Accelerator Usage

If you look closely at the screenshot above you will notice an underlined character in each menu item.  Specifically the s character in Plug-in Extras, the B character in Customisable Configuration Backups, and the 1 character in 1-Click Configuration Backup.  These are known as accelerators and are a standard Windows feature to allow the use of your keyboard to navigate menus.  For Mac users I’ve been receiving mixed messages as to whether this feature can be directly applied on your platform.  An alternate approach compatible with your operating system is listed at the end of the post.

To use the accelerators provided above you would press:

1. Alt + F to open the File menu
2. S to open the Plug-in Extras sub menu
3. 1 to execute the 1-Click Configuration Backup

And so on. This might seem convoluted but your average keyboard shortcut junkie can slam those keypresses into the machine pretty quickly  If the menu item is something you need to call pretty regularly (say a Photomatix HDR menu item) this time can start to add up.

Setting Up Accelerators

Adding the accelerators to Lightroom takes advantage of Lightroom’s existing localisation capabilities. 

1) Locate your resources directory

You will need to create or update your TranslatedStrings.txt configuration file.  This is found in the resources directory found at the following location:

<Program Installation Directory>\Resources\<language code>

For example on my English localised Windows XP system this translates to:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2\Resources\en

Other language codes are fr and de for French and German respectively.

2) Create or update your TranslatedStrings.txt file

If you are using the English version of Lightroom your resources directory is unlikely to contain a TranslatedStrings.txt file.  In this case you can simply copy this file into the directory. 

If your directory does contain a TranslatedStrings.txt file:

1. Open TranslatedStrings.txt in a text file editor
2. Search for the string “AgSdkMenus/Menu/PluginExtras”
3. If the string does exist, add an ampersand (&) into the text following the equals (=) sign.  This should be placed immediately before the character you want to be the accelerator.  e.g.
   "$$$/AgSdkMenus/Menu/PluginExtras=Plug-in Extras" would become "$$$/AgSdkMenus/Menu/PluginExtras=Plug-in Extra&s" to make s the accelerator character
4. If the string does not exist, add the following line to the file:
   "$$$/AgSdkMenus/Menu/PluginExtras=Plug-in Extra&s" 

French and German speakers should translate the value after the equals (=) sign so it makes sense to you. Just be sure to include an ampersand (&) to mark the character to become the accelerator key.

3) Accelerator enable the plugin

Plugin developers can accelerator enable their menu items using code similar to the following in their Info.lua file:

LrExportMenuItems = {
    {
        title = "Customisable Configuration &Backups",
        file = "ManageBackup.lua",
    },

Please note the only difference between this and your average menu item definition is the single ampersand character. 

If you are trying to accelerator enable a third party plugin things get a little trickier.  If the plugin is open sourced you can directly modify the Info.lua file in the manner mentioned above.  Reload the plugin after the change and the accelerator will be enabled.  If the plugin is compiled you can’t modify the file directly.  If the plugin is localised (i.e. you will see $$$ strings in the Info.lua file after opening it in a text editor) then you can add a new line to the TranslatedStrings.txt file to override that value and add the accelerator.  Unfortunately the Photomatix Pro plugin is not localised otherwise I would add that as an example here.

Mac OS X Alternative

Mac OS X includes a facility to create keyboard shortcuts for any menu item in any program.  Details are available here.  Once you enable the keyboard shortcut capabilities you can try using Ctrl-F2 (Focus on Menu Bar), arrow keys and the accelerator keys above to access your plugin menu items. 

If you still can’t take advantage of the accelerators then consider adding a shortcut directly to the feature in question. 

1. As mentioned in the article above you control these settings in System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts. 
2. Once there press the "+" button to add a new keyboard shortcut. 
3. Choose which application it applies to (Lightroom) then enter the exact name of the menu item. 
4. Enter the keyboard shortcut you want to use and you should now have direct keyboard access to the menu item!

Closing Remarks

I hope you find this useful and please leave a comment if you wish to share your experiences.  I’m particularly interested to hear if any Mac users can access the accelerators via the Ctrl-F2 key combination, and if any other developers choose to accelerator enable their plugins.

