Shutter triggering on a Sony A7Riii

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Geopressure
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Shutter triggering on a Sony A7Riii

Post by Geopressure »

Hi All,

I am considering the purchase of an A7Riii Sony mirror-less camera to be used with a Wemacro rail (a vertical setup on the Wemacro stand). I'm currently using a Canon T5i and enjoy using the EOS utility software for tethering to a PC in Live View.

I have read a few posts by people using an IR remote to trigger the Sony shutter, but have some concerns about the reliability of this method. It would be great if someone could weigh in on this issue. Or perhaps there is a work-around using a cable that would still allow tethering to the PC?

Thanks!

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

I asked the same question, but did not receive an answer, before I bought my A7RIII. My online checks showed that the triggering was done though the "multiport", which also is used for tethering, ie either/or. However, some forum folks recently pointed out that there is a secondary USB port on the camera that is used for triggering. I don't know the details, so you'll need to wait until someone can give an authoritative answer, but I think this is what you need to research.

Beatsy
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Post by Beatsy »

I use the WeMacro rail with Sony A7rii and (occasionally) Sony A9. Initially, I triggered the shutter with a lead between the WeMacro controller box and the Sony USB multiport. This worked very reliably, but had two issues. First, I couldn't tether the camera to my PC (or power it externally) as the multiport was in use. Second, a minor annoyance, the WeMacro controller appears to periodically send "half shutter press" signals down the wire. This made it impossible to zoom in or access menus on the camera when the WeMacro controller was switched on. The camera would keep reverting back to the main screen every couple of seconds (as if the shutter had been half pressed).

But WeMacro came out with a Sony remote control that's been hacked with a lead added so it can plug into the WeMacro controller. Brilliant! Solved all my issues at a stroke. The USB multiport is now free for other uses (more on that next) and shutter triggering is (so far) 100% reliable. I've not had a single missed exposure in well over 10,000 shots.

And now I'm free to tether too - which I do. I was already using Capture One (now at V11) and simply connected a USB cable between the camera and my PC. Works fantastic. The camera is powered via the USB cable (and charges the battery at the same time). It can be triggered by the WeMacro controller (via the attached remote), by a separate handheld wireless remote, by pressing the shutter button or by using Capture One (C1). In all cases, images are immediately transferred into C1 and displayed. Basic camera settings can be adjusted from C1 too. Again, this has been 100% reliable to date - no missed captures or lost images.

You can get an express version of C1 specifically for Sony, but it doesn't support tethering. The Pro version for Sony does support it and is very cheap - well worth the price.

Hope that helps, but happy to answer any further questions.
Last edited by Beatsy on Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

mawyatt
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Post by mawyatt »

Can't help with the Sony, (I'm Nikon based) but consider the Wemacro Vertical Stand with the Horizontal option.

This actually works very well and doesn't take up much table top room in either mode, and very affordable to boot!! I've spent lots of time and $ developing my horizontal setup based upon a Thor optical bench & rail, and just now added a vertical component. However for most of my work I go to the Wemacro Vertical Stand because it's so simple & easy to use and setup, and takes very little space. My Thor based system take up a major fraction of a room :shock:

See the later part of this thread:

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=37180

and

https://www.wemacro.com/?product=vertical-stand

https://www.wemacro.com/?p=2455

Anyway, hope this helps.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

Geopressure
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Post by Geopressure »

Wow, those were rapid replies...

Beatsy: Thanks for your detailed response! It sounds like the IR remote is a
great solution.

mawyatt: I do use the Wemacro stand and find it works very well. Sorry if I
was unclear.

Alnitak
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Post by Alnitak »

I've replied to this question before in another thread. I bought an A7RIII several months ago to use for my photomicrography. There are two ports on the A7RIII--a micro USB port and a USB-C port. You can get a cable from WeMacro to connect the controller box to the A7RIII using the micro-USB port, and connect the camera to your computer using the much faster USB-C port. I personally use the Sony Imaging Edge "Remote" software and "Viewer" software as the Remote offers great control of the camera features, and the Viewer software will automatically stitch together the pixel-shift images in the proprietary .ARQ format. I then import those to Lightroom where I edit, catalog and manage all of my photos. I can export/import from there to stacking programs.

The A7RIII is an amazing camera for this type of work. The pixel shift gives a slight but noticeable improvement in resolution, but a more marked improvement in noise.

Hope this helps!

Jeff

Geopressure
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Post by Geopressure »

Alnitak: Thanks for your clear answer! This is very helpful. It seems there are two good options here.

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