Most USB-C cables are built to do everything at once — data, power, video, all down the same four wires. For charging a phone, that's fine. For tethering a camera to Capture One during a live shoot, it's the reason your connection drops mid-transfer for no obvious reason.
The power delivery problem
USB-C Power Delivery and high-speed data transfer are competing for the same limited bandwidth inside the cable. High-resolution cameras are writing RAW files well over 100MB per frame, and that data needs to move instantly and without interruption. A cable also negotiating power delivery is running a constant handshake process alongside that transfer — checking voltage, adjusting current, keeping the power channel active. On a phone charging overnight, that overhead is irrelevant. On a tether cable moving RAW files in real time, it's exactly the kind of interference that causes a dropped frame, a stalled transfer, or Capture One losing the connection at the worst possible moment.
This is why every Gelatin cable is built as a dedicated data cable, not a charging cable. No power delivery negotiation competing with your image transfer. The full bandwidth of the cable goes to the one job it exists to do: getting your RAW file from the camera to the screen as fast as possible.
10Gbps tethering — and how to extend it
Gelatin's 10M 10Gbit USB-C Tether Cable is the core of the line. Full 10Gbps USB-C data transfer, dedicated to tethering, in a 10 metre run — long enough for most studio setups and location rigs without needing an extension.
When 10 metres isn't enough — a bigger set, a camera position on a cherry picker, a cart that needs to move mid-shoot — our 5M 10Gbit USB-C Extension Cables add another 5 metres to the run at the same 10Gbps speed. Combine the two and you've got 15 metres of dedicated 10Gbps tethering without touching your transfer speed. That's the setup for anyone whose rig doesn't sit still.
The 20Gbit cable: DisplayPort, tethering, or both
The Pantera 5M 20Gbit USB-C Cable is the most flexible piece in the line, and it's worth understanding what it actually does before deciding where it fits in your kit.
At its native spec, it's a 20Gbps cable that supports DisplayPort over USB-C and Power Delivery — meaning it can carry a monitor signal from your laptop to an external display while also charging that display or laptop through the same cable. If you're running a second screen off your MacBook Pro on a digiplate rig, this is the cable for that connection — one cable handling video and power together, which is exactly what a monitor setup needs and a tether cable doesn't.
The same cable works as a tether cable between camera and laptop, running the full 20Gbps when used on its own. Where it gets genuinely useful is when you pair it with the 5M 10Gbit Extension Cable to add reach — in that configuration, the connection is capped at 10Gbps, since a chain runs at the speed of its slowest link. Still fast, still dedicated on the extension side, with the 20Gbit cable's power delivery only relevant for the DisplayPort use case.
One cable, two jobs: DisplayPort with power delivery when you need a second screen, tether extension when you need more reach. That's one less cable in the bag.
Why the connector orientation matters
The Pantera 5M 20Gbit cable is bidirectional — a 90-degree connector on one end, straight on the other. That's a deliberate choice, not a manufacturing default.
Camera bodies don't agree on where the USB-C port sits or which direction the cable needs to exit. A straight connector clears some bodies cleanly and creates unnecessary strain on others, catching against a grip or a battery door. A 90-degree connector solves that on some cameras and gets in the way on others. Rather than force one orientation on every setup, the cable gives you both ends and lets you decide which one goes where depending on the body you're shooting.
For a digital tech who moves between different camera systems on different jobs — Canon or Sony on one shoot, Fujifilm on the next — that's one cable that adapts to the body instead of one cable per body.
Building the kit
For most tethered setups: the 10M 10Gbit Tether Cable as your base run. Add the 5M 10Gbit Extension when the shot needs more reach. Carry the 5M 20Gbit cable for DisplayPort duty on your second screen, or as a flexible tether option when connector orientation matters more than raw speed.
None of them carry power delivery. All of them are built to do one job — moving your data — as fast and as cleanly as the USB-C spec allows.
Legacy bodies: the Micro-B option
Not every camera worth tethering runs USB-C. The Nikon D850 is still a workhorse on plenty of sets years after release, and it tethers over Micro-B, not USB-C.
Gelatin's 10M 5Gbit USB-C to Micro-B Tether Cables covers that gap — a dedicated 10 metre run from USB-C on the laptop side to Micro-B on the camera side, with the Micro-B connector at 90 degrees to sit flush against the body instead of fighting the port angle. No power delivery, same dedicated-data approach as the rest of the line. Solid as the D850 itself.
If your kit still has a legacy body in rotation, this is the cable that keeps it tethering at full speed without forcing an adapter into the chain.
