Hi Cholly, thanks for the book recommendation. I'm downloading now. Looks very good. I have Busch's book but have found it more frustrating than useful; to be fair the data is there, it's just hard to find and doesn't do a great job of evaluating what's useful and what's not.

Thanks! This is GREAT! I have not seen these. Appears my google search terms weren't in the ball park.

Thanks for the answer. I think that article is what got me wondering about this and trying to find out if ISO 50 on the A77 was extended or not.

My A77 has ISO to 50. I have searched, but not been able to find out whether this is the native ISO or an extended ISO. Does anyone know? I use a fast lens and can usually use ISO 50, but have read that in some cases it's better to go with the Native ISO even if it's higher.

I need to be able to set up 8 - 12 cameras all pointed at a single subject from different positions, cause all cameras to fire by a single action, and automatically transfer the images to a (say) network drive. This would be a "station" and there could be 4 - 12 "stations" taking images all day long.

The lighting would be flat, controlled, and continuous. I'm thinking that, for the most part, the cameras would be set up in a relatively static way with focus and exposure pre-set; this would have to be changed ocasionally and shouldn't be too burdensome.

What we're trying to accomplish is speed up the image capturing workflow and improving the quality of the images. We would be capturing images for 2000 - 4000 or so unique objects per week with expectations that this would increase. There will be 8 - 12 high res images per object. The objects are used golf clubs (mostly), shoes, apparel, range finders, and various golf related accessories.

Currently, we're using high res webcams, hand holding the objects and a single person takes 8 - 12 images from different angles. This has been going on for about 9 years and we've all had enough :)

What I'd like to do is to be able to control this from a windows desktop. I've been looking for different ways to accomplish this, but it seems we're relatively unique.

I'm particularly interested if any of you knows about the API (application programming interface) or SDK (software development kit) capabilities of Canon or Nikon (I'm assuming that they're the only companies that have this). We're a programming shop working mostly in C#.

I would appreciate ANY suggestions about ANY aspect of accomplishing this. I've been scratching my head about it for weeks and have investigated and discarded the notion that we could do a good job of this with anything other than still cameras. Obviously, this could end up being a huge hardware investment, even with modest SLRs. Decent IQ from a middling Crop Sensor or compact would be fine and much better than what we're getting now.

The two main problems are 1) being able cause the cameras to fire without having to fire them individually and 2) Being able to get the images off the cameras automatically to a specific place on a computer hard drive fast. Lots of other features would be desirable, but these are key.

I've found CamRanger which might serve to control the cameras (focus and exposure) from a single PC, but it's an additional $300.00 per camera and it's building an ad hoc wireless connection that may or may not be fast enough.

I apologize for such a long post and appreciate your comments and help.

Thanks so much for this link. I've been very puzzled about exposure and IQ and this seems to have unlocked the door for understanding and handling.

The 560 III has a built-in flash radio receiver and you can use it with Yongnuo's very inexpensive transmitter. It's a nice powerful and versatile flash. I have two; one stopped working and if that happens you might as well toss it because it costs more to send two ways to china for free repair than to buy a new one. I bought from Amazon; perhaps other vendors could provide US service.

Sony A77 does this.

I'm a couple of inches shorter but similar chest. I have no data on Black Rapid, but really like my Peak Design Slide. It doesn't hang down to my waist at longest extension, but I really like where it does hang. I also like having the attachment to both an arca swiss tripod plate on the bottom and strap triangle on one side of the camera. I leave the tripod plate on all the time now and it's very quick and easy to disconnect the strap. I've had it a couple of months.

I bought the same Tripod at Costco and returned it. Ended up with the MeFoto Road Trip which is about $200.00 and seems to be of better quality (particularly the ball head) than the Dolica. I like the MeFoto a lot. I really need a taller tripod (I'm tall) but couldn't afford right now and figured that the MeFoto would be good for travel and would be OK all around for the time being.

EXCELLENT! Thanks for posting that. I love Diana Krall, but have only heard her albums and never seen her.

This video set is excellent. 30+ hours of video. Not free, but currently half price ($99.00 during holiday sale)

https://www.creativelive.com/courses/fundamentals-digital-photography-2014-john-greengo

Thanks!

Cholly, thanks for taking the time to give so much data. Greatly appreciated. One quick question; can you tether the A77II?

I'm a total novice; never shot sports before and using the wrong equipment (A77 with 50MM 1.4). I tried a number of auto focusing options with bad results. Finally settled on manual focus and exposure and worked in a general area that was in fairly good focus. The (heavily cropped) results aren't very good. I'm going to practice before I try this again and hopefully get a longer lens.