TB -> FW800 cable now available

rsmphoto · August 02, 2012, 01:11:54 AM

They're listed and available. Mail order only on the Apple site.

davidthescot · August 02, 2012, 10:02:14 AM

Yep!

Just ordered one - thanks for the heads up.

Dustbak · August 09, 2012, 08:18:03 PM

I have seen several people complain about the stability of shooting tethered with the TB->FW cable and their H3D. Please let us know what your experience is in this area. I have not yet jumped and bought a rMBP just because I want to wait and be sure this can be done safely. Apparently the amount of power TB can deliver is just enough to power the camera which might cause instability. I already find the tethered stability needs improvement in its current state, I don't want to add to this.

In case the TB->FW solution is not 100% stable I am planning on selling both my H4D60 as well as the CF39MS and get something that supports either TB or USB3.0 or preferably both...

rsmphoto · August 09, 2012, 11:56:53 PM

I've been writing about this on Flexframe recently. Yes, there is instability, but yesterday I had pretty much a crash-free day (over 20 location changes) once I tried not unplugging the adapter from the rMBP, instead unplugging from the camera. The laptop even went to sleep at times, and awoke with no problem. Must be something to do with the chip(s) in the adapter is my guess. I have another large shooting day coming up today and will followup.

Richard

rsmphoto · August 10, 2012, 10:34:18 AM

Day 3 of the shoot using the rMBP and the TB adapter was crash free - totally stable over 10 hours of shooting with lots of location changes. For me at least, the answer to trouble free captures seems to be not to remove the TB adapter from the laptop once it's been plugged in. I can unplug the FW cables at will, close the laptop putting it to sleep, nothing seems to cause a problem. Not one hiccup.

Richard

Dustbak · August 10, 2012, 06:58:44 PM

Richard,

That is great news! Thanks for the update. Indeed, your experiences with the adapter on Flexframe was one of the occassions I was referring to. This is good news.

rsmphoto · August 11, 2012, 12:38:22 AM

I'm happy I can contribute.

I view this as very preliminary data at this point, and it's only with the H3DII-39. I have quite a few more shoots coming these next few weeks and will be carrying my old MBP as a back up just in case. I will update if I encounter any further issues.

Best to all,
Richard

davidthescot · August 14, 2012, 04:23:17 AM

Just got my FW-TB cable and it works flawlessly with my MBP-R and H4D-60.

Jacephoto · August 16, 2012, 10:35:56 PM

Thanks for sharing. Is this the one?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A?fnode=51

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter

Easily connect your Thunderbolt-equipped Mac to a FireWire device with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter. Small and compact, it connects to the Thunderbolt port on your Mac computer, giving you a FireWire 800 port that supplies up to 7W for bus-powered peripherals like hard drives and audio devices.

rsmphoto · August 17, 2012, 12:59:12 AM

Yes. The initial problems I was having were due to trying to make captures too quickly with the adapter after inserting it into the rMBP. Once I gave it some time to connect properly it has been just fine.

Alex Maxim · August 31, 2012, 03:50:52 PM

Can't find a FW-TB adapter for PC. Apple's probably won't work.

Matt Crawford · September 11, 2012, 01:54:33 PM

Just to make Hassy owners with the new Retina Macbook smile...
I have tested the TB -> FW800 cable with a Leaf 75S and Aptus 10 and as expected there's not enough power to run these backs. (You have to remove the battery on these backs to insert the FW cable when shoot tethered.)
Did have enough power to run a 2.5" Lacie FW800 hard drive however.

DenisM · September 27, 2012, 07:33:29 PM

This is very encouraging.

I'm thinking of buying a MacBook Pro for capture (comes with all connections, including FireWire. Don't like the very qualified reviews of the Retina MBP including this one... http://m.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-1085783/review ) since almost all PC manufacturers have abandoned FireWire and haven't adopted Thunderbolt. (If anyone knows of a PC laptop with both FW and TB, please let me know

)

Are mult-shot shooters also happy with the FW/TB adaptor?

Thanks.

D.

Mats E · December 18, 2012, 10:21:08 AM

Quote from: DenisM on September 27, 2012, 07:33:29 PM
This is very encouraging.

I'm thinking of buying a MacBook Pro for capture (comes with all connections, including FireWire. Don't like the very qualified reviews of the Retina MBP including this one... http://m.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/apple-macbook-pro-with-retina-display-1085783/review ) since almost all PC manufacturers have abandoned FireWire and haven't adopted Thunderbolt. (If anyone knows of a PC laptop with both FW and TB, please let me know )

Are mult-shot shooters also happy with the FW/TB adaptor?

Thanks.

D.

I guess among the best choices of PC laptops today would be the Lenovo Thinkpad Edge S430 with i7 processor 16GB Ram and Nvida 620 2GB Graphic card. If excluding the optical drive there are two slots for SSD and/or HDD. All at half price of the rMBP. ....and the good news aside from USB 3.0, it has one TB port. But more options might be lounged in Las Vegas early January as slowly PCs are adopting TB ports including ASUS as well.

/Mats