Canon GPS receiver GP-E2 firmware 2.0 adds T6i/T6s (760D/750D) and 5DS/5DS R support

GP-E2 has it's own power source, one AA battery, so it doesn't affect camera battery. $200 waterproof point-and-shoot cameras don't shine in image quality, so GPS there is to make them $200, not $80.

Jun 24, 2015permalink

Reactive

Confused. Everybody's smartphone already comes with GPS, Bluetooth, and a big screen... and my Motorola Moto G cost a little over half the price of Canon's GPS receiver. Who would actually be silly enough to buy one? It reminds me of car manufacturers a few years ago charging £300+ for a "Bluetooth upgrade" when my hands-free Bluetooth earpiece cost £20.

Jun 15, 2015permalink

Fri13

You pay for few things:

1) It is way faster to use.
2) It is way easier to use.
3) You can even get a compass heading
4) It makes post process easier as file metadata already has the geolocation data.

I use OIS to add geolocation metadata.
How I use it:

1) Take camera in use
2) Take smartphone out of the pocket/bag and open OIS and enable geotagging
3) Use camera as wanted
4) After you are done, turn OIS geotagging off.
5) Remember to sync geolocation with the camera before transferring photos to computer by connecting phone and camera (tagging 1500 photos takes about 10 seconds in camera)
6) Copy files to computer.

I would gladly take a GPS integrated in the camera (not just a additional module to be forgotten) that has physical switch to turn it On/Off as needed. As then I could just flip the switch and it would find the satellites and start recording and adding data on every frame. After job is done, flip the switch.
I don't want to keep smartphone turned On all the time.

Jun 16, 2015permalink

arhmatic

I vote to boycott these products. Is there a good reason for GPS not to be included in any camera? - other than greedy camera makers hoping to charge for them separately?

GPS is now part of almost every little tiny mobile phone. The chip is tiny and inexpensive... It could be just included with a minimal effort... Additionally, I personally refuse to have a dongle attached to my already bulky and bully SLR, AND it take up a camera port, that could be used for something else.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

SimenO1

Look at what Pentax did to their GPS attachment O-GPS1 when they upgraded the K-3 to K-3II. The GPS unit got integrated, not just free of charge but the newer camera got a 200$ lower price tag then the K-3 without GPS.

Who doesn't love what they did there and the signals it sends to the competition?

Jun 12, 2015permalink

grasscatcher

I just use the tracks recorder on the free app "GPS Essentials" with my S5 smartphone for whatever camera I am using. After shooting, I bluetooth the phone's GPS tracks to my laptop and geotag the photos with free GPicSync. Works with any digital camera.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Langusta

Dear canon, either put it inside or forget it.
All my mobiles from last decade, regardless how heap, had it.
GPS chip is as small as pea and cheap as pee...

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Canon equipment now experiences 'phenomena'. Paranormal?

The real phenomenon in 2015 is canon customers not getting GPS already built in their $3.8k 5Ds.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Odd I didn't see GPS in the more than 3K D810 either.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

rrccad,
doesn' t matter & you need some help man! You gotta stop interfering with people cheerfully bashing canon. ;-)

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Mika Y.

Personally I've been happy for many years with a plain basic no-name GPS module that I just keep in my camera bag and geotag the images later based on the logs on my computer with a free application. The Canon's unit has a few nice additional features such as adjusting the camera clock and also providing direction information in addition to basic location data, but they're just not worth the price difference for me personally.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

SimenO1

With todays prices and sizes of GPS chips we all should be freed from the extra unit, extra cost and extra steps of fusing the information.

People take for granted that a 200$ phone has GPS. Why shouldn't we take for granted that 1000$ cameras have it?

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Mika Y.

That is of course true as well, other than possible degradation in signal due to a metal chassis an integrated unit should do just fine these days and I guess even that is not really a significant issue with the current technology. My comment was primarily a comparison between what Canon's product offers vs. a more basic standalone external unit, I don't have anything against having an integrated GPS in the camera itself of course.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

MiamiC70

"Firmware Version 2.0.0 is for GPS Receiver GP-E2 with firmware up to Version 1.0.9. If the GPS Receiver GP-E2's firmware is already Version 2.0.0 or Version 2.0.1, it is not necessary to update the firmware."

So where heck is v2.0.1 available and how is this news because I downloaded v2.0.0 Two months ago.

Jun 11, 2015*permalink

erotavlas

Will this update help me find my way to a new A7RII?

Jun 11, 2015permalink

Sergiusbr

Yes (need to update the FW)! But keep it around because the A7R2 does not have GPS (just in case you wish to go back)...

Jun 12, 2015*permalink

EthanP99

Just cancelled my a7rii order for this.

Jun 11, 2015permalink

Lanski

Love it!

Jun 12, 2015permalink

AbrasiveReducer

Good one!

Jun 12, 2015permalink

arhmatic

and I sold all my Leicas to get this...

Jun 12, 2015permalink

bereninga

It's sad that this is actual "news" for Canon at the moment.

Jun 11, 2015permalink

It seems like it has been almost ¼ of a year since the 5Ds was announced and it isn’t even available yet. I am not sure how many cameras you can sell if you don’t even ship them.

Jun 11, 2015permalink

WTF does that have to do with a gps firmware announcement?

seriously dude, you need some help or something.

Jun 11, 2015*permalink

James Booba

why is this crap even news @dpreview? sony had like 20 firmware updates across the board last weeks for all their cams, who cares?

oh wait. now there is a canon news inbetween sony&leica. good job.

Jun 12, 2015*permalink

"WTF does that have to do with a gps firmware announcement?"

It just shows that Canon is more worried about having GPS in their camera than 4K video, or high ISO, or better dynamic range....etc.

