GPS issue

Hi,

I just upgraded to D300 after 1 year with the D80 and it is f amazing camera
I just can't erase the smile out of my face.

I read in the forum about GPS and just get more confused.

Can you please recommend me on a good GPS receiver model that is very smalll and don't requierd and hard work (like soldering etc.)

Thank you very much

Offer

Well,
you have several options.

MC-35 + Serial cable + GPS that still has a real serial port.
but you wanted something small.

an MC-35 replacement cable by some other company, such as this one:
http://www.pc-mobile.net/nikongps.htm
+another cable + a GPS such as the Garmin in one of the pictures.
still not exactly small in my eyes.

or you could go for one of those tiny nice GPS Receivers, such as the Holux GR-240, which is only about the size of a cigarette-lighter. And then connect that to the camera without any wires, using this nifty little Bluetooth module I created for fulfilling my own (and now others' too) need for a non-clumsy, no-wire GPS solution. "Unleashed" on
http://www.foolography.com

if you use a Bluetooth GPS with a digital compass (which gets transmitted via bluetooth as well!!), on the D300 even the compass heading will be stored in the exif data. so if you mount it on the camera, you'll even know in which direction you took the photo!

many Greetings

theFool
http://www.foolography.com

oh yeah, I forgot to mention that one in my other post...

I second the di-GPS. I just bought one a couple weeks ago. It's awesome. Just turn it on and shoot. I was a little leary about shipping time and such (coming from Hong Kong to US), but it took almost exactly 36hrs (from placing order to the Fed-Ex guy knocking on my door)! I was amazed.

Once it acquires signal (between 2 and 45 seconds or so, depending on how long it's been since you last had it on), it seems to keep signal very well. I can walk anywhere inside my house and it still works.

Some people might think you're a bit strange (or obsessed), but I think you'll see GPS on every camera in the near future. Just my outlook.

The bluetooth idea is kind of appealing, but don't really care to have something else to worry about losing, running out of batteries, carrying more chargers, yada, yada...

Enjoy!
Paul (who is trying to convince people I don't use my camera for navigation...)

Thank you all for your quick response.
I will read about all these options and decide.

I got the di-GPS before a major trip (3 weeks) to Laos and Thailand, about maybe 5 or 6 months ago. Here are my notes:

Good points:

di-GPS got the unit to me faster than many orders coming from New York (I live in Az.)

The folks at the store in HK are great, they know the idea of "Custom Service", I had a problem with the order (it was me, not them) and they went way out of the way to fix the problem.

It is small, it fits on the camera just fine, the plug was a little hard to fit, but that may be just a good seal.
"It just works"
Same reading as my 60 CSx (but the camera has one less digit)
The remote works great, and much cheaper than Nikon
Very easy to use (Plug and play)

"Areas for improvement":

The packing was more for selling in a store, not shipping across the world

Time to first fix sometimes took a long time (it felt like 5 to 10 minutes!) and that
was with a clear view of the sky, other times less than a minute. I would turn
it on early but getting a fix in a Tuk-Tuk did not alway work well.
It sucks power from the camera, With my D200, I can get 12 hours or more with

one battery, with the di-GPS power is used power 3 times faster (Yes only about 4
hours per battery, good thing I got a third battery for the trip)

It does not "feel" as if it is the same build level as a D200, My unit worked fine with
"normal" use, but others have had problems with the unit not holding up to the
live of a D200.

If you need the flash, you have to pop the di-GPS out of the shoe, but it will still
work fine even if it is hanging loose.

I did not use it all the time, due to battery drain. I tried to use it for the first shoots at each Wat, but the time to fix was to long in many cased, so I started shooting before the fix.

Mike

--
If you have low standards, you can take a look:
http://michaeljberman.zenfolio.com

swarfworks said:

I second the di-GPS. I just bought one a couple weeks ago. It's
awesome. Just turn it on and shoot. I was a little leary about
shipping time and such (coming from Hong Kong to US), but it took
almost exactly 36hrs (from placing order to the Fed-Ex guy knocking
on my door)! I was amazed.

Once it acquires signal (between 2 and 45 seconds or so, depending on
how long it's been since you last had it on), it seems to keep signal
very well. I can walk anywhere inside my house and it still works.

Some people might think you're a bit strange (or obsessed), but I
think you'll see GPS on every camera in the near future. Just my
outlook.

The bluetooth idea is kind of appealing, but don't really care to
have something else to worry about losing, running out of batteries,
carrying more chargers, yada, yada...

Enjoy!
Paul (who is trying to convince people I don't use my camera for
navigation...)

Click to expand...

All those solutions seem really expensive...

I got this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150128758451&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:UK:11

Works perfectly... granted, its a little bigger than the other ones, but either way you're going to put something on the camera, on the strap on stuck somewhere. It works perfectly and tags all the pictures straight in. Put them in to Aperture 2 and then you can choose the Show on Map option from the menu, or in OS X, just open the file in Preview, bring up the Inspector and there is a Locate button on the second tab.

