Best computer/camera interface

[Doug Nelson]

I'm looking for recommendations for cameras with great PRE-exposure interfacing with the computer. So the computer tells the camera what to do, not the camera simply reporting what it did. I'd like to completly bend the camera's will to my own. If I want 7 exposures 3.2 seconds apart and ascending through 7 different EV ranges, then starting all over at a different ISO setting it says "yes sir" and does it. I'd like to compose and focus on my computer screen. Scriptable would be nice. Storing photos on the computer rather than on ram card would be nice, but less important.

Does such a thing exist?

[Cameraken]

Nikon are making progress

http://nikonimaging.com/global/news/2006/0601_02.htm

Ken.

[Doug Nelson]

Thanks. That's better than anything I found.

But it still seems to me they'd be further along than that nowadays.

[Doug Nelson]

There's a pretty good hacking community built up around the Nikon film cameras and controlling them via computer. I wonder why the same kind of community hasn't sprung up for digital cameras?

Probably because they're more expensive to break

[Frank Lopes]

I think the reason is based on the old "the more difficult the challenge the more it appeals to hackers" principle.

Originally Posted by Doug Nelson

There's a pretty good hacking community built up around the Nikon film cameras and controlling them via computer. I wonder why the same kind of community hasn't sprung up for digital cameras?

Probably because they're more expensive to break

[Doug Nelson]

The Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 software looks interesting, but I can't find any revues or articles about it, other than just a bare function listing. It appears to work with the less expensive Nikon DSLRs, but only has live view on the D3 and D300.

Anyone using this? Anyone from Nikon reading this that needs a reviewer?

[Hello_taipan]

hi doug,
i used camera control pro a few times with my d200. You can do pretty much everything you want with nikon ccp, just like u were holding the camera in ur hands.
you can set manual, aperture, speed mode, change isos, correct exposition -5,+5, choose ur focus point, white balance, raw, jpeg or both, jpeg quality, image size, full control on BKT, sharpness and even chose ur color space: sRGB or adobeRGB. All that sitting in front of the computer, never have to check touch the camera.

now the reason i dont use it that much is that i have to wait like 3 or 4sec for the pic to load in the computer before i can shoot again. and what bothers me is that the nikon ccp viewer isnt effective at all (much too slow), so u have to browse to ur freshly taken photos or use a photo manager to view them efficiently.
I only use ccp to test my lights then unplug the camera and start the shoot..
hope this help

[saby]

Originally Posted by Hello_taipan

...i have to wait like 3 or 4sec for the pic to load in the computer before i can shoot again. ...

Hi Alex,

there is not possibility to set from computer and to store to the flash card?

saby

[Hello_taipan]

Originally Posted by saby

Hi Alex,

there is not possibility to set from computer and to store to the flash card?

saby

Hi Saby,
i took a look at the settings but didnt find such option.
one thing i must specify concerning the viewing speed, is that i was talking about ccp loading RAW files into the viewer, which takes a few second.
However if u shoot jpeg, the picture appears almost instantly. sorry i shouldve mentioned that.
cheers

[saby]

So if I want to use bracketshot it takes more time than storing to flash?

saby

[Hello_taipan]

well i guess yes, unless u go jpeg...

[saby]

If I save jpgs it's better to make more files than raw?

[Hello_taipan]

Originally Posted by saby

If I save jpgs it's better to make more files than raw?

im sorry Saby im not sure to understand ur question... what do u mean ?