They were literally waiting for the GPS functionality to work before they released the camera. That is what took them so long to finally start shipping the camera.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

AbrasiveReducer

Oh the horror. Like taking a photo and having to wait more than a fraction of a second to see it. Well, LensRentals has them, so everybody else shouldn't be far behind.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

mpg,
at the moment 5Ds is aging in fine smoked oak barrels.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

@mpgxsvcd you need a therapist. your hate for canon is a little scary. what did they do to you. lock you in a room with out food or water for weeks on end and beat you? steal your gf? do other nefarious things to you? what?

all you ever do is bitch whine and moan every time canon is mentioned, hell even when it has nothing to do with canon you bitch about canon.

they updated the firmware for compatibility on an accessory for new products. so what? that's what companies do when they have new products, they make sure their #$(&*#$ accessories work with them? tying this into the release date of the 5Ds? really? are you on glue?

shakes head..

Jun 12, 2015*permalink

@rrccad

Go check my comments on the T6i/T6s review. Those aren’t negative at all. I think they actually got more right than wrong with the T6i/T6s. For other cameras it is a different story.

Yes I am hard on them when I really think they are not producing a good product. However, when they produce I can also praise them. Either way I do feel that I give them a fair shake.

Jun 15, 2015permalink

BOOM! Take that Sony! Canon has GPS for their flagship Full Frame DSLR. Everyone knows that GPS is the single most important thing you can possibly have for taking pictures.

Jun 11, 2015permalink

Artpt

Yes..well said...it would seem the R&D people need to meet with the PR staff...Perhaps a photo contest announced tomorrow?..;)

Jun 11, 2015permalink

Clint Dunn

Actually even this GPS addition is a bust...why not build it into the camera in the first place instead of making you mount it on the hotshoe....what if you want GPS and to use a flash??

For the record I could care less about GPS in a camera...just sayin'.

Jun 11, 2015permalink

1st, that GPS unit appeared three years ago, before anyone started incorporating GPS into heavy cameras (and, well, with magnesium alloy bodies it's not that easy, because you have to either combine GPS antenna with top display, or break the body structure with another hole, or have your GPS signal blocked).
2nd, you can easily have this thing in your jacket pocket or somewhere close to the top of your backpack in LOG mode. One log point in 30 seconds or even a minute is precise enough. Then you use Canon Map Utility and bind coordinates from log (in universal NMEA format) to your images, and it doesn't matter which camera made these images, if it's Canon (I just didn't have a chance to experiment with other brands' files).
Third, in unlikely case you need both flash and GPS unit on camera (not that they both always need to go together, considering the above), you may use supplied cable.
As you might guess, I have the GP-E2. But only cause I bought it used for ¼ of local street price.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Rooru S

@Ignat:
Sony offered the a77 with a GPS receiver built-in four years ago. That camera used Magnesium alloy too.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Ignat. You can't be serious.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Rooru - the A77 is not fully mag alloy.

Jun 12, 2015permalink

Sony cameras are not intended for use and abuse as brutal as EOS-1 and Nikon D-one digit series, at least yet. They can handle a lot all right, and they are great, but A77 and A99 are not nearly as robust (nor were A900/850 and their Minolta predecessor, even that cool thing called Dynax (Maxxum) 9). Otherwise we all would use Sony by now, which did not happen (A7 is a big thing, but only as a secondary camera, or hobby camera, or for retired guys who are used to image quality, but tired of bulk). When Sony will offer lens lineup as broad as Canon or Nikon, or that lenses will work with an adapter as good as on original bodies, and battery life will be on par, and EVF will be as responsive as pentaprism — then ok, switch is no problem (and I like Sony camcorders). Until then — no, hardcore news work is only for the Big Two.

And, by the way, GP-E2 is one of the greatest standalone trackers-loggers ever. Better than many Garmin devices, especially when it comes to intended application.

Jun 13, 2015*permalink

@prossi I can and I am. You don't depend on cameras, I do. And as much as I trust Sony's XDCAMs, I'm not willing do that with their still cameras yet. Sony recent things are really great, but not for extreme conditions, which are not necessarily include harsh weather and minus thirty or plus fifty centigrade. I can handle day-to-day shooting with ANY camera which allows me to change lenses, control exposure and gives not that noisy image on ISO 3200 (A580 fits that), but serious business — no, thanks, I'd stick to my huge irons.

Jun 13, 2015permalink

i was talking about technical issues with putting gps in magesium body which is easily overcome. Anyways all high pixel camera like d5s, d810 and a7rII are or would be used alot on tripod and in studio setting which is hardly harsh.

Jun 13, 2015permalink

@prossi or in polar, high mountain or tropical regions, which are hardly comfortable for electronics. Landscapes, you know. And cityscapes. And if you want to put GPS into MA body, you make a hole for plastic, or form the MA part so that it would provide a notch. The problem is not in plastic (a lot of modern plastics are harder than many metals and alloys), but in the need to make joints and additional sealing. And remember that GPS antennas really don't like to look elswhere but top, since navigation satellites dangle up there, and transmit on approximately 1,5 GHz from some twenty thousand kilometers, so their signal is actually extremely weak compared to anything else...

Jun 13, 2015permalink

The Silver Nemesis

@Ignat: N&C, and Leica, please.

Jun 14, 2015permalink

@The Silver Nemesis — ??? I'm Canon guy, for that matter. And not quite a fan of Leica.

Jun 15, 2015permalink

The Silver Nemesis

Sorry, I was not clear, indeed: Canon and Nikon make very tough camera bodies, but this is true for Leica as well. Leicas simply refuse to die after strong abuse.

Jun 15, 2015permalink