I'm working on a PHP web gallery at the moment which you can upload a folder of pics, and it'll plot all the points, draw a line (your route) between them and then show you which photo was where. I know existing people like Flickr do it, but you can get a lot more customisation if you write it yourself

Jason

I got the N2 di-GPS and am perfectly happy with it on my D300. Unlike the D200, Nikon made some changes to the way it handles GPS on the D300. Consequently, there is not as much battery drain. In fact, I don't notice it much at all. I've been all over the world with this and it has great reception.

Like some of the other posters, I received mine in about 36 hours after order.

http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/n2.htm

theFool said:

Well,
you have several options.

MC-35 + Serial cable + GPS that still has a real serial port.
but you wanted something small.

an MC-35 replacement cable by some other company, such as this one:
http://www.pc-mobile.net/nikongps.htm
+another cable + a GPS such as the Garmin in one of the pictures.
still not exactly small in my eyes.

or you could go for one of those tiny nice GPS Receivers, such as the
Holux GR-240, which is only about the size of a cigarette-lighter.
And then connect that to the camera without any wires, using this
nifty little Bluetooth module I created for fulfilling my own (and
now others' too) need for a non-clumsy, no-wire GPS solution.
"Unleashed" on
http://www.foolography.com

if you use a Bluetooth GPS with a digital compass (which gets
transmitted via bluetooth as well!!), on the D300 even the compass
heading will be stored in the exif data. so if you mount it on the
camera, you'll even know in which direction you took the photo!

many Greetings

theFool
http://www.foolography.com

Click to expand...

The little module seems cool enough. Now, if you'd only drop the price a tade more. What the USD conversion anyway? I was afraid to look up for fear of heartbreakage.

--
[email protected]

Maniac8888 said:

I got the N2 di-GPS and am perfectly happy with it on my D300. Unlike
the D200, Nikon made some changes to the way it handles GPS on the
D300. Consequently, there is not as much battery drain. In fact, I
don't notice it much at all. I've been all over the world with this
and it has great reception.

Like some of the other posters, I received mine in about 36 hours
after order.

http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/n2.htm

Click to expand...

for those of you who may also want to use a remote shutter release such as the Phottix Cleon whilst also using the N2, here is a response from Dawntech last month to an email query I sent them:

Dear Mr. Alan Schenk,

Thank you for interested in our products.

The current version can't use other 10pin accessories when the GPS connected to the camera.

we are working on a new version of di-GPS that will have a build-in 10 pin connector. With this new version you can use the GPS and other 10pin accessories at the same time. This new version expected to release on end of March 2008.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries or comments.

Thanks and regards,

CM Lui

Dawn Technology Limited
Unit 1006, 10/F, Carnarvon Plaza,
20 Carnarvon Road, TST, Kowloon.
Hong Kong
[email protected]

Drivercore said:

The little module seems cool enough. Now, if you'd only drop the
price a tade more. What the USD conversion anyway? I was afraid to
look up for fear of heartbreakage.

Click to expand...

even more? you did see that the device is currently on offer, for 70 Euros less than the original price, right? The price is actually going to go up again, not quite up to 270, but I currently can't keep the price under 200 Euros much longer.

and if you consider the price of the MC-35, which is 120 to 150 Euros, if you can get it at all, that makes 199 for a slick, wireless alternative a real steal, don't you think?

many Greetings
theFool
http://www.foolography.com

That converts roughly to 295.00 in USD dollars. Sorry but redhensystems has you beat - https://ecommerce.redhensystems.com/pc-47-2-blue2can.aspx
--
[email protected]

My version of the di-GPS has an extra cable with a 10-pin port. Consequently, I can use a remote release simultaneously with the GPS. I haven't followed their development and am surprised that they've removed this capability. dave

Alan Schenk said:

alan schenk said:

http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/n2.htm

Click to expand...

for those of you who may also want to use a remote shutter release
such as the Phottix Cleon whilst also using the N2, here is a
response from Dawntech last month to an email query I sent them:

Dear Mr. Alan Schenk,

Thank you for interested in our products.

The current version can't use other 10pin accessories when the GPS
connected to the camera.

we are working on a new version of di-GPS that will have a build-in
10 pin connector. With this new version you can use the GPS and other
10pin accessories at the same time. This new version expected to
release on end of March 2008.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries or comments.

Thanks and regards,

CM Lui

Dawn Technology Limited
Unit 1006, 10/F, Carnarvon Plaza,
20 Carnarvon Road, TST, Kowloon.
Hong Kong
[email protected]

Click to expand...

