera and so the images are still loading into the card, but not Lightroom. The tether window still shows my camera connected with technical info appearing, but just does not receive the images.

I have tried aborting tether and then starting it back up with mixed results. sometimes it worked again for another 12-20 images and then other times does not.

Occasionally it will freeze the camera as well. A few times I have continued shooting to the card and the camera would not shoot after a bit and would appear "busy" Eventually I just disconnect the USB cable and the camera is fine again.

So, basically it works for a bit at the start of a shoot and then gives problems as stated above.

Thanks for getting on this.

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the detailed report. I can reproduce this problem as well, and have entered the issue in our bug database. Note that in my testing, I have only been able to reproduce the problem using Nikon cameras, not Canon. But I still need to try using the specific camera that Richard mentioned (the 1Ds MkIII). Should be able to lay my hands on one within the next few days.

Thanks,
Ben

I tried using my laptop instead of my imac. I have not yet updated my laptop OS. in mac os X version 10.6.4, I have not had the problem.

Hi Ben, thank you for your message yesterday. I really appreciate you taking the time/effort to look into this for us. Forgive my ignorance, but (typically) what are the next steps once an issue like this has been logged in Adobe's "bug database"? I guess what I am asking is: is it something that you foresee addressing relatively quickly or something we'll have to wait awhile to have solved? LR is my go-to software for tethering, and I depend on it working. I have implemented a work-around using Sofortbild http://www.sofortbildapp.com/ and auto importing the images into LR by setting-up a watched folder, but it's not ideal. Anyway, thank you again and I (we) look forward to hearing from you on next steps... Scott

Hi Scott,

Unfortunately, I couldn't say how long it might take to fix. Not being coy, I just have no idea. At this point, it's not even clear if this is a fix that is entirely within our control, or if we'll be reliant on Apple (or even Nikon) to make a change as well.

Another possible work around of course would be to revert to 10.6.7. Also not ideal, I realize, particularly if you're anticipating the upcoming release of Lion.

Thanks,
Ben

Hi Ben, of course I understand the situation. I also appreciate that it might be an Apple and/or Nikon problem, too. Would you suggest that I/we photographers who are experiencing the issue with 10.6.8 and Nikon cameras (and, it appears, Canons too -- although you've been unable to confirm that as yet) to also feedback this "bug" to Apple and/or Nikon to help expedite a solution? Or will Adobe be in contact with Apple and/or Nikon directly? Pardon my ignorance. Thank you for updating me/us and we look forward to hearing from you in due course... Scott

We added an alert to the following page:

Troubleshoot tethered capture | Lightroom 3

Right now we're suggesting users who require tethering support to stick with 10.6.7 until we're able to resolve this with the involved parties.

We'll post an update to this thread and the knowledge base document linked above when we have more info.