This work by The Photo Geek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License

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There have been free alternatives available for some time now but they weren’t that easy to locate or use and had to rely on approaches (e.g. WIA) that couldn’t take full advantage of all of the camera’s capabilities.  Nikon’s public release of newer SDKs redresses that and has spurred developers to produce more sophisticated alternatives.  These may finally bring tethered shooting to the Nikon masses.

Why Shoot Tethered?

Photographers use tethering for two main reasons:

1. Image Review and Workflow – Shooting while tethered provides immediate feedback about your work on a larger screen, making it easier to review and adjust your approach mid shoot and let the “keepers” enter your digital workflow more quickly.  (More detail)
2. Remote Control – Previewing, configuring and triggering your camera remotely can be extremely helpful when doing product, macro, time lapse or self portraiture photography.

The feature set for free tethered shooting software has traditionally focused upon the needs of “Image Review and Workflow” users.  The new Nikon SDKs allow better support for “Remote Control” users, especially with the introduction of Live View.

Selecting Your Software

The most appropriate tethering software for you will be dependent upon a number of factors:

• User Type – Are you using tethering for “Image Review and Workflow” or “Remote Control” purposes?  The latter user type has fewer options to chose from and may need to resort to commercial options to meet all of their needs.
• Camera – Cameras released prior to the D80 are unlikely to be supported by the more sophisticated, free tethering alternatives.  SDKs for older models must exist but Nikon have only released SDKs product July 2007 or later (at the time of writing, this includes the D3, D3x , D40, D60, D80, D90, D200, D300, and D700). 
• Operating System – Few tethering software vendors support both the Windows and Mac platforms.  Only one Linux option appeared in my brief search on the topic.
• Budget

I had access to Windows XP and a Nikon D70S while preparing this post.  As such I was unable to test Mac and Linux specific software or perform in depth testing of programs utilising the Nikon SDKs.  Also some software has been released in German only and could not be reviewed. 

The material below focuses upon the free alternatives available, and has split the free choices into separate “with Extensive Camera Support” and “with Modern Camera Support” categories.  Commentary about my experiences is included when I’m able to test the software.  Where I can’t test software directly I’ve included links to relevant publicly available data.  This can be used as a starting point if you wish to conduct your own investigation into application suitability for your needs.

A list of commercial alternatives has been included for completeness.  Limited detail is provided and I suggest readers use the vendor websites to gain a better understanding of the vendor’s solution.

My Picks

Keeping in mind that I tether for “Image Review and Workflow” purposes and use a Nikon D70S and Windows XP, my top picks are:

1. DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control – it works, and has the widest feature set of any non-Nikon SDK tethering software on Windows
2. Loligo Tether – visually more appealing but had reliability issues during testing

If I upgraded my camera body to something a little more modern my list would become:

1. DCamCapture – use of Nikon SDK should result in more robust and fully featured connectivity with the camera
2. DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control – it works, and has the widest feature set of any non-Nikon SDK tethering software on Windows

Mac users should definitely look into Stefan Hafeneger’s Sofortbild application.  The feature set is impressive and I wish that DCamCapture’s feature set was as rich!  If you use both a Mac and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, or require support for older cameras, then StudioTether would be preferable.  While Sofortbild has more advanced features than StudioTether many of them would become redundant when added into a Lightroom-based workflow.

gPhoto2 was the only option I found for Linux users though I’m sure there are more available.  See this post for details.

Good luck with your adventures with tethered shooting, and please share your experiences with us in the comments section below.

Free Software with Extensive Camera Support

Tethering software in this section uses the underlying Picture Transfer Protocol, rather than Nikon’s published SDKs, to talk to your camera.  This provides wider compatibility at the expense of supporting more advanced camera features such as Live View. 

Two options were tested to confirm whether they could meet my needs, with the results outlined below.  An overview of all options (including those I couldn’t test) is included at the end of the section.

DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control

DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control is a hosted script using WIA over a PTP link to interact with your camera.  It provides features for both Image Review and Remote Control users.  It is designed to solely manage the link to the camera, with more advanced workflow tasks being left for the user’s preferred viewer/workflow tool.  Personally I prefer this approach because there are plenty of viewers and workflow tools to choose from and I’d rather the author focus on getting the tethering right.