--

Alan Schenk:

1. Thanks, for the info.

2. I, already have the N2 di-GPS mini, and have it on my D300; so, will purchase the new unit, and use it on the D3. As, I keep the unit attached to the camera strap, having one on each camera, will keep me from having to constantly remove it, depending on whether I am using the D300 or D3.

--
BRJR ....(LOL, some of us are quite satisfied as Hobbyists ..)

Alan Schenk said:

Maniac8888 said:

I got the N2 di-GPS and am perfectly happy with it on my D300. Unlike
the D200, Nikon made some changes to the way it handles GPS on the
D300. Consequently, there is not as much battery drain. In fact, I
don't notice it much at all. I've been all over the world with this
and it has great reception.

Like some of the other posters, I received mine in about 36 hours
after order.

http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/n2.htm

Click to expand...

for those of you who may also want to use a remote shutter release
such as the Phottix Cleon whilst also using the N2, here is a
response from Dawntech last month to an email query I sent them:

Dear Mr. Alan Schenk,

Thank you for interested in our products.

The current version can't use other 10pin accessories when the GPS
connected to the camera.

we are working on a new version of di-GPS that will have a build-in
10 pin connector. With this new version you can use the GPS and other
10pin accessories at the same time. This new version expected to
release on end of March 2008.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries or comments.

Thanks and regards,

CM Lui

Dawn Technology Limited
Unit 1006, 10/F, Carnarvon Plaza,
20 Carnarvon Road, TST, Kowloon.
Hong Kong
[email protected]

Click to expand...

I am just curious as to why anyone would need a GPS attached to the camera? I have a GPS and use it for out door activity but what are the benefits to having it interfaced with the camera?
--

150,

I use the GPS when I travel, As much as I love the Wats in S E Asia, after 100 or so, they will start to look alike. With a GPS, you will know where the photo was taken, at any time in the future.

I do not us the GPS for shoots around the home.

I also use a handheld GPS when I travel, to find my hotel, the ATM, bus stop and othere important way points.

and it can be an interesting toy.

BTW enjoy your new D300.

Mike

--
If you have low standards, you can take a look:
http://michaeljberman.zenfolio.com

150PandY said:

I am just curious as to why anyone would need a GPS attached to the
camera? I have a GPS and use it for out door activity but what are
the benefits to having it interfaced with the camera?
--

Click to expand...

Can I please have a little more information on the indoor reception of the di-GPS? One post said it's ok, but I assume that something this small has to have its limitations. How far indoors do you have to be for it it to start having problems?

Brian D

Brian_Downunda said:

Can I please have a little more information on the indoor reception
of the di-GPS? One post said it's ok, but I assume that something
this small has to have its limitations. How far indoors do you have
to be for it it to start having problems?

Click to expand...

Brian, if you mean the N2 model ( http://www.dawntech.hk/di-GPS/n2.htm ), it has a SirfSTAR III receiver chip, which is one of the most powerful chips available.

I have a Garmin 60csx ( https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=310 ) that has the same receiver. You can see that the Garmin has a big honkin' antenna, while the N2 does not. So I will tell you my experience -- just keep in mind the N2 is likely to get worse signal reception than the Garmin just because of the antenna. Other than that, though, they should be similar.

My Garmin will keep a signal in most houses, apartments, etc., especially in a room with windows. If I put it on a window sill, it can even acquire satellites. (Satellite acquisition needs a better signal than just calculating position.) It's hit-or-miss if you're in a room without windows, and rarely works in basements. It does not get a signal in most office buildings (even on a window sill), because of thick concrete walls and/or metal-based window tints. Basically it's a function of how direct a path there is to the nearest non-tinted window.

This is much better than most non-SirfSTAR III chips, especially the older ones you'll find in receivers with serial interfaces compatible with the Nikon MC-35 cable. But it's not something that can be relied upon. (Even if you can keep a signal, it will lose the satellites after a couple hours if it cannot re-acquire new ones.)

This is one reason why I'd recommend getting a handheld unit like the Garmin (the 60csx is top-of-the-line, but a cheaper one would do fine). Use software like RoboGeo to sync up the saved tracklogs with your photos. If you go into a building at one coordinate, and come out at the same coordinate, the software can associate that coordinate with the photos even if you lost the signal inside. But with a GPS connected to the camera, it will not do this. I don't think the N2 saves any sort of log, so unless the coordinates are recorded directly in your picture, you have no way to recover your position later.

Plus, if you get a handheld unit, you can use it for mapping, driving directions, etc.

Hope that helps,
-Peter

150PandY said:

I am just curious as to why anyone would need a GPS attached to the
camera? I have a GPS and use it for out door activity but what are
the benefits to having it interfaced with the camera?

Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, it just saves a step in post processing -- you don't have to sync photos with GPS tracks after downloading them to your computer.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything. There are so many contrary advantages to having a handheld GPS that can save tracks, map, give driving directions, etc.