How do I set up three tethered cameras to dump photos onto one computer into the same folder?

Question

This is for product photography. I would like to have three cameras tethered to one computer via USB. Camera 1 is handheld (say canon powershot) and first, photos are taken of the subject box. Then the box is placed on a scale and weighed. At this point, cameras 2 and 3 are positioned overhead to take a photo of the box barcode (camera 2) and a photo of the scale weight readout (camera 3). Photos from cameras 2 and 3 don't need to happen exactly simultaneously but should happen nearly at the same time because I would like to rig cameras 2 and 3 to one trigger. Next, I would like all photos to appear in one folder in the proper sequence in which they were taken, e.g. in lightroom. But I don't edit my photos so I'd prefer to just move the files with windows explorer to keep things simple. What would be the easiest way to do this?

Answer 1

Set your tethering software to assign file names based on the date and time taken, with the date in MMDD, YYMMDD, or YYYYMMDD format and the time in 24Hr format so it is HH:MM:SS. If you want camera sequence numbers, then have them included after the time & date portion of the file name. Be sure the time on all of your cameras is synchronized and have the same time zone set.

If you captured an image on March 9, 2023 at 22 seconds after 3:47 p.m. (15:47 in 24H format) using YYYYMMDDHHMMSS it would be named:

20230309154722.jpg

For instance, I use a file naming convention that goes like this:

YYMMDDxxxxMC54zzzz.CR2

In my case, xxxx is a sequence number I assign when editing so that images from a particular shoot will appear in the order I desire when uploaded to my website or social media, or when viewed in a slideshow that displays images in file name order.

MC54 is the prefix I've changed from IMG_ in my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera's settings (My 5D Mark III is set to MC53, my 7D Mark II is MC72), and zzzz is the original camera assigned 4 digit file number.

The image I want displayed third in the sequence from the fourth album/event on March 9, 2023 would look like this:

2303094003MC547863.CR2 (Where the original in-camera file name would be MC547863, or IMG_7863 if I had not changed the prefix from IMG_ to MC54 in the camera's internal settings)

The exported full (high) resolution JPEG would be named:

2303094003MC547863HR.jpg

The exported lower resolution file intended for web viewing would be named:

2303094003MC544786LR.jpg

If I shot using multiple bodies, as I often do, then the 18th image from the second shoot/album which was taken using my 7D Mark II might be:

2303092018MC723257.CR2 (Where the original in-camera file name would have been IMG_3257 had I not changed the prefix from IMG_ to MC72 in the camera's internal settings)

You would use the time stamp in HHMMSS for the six places to the immediate right of the date, then whatever other info you wanted to include to the right of that. Any file system set to display file order based on file name ascending would arrange the images in the order they were taken.