The interface was a little slow on the initial connection – times of more than 2 minutes were common – but this seems to be a common complaint with WIA based applications.  So be patient and give the application time to connect.  The hosted script development approach means you may see the odd script error message pop up and be asked whether to continue running scripts on the page.  In practice the program seemed to recover and continue performing its duties if you selected “Yes” to continue running scripts. 

There was one repeatable (and long standing) issue that will impact Remote Control type users.  When you use the “Shutter Release” and “Download Immediately” features together the image capture format is swapped.  e.g. select JPG and “Download Immediately”, click the “Shutter Release” button, and an NEF format file will be transferred to your computer.  Strange, but once you know the issue is there you can easily work around it.

Despite my concerns with the hosted scripting development approach, this was the only program I could get to consistently work with my Nikon D70S for tethered shooting.  I’d recommend trying this program first if you have a camera not supported by the Nikon SDKs.

Loligo Tether

Download Here 

Loligo Tether is a .Net framework application using WIA over a PTP link to interact with your camera.  

It is designed for Image Review type users.  It includes some basic image viewing capabilities but for best results should be combined with a dedicated viewing or workflow application.

I had high hopes for this application and was planning to use it in preference to DIYPhotoBits.com Camera Control.  Unfortunately there was one minor issue that got in the way: I couldn’t get it to consistently work with my camera when using either my camera or the program to trigger the shutter.  To be fair to the author they did describe this as an alpha release so my expectations were unrealistic.  This problem may be specific to my environment so you might want to test it yourself.  I will keep an eye on the application’s progress but until reliability improves it is hard to recommend this for general use. 

All Options Considered in Free Software with Extensive Camera Support Category

Free Software with Modern Camera Support

Tethering software in this section uses Nikon’s published SDKs, rather than the underlying Picture Transfer Protocol, to talk to your camera.  This provides simpler access to more advanced camera features (e.g. Live View) at the expense of camera support.  At the time of writing Nikon’s SDKs support the D3, D3x , D40, D60, D80, D90, D200, D300, and D700 only.

An option was tested to confirm whether it could be used for cameras that weren’t officially supported, with the result outlined below.  An overview of all options (including those I couldn’t test) is included at the end of the section.

DCamCapture

Download Here

DCamCapture is an application developed using the SDKs Nikon began releasing last year.  This allows access to more sophisticated functionality than the previously mentioned applications (e.g. Live View) at the expense of supporting older cameras.  Nikon’s D80 is the oldest camera model for which an SDK is publicly available.  For me personally this means I’m unable to test this application as I own a Nikon D70S and the software refuses to connect to that model.

DCamCapture provides features for both Image Review and Remote Control users.  While it does support Live View and provides an IPTC editor I’d still suggest teaming the application with a dedicated image viewer/workflow tool for best results.  From the current documentation it is difficult to know exactly how many of the exposure setting controls are available when trying to remotely control a camera.

I can’t comment on the application usability as I don’t have access to a newer camera to test with.  Digital Photography Tips and Techniques has reported some usability issues but it is unclear whether these issues are model specific, so its worth conducting your own testing in case it is model specific or they have released another update since then.   To be fair to the author they did describe this as an alpha release so we should set our expectations accordingly.

All Options Considered in Free Software with Modern Camera Support Category

Commercial Software

All options listed in this section are commercial software.  Please refer to the software websites to confirm whether the feature sets are compatible with your requirements.  Most provide trial versions so you can properly test the product before having to part with any money..

