Newbie question about servos/steppers

[j-e-mcd]

Hi, I am planning to build a multi axis positioner, with rotating joints and slides to position a camera(and as much bells & whistles as I can put on it). I have no experience yet and trying to figure out how to decide what hardware I need. I have bought some stuff (propeller microcontroller, stepper motors&control, a couple servos&controller and various sensors), but don't have it yet. I will spend some time playing with the programming & control etc, however long that takes. It won't be quick! My question is about servos, and I hope to be steered in the right direction and I will work on it. I need to have precise control of position, as it will have to be able to repeat many configurations and positions on a few axis. Like I said I don't know any of this stuff yet so I may not be explaining my question very well. I fear a stepper will not be tough enough to survive the bumps & beatings this thing will probably get, and lose track of repeatable positions, besides maybe slipping. If I use a servo modified to rotate continuously, can I still have absolute position control & repeatability? I don't think I can get by with 180 deg geared up. Is there a good workaround for this(servo rotation limit) so I can know position through two or three revolutions (or more?) (that is hopefully not too complex!), or, can I use steppers and use a simple sensor routine to establish recalibration of the starting point?
Thanks for any advice anybody has,
john

[franklin97355]

They make servos and steppers in many sizes on up to industrial quality. You can use motors and encoders also. In most cases you would bring your device back to a "home" position before running the sequence.