- About tethering and its benefits
- Capturing Images with a Connected Camera
- Next Capture Naming
- Camera Settings
- Live View
- Save to Card
- Changing file format & destination
- Capturing Images with an iPhone
- Tethering iPhone to Capture One Pro or Capture One for iPad
See our video tutorial below, which covers most of the steps outlined in this article.
About tethering and its benefits
Camera tethering is the process of connecting your camera to a computer, tablet, or even a smartphone via a cable or Wi-Fi. Once you’ve successfully connected the camera, any new image captured by the camera is then passed directly to the device.
This is a great way to ensure that you get the perfect shot, since you can make any changes you need without having to retake the photo. You can also view your images on your mobile device seconds after you capture them.
Wired vs. wireless tethering
See below for a comparison video between wired and wireless tethering.
Wired tethering offers the fastest transfer between camera and computer/tablet/smartphone — there’s very little delay between firing the shutter and seeing the images on screen. The only downside is the cable. It can get yanked out of the camera port easily, or wiggle loose just enough to break the physical connection and often times the software needs to be restarted before it will recognize the camera connection again.
Transfer speeds depend on the ports, cables, and device used. For instance, while the iPhone 15 has a USB-C port, only the iPhone 15 Pro supports USB 3 data transfer speeds.
Wireless tethering allows for more freedom of movement when shooting on location. However, there may be a delay of 15-30 seconds (or more depending on file size) while the images transfer to the computer. Consider transferring only JPEG images to your mobile device for the fastest performance.
Capturing Images with a Connected Camera
See the video below to learn more about capturing images with Capture One on an iPhone:
The steps below will take you through the capture process in Capture One for iPad.
- Make a capture on your camera, or in Capture One, by tapping the shutter release button:
- Every image that is captured, will be stored in All Captures
- Any Album can be assigned as a Capture Album by tapping the three dots next to the album name, once it has been created:
- Any captures made from now on, will be shown in both All Captures and the assigned Capture Album – only one copy of the image will exist on your iPad locally, it is simply displayed in multiple locations, similar to Albums and Smart Albums in Capture One Pro.
- You can disconnect and reconnect your camera at any time by tapping the three dots next to the camera name:
- If you find your images are looking somewhat different to how you see in camera, it's recommended that you switch off Next Capture Adjustments – tap the icon shown below to toggle this behavior on/off. This will ensure that your images are coming into the iPad unedited, just as they would when stored to a storage device in the camera. However, this feature is handy if you have specific adjustments that you would like to be applied from one image to the next.
N.B. Nikon and Canon cameras automatically save to both Capture One mobile and card (if present) This functionality is firmware dependent and cannot be controlled from Capture One mobile.
Recently released Sony and Fuji cameras may offer this facility. Please refer to the user manual for your camera to see if the option is available.
Next Capture Naming
Capture One mobile allows you to name images as they come into the app, therefore replacing the default prefix/suffix provided by your camera, e.g. IMG_1234. This is particularly useful when organizing images, as you can name images per shoot, look, model and so on.
The naming is saved and will remain after an app restart, but it gets reset every time you change the capture album.
You can access the tool by going to ... in the top-right of the display and then selecting Rename Next Capture:
N.B. The parameters that you set in the following window will apply to all images that follow and not just the next image.
Tap Custom Name to set the desired naming and digit counter to be applied to your images.
For example: typing "Bakery shoot" and selecting "0001" will mean the images will come in as follows:
Bakery shoot 0001, Bakery shoot 0002 and so on. You can reset the counter at any time by tapping "Reset" to set the counter back to 0001 - this is useful if you are moving on to a different look, model, set or simply wish to reset the counter.
You can go back to your camera's naming by going into this tool and selecting Default Name.
Camera Settings
- The availability of settings depends on the camera’s functionality and firmware. Exposure compensation, ISO etc. can be found in the menu next to the name of your camera or by tapping the gear icon on the shutter button:
Live View
Introduced in Capture One mobile 2.3, Live View provides a real-time output from your camera's sensor, similar to using the camera's viewfinder.
To access Live View, tap the Live button located below the shutter button:
You will then see a minimized version of the camera feed. To go full screen, tap the icon shown above.
From here, you can capture images (if the option is not shown, then your camera doesn't support this functionality when using an external device) or change to grid view, for more accurate composition.
Controlling focus
The availability of settings depends on the camera’s functionality and firmware. If supported, you can also control focus from your mobile device.
The varying degrees of focus adjustment are shown from top to bottom. Make large, medium or small adjustments to the camera's focus by tapping the corresponding arrow.
Camera Controls
The availability of settings depends on the camera’s functionality and firmware. If supported, you will also be able to adjust the things such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance etc. by accessing the Camera Controls menu shown below:
To exit live view, tap X in the top-left of the display, as shown below.
Save to Card
The availability of settings depends on the camera’s functionality and firmware. It is not supported functionality for all cameras – if the option does not appear, then your camera does not support it.
In Capture One mobile (2.2.3), the default setting for the Save To (for Canon) or Recording Media (for Nikon) camera settings is now Capture One + Card when a card is present within the camera. If the camera does not contain a card, saving to Capture One will be the default setting
Capturing Images with an iPhone
The app allows you to directly capture images using your iPhone’s camera.
- From the main screen, tap the camera icon located at the top right corner to take a photo:
- You’ll find options to toggle the flash and view the file format being used in the same corner (you can change the file format in your iPhone's Settings app > Camera > Format):
- The app also gives you the flexibility to choose which iPhone lens you want to use for capturing images.
- By default, your images are saved in the ‘All Images’ album. Tap Save to All Captures if you wish to save them in a different album:
- By capturing ProRAW images directly images directly from the Capture One app, you'll get the benefits of our advanced color profiles
Changing file format & destination
Some cameras allow saving the images both to the SD card inside the camera and locally on the iPad/iPhone. You can also set what format goes where (RAW+JPEG or/and JPEG etc.) Transferring JPEGs to iPad might result faster for some workflows/setups.
This is dependent on a camera model/manufacturer, so it's worth checking the Destination menu for available options.
Tethering iPhone to Capture One Pro or Capture One for iPad
You can tether your iPhone to Capture One Pro or Capture One for iPad, using it as a traditional camera. This feature requires iOS 16 or newer and Capture One Pro 23 16.2.4 (macOS only).
ProRAW is available on iPhone 12 Pro and newer, while other models use HEIF/HEIC.
- Launch Capture One Pro or Capture One for iPad.
- Connect your iPhone to your desktop or iPad by wire. Make sure no other applications are open that could interfere with the connection and communication with the iPhone.
- Open Capture One for iPhone and accept the request by selecting “Open Camera Mode”:
- Check that “Save to connected device” is displayed on the iPhone. This ensures that images are transferred to Capture One Pro or Capture One for iPad:
- To capture images, you can use the capture button on the iPhone or iPad, or use the Camera tool in Capture One Pro. The images will be stored in your chosen album.
ReTether
Experience the freedom of movement with ReTether, ensuring you never miss a shot.
During a photoshoot, feel free to disconnect your tethering cable and continue capturing your moments. Once you reconnect, your shots will be seamlessly transferred to Capture One mobile.
Settings such as Next Capture Naming and Next Capture Adjustments will also be applied upon receiving images.
To ensure smooth operation, keep the Capture One mobile app running on your iPhone or iPad. It's also important to keep the camera turned on (ensure that your camera is not in power saving/eco mode) otherwise, the images will not be automatically transferred.
N.B. This feature is compatible with supported Canon and Nikon cameras. Please ensure that a memory card is inserted into the camera.