Name	Compatibility	Suitable For	Comments
TetherPro $49.95 Current Version: Unknown	Camera(s): All OS: W2K, XP, Vista	Image Review, Remote Control	* Remote Camera Control – Adjust Camera Settings via your PC * Intelligent rules giving Complete Control over your image files * Automatic Image Backup for Safety * Adobe Compatible Image Tagging (Rating and Colour coding) * Automatic Printing of images and Proof Sheets
NKRemote $95 Current Version: v1.0.3	Camera(s): D90, D300, D700, D3 or D200 OS: Win XP, Vista	Image Review, Remote Control	* Display live images on the PC screen* * Auto focus and manually control focus from a PC* * Run a Photobooth: automatically take a sequence of photos and print them out * Sophisticated control for time lapse photography * Preview images in black and white or color
Camera Control 2 $153 Current Version: v2.5	Camera(s): D3X, D3, D2X, D2Hs, D2H, D2Xs, D700, D300, D200, D100, D90, D80, D70s, D70, D60, D50, D40X, D40, D5000 OS: W2K, XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.3.9/ 10.4.11/ 10.5.1	Image Review, Remote Control	* Picture Control Utility: In certain Nikon digital SLRs such as the D3, D700, D300 and D90 customized image adjustment, including tone compensation curve data, can be saved to tailor the camera’s behavior to the photographer’s vision, improving efficiency when using multiple cameras at the same time. * LiveView support: Live previews direct from the camera are supported on the D3, D700, D300 and D90 when this feature is enabled. See what you are about to shoot! * Compatible with WiFi operation: In addition to supporting USB cable connections, Camera Control Pro offers compatibility with the optional wireless transmitter models WT-2a, WT-3a and WT-4a. When attached to a digital SLR, the WT-2a, WT-3a and WT-4a enable remote shooting and setting via a wireless LAN over WiFi. * Compatible with Nikon’s Image Authentication Function: Image data can be transferred and stored without affecting the authentication function.

(via DIYPhotoBits, NikonRumors and Digital Photography Tips and Techniques)

This work by The Photo Geek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License

Choosing Tethered Shooting Software for Nikon DSLR Cameras

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Do you want FastPictureViewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery to support DNG files on Windows XP?  Keep reading to find out how.

If you are a digital photographer that “shoots RAW”, chances are you have at least considered converting your camera’s native files to Adobe Digital NeGatives (DNG).  The DNG format promises greater software support for RAW photos by saving developers from the maintenance nightmare of supporting all the manufacturer (and camera) specific RAW formats on the market today.

Microsoft took a platform approach to the same problem by developing their Windows Imaging Component (WIC).  It provides a framework for working with images and metadata, with third parties releasing codecs to add support for individual RAW file formats.  In practice this means manufacturers release codecs for their cameras to improve their support for Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system.  The three most notable applications using this framework are Vista’s Windows Explorer, FastPictureViewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery.

I prefer Adobe’s approach to this problem but market realities dictate they fully support Microsoft’s operating systems to achieve mass market penetration.  After some delay Adobe Labs produced a release candidate DNG codec to help address this gap.  Unfortunately they only provided support for Vista 32 bit users, leaving Windows XP and Vista 64 bit users to purchase a codec from Ardfry or avoid using DNGs with WIC-based applications.  Eight months later not only do these issues still remain, Adobe hasn’t given any indication whether they will ever be resolved.

Well us Windows XP users don’t need to wait for Adobe any longer.

Instructions

Adobe Labs’ DNG codec will install on Windows XP if you give it a helping hand:

Warning:  By following these instructions you agree you are doing so at your own risk.  Adobe Labs haven’t fully tested their DNG codec on Windows XP and are unlikely to provide support if you have problems.  I haven’t encountered any problems over the month I’ve had the codec installed but can’t provide any guarantees.  I only use the codec to view photos, not write metadata (ratings etc) to them, so definitely backup your photos before updating their metadata. 

1. Download a copy of the Adobe Labs’ DNG codec
2. Download a copy of the Remove Installer OS Check script and extract a copy to the same directory used in step 1.
3. Drag and drop the DNG codec installer file onto the removechk.vbs file.  This will remove the check ensuring it only installs on Vista 32 bit.
4. Run the codec installer.  It should now complete successfully on Windows XP. 
5. If prompted, reboot your system.

You should now have a working DNG codec on your system.  To confirm please run FastPictureViewer or Windows Live Photo Gallery and test whether they can display your DNG files. 

On my system this worked flawlessly and FastPictureViewer could zoom and pan DNG files at full size without any pauses or delays.  Hopefully your experience will be just as smooth. 

Please share your experiences with us especially if you use this codec to write metadata back to your photos.  And here’s hoping that Adobe soon releases an update that officially supports Windows XP, making these instructions redundant!

This work by The Photo Geek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License

Enabling (Free!) DNG Support in FastPictureViewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery on Windows XP

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• Accelerate Access to Lightroom Plugin Extras (14)
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