How to see what the camera sees?

December 9, 2008 10:51 AM

Is it possible to connect a Leica D-lux 3 camera to a computer such that I can see the (current) image on the computer? What software should I use for this? (Mac/windows)

I want to connect the camera to the computer such that I can 'click' by looking at an image on the monitor rather than through the camera. The camera can be fitted onto a microscope but it is very hard to click while mounted. Bonus points for a way to do so with ImageJ.

posted by dhruva to computers & internet (5 comments total)

You can use Image Capture for this on the Mac, but it won't show you a preview before you take the picture.
posted by designbot at 11:17 AM on December 9, 2008

What you are talking about is shooting tethered with live video preview. If you are going to be shooting this way frequently Image Capture will drive you nuts because it is so buggy and I don't believe it has live video. You are better off with Phase One's Capture One software. It does support the Leica Digilux 3. The software does have the live video preview and a free 30 day trial so you can make sure it will work for you. Happy shooting!
posted by i_love_squirrels at 2:05 PM on December 9, 2008

Sadly, I think the Capture One 4 Pro software won't do tethered camera support for your D-lux 3. Here's the list of supported cameras:

Capture One PRO has tethered support for the following cameras:

Phase One:
P 45+, P 30+, P 21+, P 25+, P 20+
P 45, P 30, P 25, P 21, P 20, H 25, H 20, H 101, H 10, H 5, LightPhase

Canon (not on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard):
1D Mark II N, 1Ds Mark II, 1D Mark II, 1Ds, 1D
5D, 20D, 10D, 350D/Rebel XT, 300D/Rebel, D60, D30

I dug around and all I could find are software limited to Canon (native software and third-party utilities like Capture One and Breeze, Nikon (native software), and a few Olympus cameras via Cam2Com.
posted by junesix at 4:54 PM on December 9, 2008

This is probably a more practical hardware solution:
http://us.leica-camera.com/photography/d_system/accessories/remote_shutter_release/3843.html
posted by tmt at 5:32 PM on December 9, 2008

Damn. looks like I lucked out. Even the remote shutter release option in not supported for this model (D-lux ≠ Digilux apparently). Thanks for your input everyone, I'll keep this thread in mind if I happen to do this with another camera.
posted by dhruva at 6:20 PM on December 9, 2008