Camera Labs

I am not sure if that is possible, but I would like to do some of autoportraits and wondering if I could hook up my E-520 to laptop and have live view in it in order to get the lights perfect and then use cable release to close the shutter?

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E-5; E-1; E-620; GH-1
12-60; 50-200; 70-300; 40-150; 25; 35; 50;
14-140;
FL-36rx2 ; FL50r; FL50
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www.maksimimages.com

I have not located a software package that allows live view in the laptop. Sure would be nice though. Cannon SLR's come with such software. Sigh ...

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Olympus E620 | 25/2.8 | 50/2 | 12-60 | 14-42 | 14-54 | 40-150 | 70-300
Olympus E-P2 | Panasonic GH2 | 20/1.7 | 14-42 | 14-140
Leica M7 | M9 | 21/4 | 35/1.4 | 50/2.5 | 50/1.5 | 70/2.5 | 90/2
Sony NEX-3 | 16/2.8| 18-55
My FlickR!

You'd need a usb tv tuner with composite video-in capability (most have an adapter) and software that would hopefully come with the tv tuner to view the live feed from the camera.
I have used the live-view with my TV at home and it works fine, though it is a bit low-res on a 32" tv.
Olympus does sell a cable that has both USB and video out so that you could control the camera from the laptop using Studio and view the live feed using a USB tv tuner. Both the cable and a tv tuner are on my christmas list so if I've been good this year hopefully i can report back.

DAMN SMART !!! my friend.
I never thought of that since I have never used the cable that came with camera.
I always transfer pictures through card reader, and the picture review is only standard definition, so i have never bothered to hook up that composite output to my tv.

I have my mini studio directly in front of the TV so it should be possible to hook up the composite to my tv, set the pose looking on the tv, snap the 12 sec timer shutter and then go back repose and wait for the exposure.

What does the studio allow in terms of camera control ?

_________________
E-5; E-1; E-620; GH-1
12-60; 50-200; 70-300; 40-150; 25; 35; 50;
14-140;
FL-36rx2 ; FL50r; FL50
www.facebook.com/maksimimages
www.maksimimages.com

Studio lets you control pretty much everything in your camera, except IS.
Also something to be aware of is that as soon as you hook up the video cable to your camera it outputs everything that would be on the rear lcd to whatever the video cable is hooked up to.
When you push live view then it will output what the camera sees to your TV.
It sounds like you might not absolutely need to hook up the camera to your laptop for your autoportrait.
You could just use the TV for posing composure and then use it to review the picture just taken, though it would be at low-res.
Or you could just take out the memory card after taking the pic and review it on your laptop.
Or you could get that nifty cable from Olympus and use the tv for composing the pose and then review the shot immediately using Studio on the laptop. (Studio automatically downloads pictures taken to your computer)
Using Studio for camera control is nice since there's no chance of the camera getting moved.
Though i will admit i have tripped on a few tripod legs in my day
If you end up going the high-tech route be sure that "video out" is set to ON inside of Studio. Also be sure to have a fresh battery in the camera, in my experience live-view or sending out the video feed uses them up faster than normal.
Good luck and let me know how it goes or if you have more questions.

Great.
As soon as I find time to install studio on the laptop it will be done. Baby will come any minute, so time will be in a short supply, but it all sounds perfect.

The way I see it set:
1. Home-studio setup in front of the TV with 2wireless flashes (mounted on stand with umbrellas FL50R and FL-36R) and the backdrop,
2. Posing through the live view and the TV,
3. Camera control (zoom, exposure, flash settings) through laptop running Olympus studio and connected to camera through USB extension cord.
4. Shutter through 1m cable release or infra red remote control or self timer (12 sec)
5. Image review through tv (low res) and Laptop (high res).

So few questions that I am thinking about are:
1. I dont remember how the cable looks like, does it have a composite out and usb out on one side and the mini usb on the other, or it's few different cables with mini usb
2. Is the infra red sensor in front or at the back of the camera ?

I found a deal for $50 that has a bag for E-500 double kit and RM-1.
Might pick it up since I have no camera bag of any sort. Even more inclined now because of the RM-1

_________________
E-5; E-1; E-620; GH-1
12-60; 50-200; 70-300; 40-150; 25; 35; 50;
14-140;
FL-36rx2 ; FL50r; FL50
www.facebook.com/maksimimages
www.maksimimages.com

cable is called : Olympus AVIPC-2 USB Cable
Adorama and amazon have it but not in stock at either place.
I can't find it on Olympus' site though, which is not good.
I just called Olympus and they said if it's not on the site then it's discontinued. So I don't know what to do now...... maybe I'll call adorama and see what they say (when they're open).
So I don't know what to say, sorry for leading you on about this, I didn't realize the part was so tough to get. I'll let you know if I find out more.

As for the infrared sensor, it should be on the grip side of the front.
That's a good deal for a RM-1 and bag, basically you get a free bag with your RM-1. I don't use it all the time, but it's very handy when i need it.
Your setup sounds good, if only the cable was more available.
I'm sure you'll find a way to get it done though.

ok, found the cable on an olympus site....
https://emporium.olympus.com/innards/em ... 202069-410

i just ordered it. we'll see if they actually send me one.

So this cable is not the one that we get with the camera or in the kit ?

In that case, I might just make one.

On forum (fourthirds) there was a guy who made 3 in one cable.
He used connector from China (got it as cable release) and then rewired everything else. He even provided the pinout.
I might do the same thing since I have 2 cable releases (from China as well) and one is broken. Only thing I am not sure about would be how many wires do I get out of the miniUSB connector.

_________________
E-5; E-1; E-620; GH-1
12-60; 50-200; 70-300; 40-150; 25; 35; 50;
14-140;
FL-36rx2 ; FL50r; FL50
www.facebook.com/maksimimages
www.maksimimages.com

Right, you should have received a composite video cable and a separate USB cable. Both of which hook up through the same port.
The cable I just bought combines the two so that they can be used at the same time since there's only one port on the camera.
Here's something I just read and copied from another forum that might prove helpful:

The little connector on the camera has 6 or 8 pins. Four of them are standard USB (5 V, ground, data plus, data minus), one is video, one is audio. (There may be two additional grounds for audio and video, or they may share ground with USB. That is not important for this discussion).

The camera comes with a USB cable that connects only to pins needed for USB, and an AV cable that connects only to the pins needed for video and audio. In order to get a video display during camera control, you need a different cable, that does not come with the camera. This video/USB cable connects to all pins on the camera connector, and splits off into two cables, one for USB (for control), and one for video (for the live view).

Did you managed "Leo3" to get the "AV/PC-2 USB" cable and see it working both USB control by Olympus Studio AND PC or TV LiveView throu the cable AT THE SAME TIME?????????

Yeah it works. I got a tv tuner card and using the software that came with that I can see what live-view would show me on the computer while controlling the camera at the same time through Olympus Studio.