Sigma fp gets a flippy-flappy rear screen that rotates horizontally in 360°. It also comes with its own battery. And it's much bigger. (recently updated!!!).

 I looked back at the 20 environmental portraits I shot for an accounting firm back on October 25th and I really, really liked the skin tone I got along with the resistance to high ISO noise that the Sigma fp gave me that day. Some of the credit should also go to the Leica 24-90mm zoom lens which is nothing short of fantastic. I just found myself wishing I could show the portrait subjects some of the images I was capturing so I could better get their "buy-in" on the process. A five inch, high def monitor that I could compose on and also swivel around to let the subject review some shots would have been really great.

Today, as I was packing for a similar project I'm doing tomorrow at a law firm I realized that I had all the pieces to make that working methodology successful right here in the studio. I love to test stuff out before I go out and work with clients so I put the lens on a tripod, mounted via a rotating mounting ring, and attached the Sigma fp to the lens. I left the magnifying hood on the camera but will probably jettison it for the actual shoot as it becomes redundant with a monitor attached. Finally, using the Sigma flash attachment's hot shoe, I attached the Atomos Ninja V to the rest of the package and connected it to the camera with a micro-HDMI to full size cable. When I get to the location tomorrow I'll also put a monitor shade on the Atomos to block unwanted light on the screen. 

Now I can set up LED lights, preview my exact shots, and see every detail on a monitor that's got at least twice as much viewing area. So much easier to show clients and subjects how the shots look as we go through the day. The novelty of it all will make the day that much more fun!

I'll bring along some of those big, Sony NP970 batteries for all day monitor performance as well as a couple more HDMI cables --- just because. It's a heavy package but I'll let my tripod do all the grunt work.

The tests say, "Yes." We are good to go. Now on to the packing.

After I disassemble this set up I'll plug a USB-3 cable into the camera and the computer and see if whatever changed in Lightroom Classic has now enabled the same kind of tethering as I experienced this week with the Leica SL and SL2. With a bit of luck I'll be tethering every camera I own except for the Leica CLs. They have not ports.

New Update: The Sigma is not tether-able to Lightroom Classic at this time. I'll continue to use it tethered via HDMI to the Atomos Ninja V.   Too bad....

Ah Jeez. Not more rabbits... Oh darn. Another mannequin.

 

Breaking news update for Leica SL users: !!! The latest version of Lightroom Classic now tethers seamlessly with the Leica SL camera.

 After yesterday's success tethering the current Leica SL2 with Lightroom Classic I came into the studio this morning and found the correct Tether Tools cable for use with the Leica SL. Here's what the end that goes into the SL looks like:

I connected the camera to the computer, launched Lightroom Classic and then turned on the camera with the USB set to PTP. The app found the camera right away and opened up a control strip that allowed for changes to the camera as well as triggering from the computer. Lightroom in tethered mode provided a live preview and then a beautiful, full window review of the .DNG file just shot. It also provided a sequential row of image thumbnails across the bottom of the program window. 

I repeated the hook up and shooting from scratch three times and each time the whole shebang started right up and there were no issues. 

Now my three main shooting platforms, the Panasonic S5, the Leica SL2 and the Leica SL all provide me with the ability to shoot tether and to review images on my computer in real time. No extra charges. No need to buy a yearly license to yet another application. 

Just in time for Christmas...