GPS tagging

Mickey67 · Apr 9, 2019

I don't think you are living in reality unfortunately

hot start - leaving your camera turned on - battery drain. good luck if you put it in your bag and take it out to take a picture and dont get a fix in the 10 seconds it takes

for landscape photographers i can see gps might be an acceptable solution - also areas where there is no cellular coverage but gps was just c@@p for me and i gave it several opportunities - for photos on the run, indoors in built up areas no no no

contadorfan · Apr 9, 2019

Haven't tried this myself, maybe someone here has & can comment better. There's an Android app called GPS Logger that stores phone GPS info in a gpx file. Supposedly you can download the gpx file in the photo organizer Digikam & match your photos' timestamps with the timestamps in the gpx file, and the corresponding GPS info will be applied to the photos.

I have no idea if this works as promised in Digikam. But might be worth looking into. Perhaps there are other phone apps & software that work on the same principal.

Loading…

docs.kde.org

mattz10 · Apr 10, 2019

Mickey67 said:
I don't think you are living in reality unfortunately

Mmh this is nonsense, but it seems you're trying to teach me something. Funny.

Mickey67 said:
hot start - leaving your camera turned on - battery drain. good luck if you put it in your bag and take it out to take a picture and dont get a fix in the 10 seconds it takes

I have an old Sony A55 I have no issue with battery drain. That's because battery drain caused by GPS module is nothing compared with the energy used for shooting pictures and video.

My GPS is always on, which means the camera runs on its own strategy about managing the GPS module powering.

Hot start is really fast it takes seconds to fix.

Here I'm talking of a ten years old camera: ten years!

GPS modules in the meanwhile got better for power drain and reliability.

Mickey67 said:
for landscape photographers i can see gps might be an acceptable solution - also areas where there is no cellular coverage but gps was just c@@p for me and i gave it several opportunities - for photos on the run, indoors in built up areas no no no

The only crap thing I see are those camera pairing smartphone apps for picture geotagging.

sanosai · Apr 10, 2019

mattz10 said:
Mickey67 said:

I don't think you are living in reality unfortunately

Click to expand...

Mmh this is nonsense, but it seems you're trying to teach me something. Funny.

mattz10 said:

hot start - leaving your camera turned on - battery drain. good luck if you put it in your bag and take it out to take a picture and dont get a fix in the 10 seconds it takes

Click to expand...

I have an old Sony A55 I have no issue with battery drain. That's because battery drain caused by GPS module is nothing compared with the energy used for shooting pictures and video.

My GPS is always on, which means the camera runs on its own strategy about managing the GPS module powering.

Hot start is really fast it takes seconds to fix.

Here I'm talking of a ten years old camera: ten years!

GPS modules in the meanwhile got better for power drain and reliability.

mattz10 said:

for landscape photographers i can see gps might be an acceptable solution - also areas where there is no cellular coverage but gps was just c@@p for me and i gave it several opportunities - for photos on the run, indoors in built up areas no no no

Click to expand...

The only crap thing I see are those camera pairing smartphone apps for picture geotagging.

C'mon guys...let's just agree that geo-tagging would be a 'nice to have' feature, as it would undoubtedly saves us time from doing so later on (or via an app, or having to pay extra for a hot shoe GPS module etc etc).

Before buying my first camera, I used to shot from the phone (S5, S7). Tagging was done automatically without me having to worry about it - that's all. Personally, I want to have location info on my photos (for several reasons), hence I ll try to find a way of having it done as efficiently as possible.

mclewis · Apr 10, 2019

contadorfan said:
Haven't tried this myself, maybe someone here has & can comment better. There's an Android app called GPS Logger that stores phone GPS info in a gpx file. Supposedly you can download the gpx file in the photo organizer Digikam & match your photos' timestamps with the timestamps in the gpx file, and the corresponding GPS info will be applied to the photos.

I have no idea if this works as promised in Digikam. But might be worth looking into. Perhaps there are other phone apps & software that work on the same principal.

https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/extragear-graphics/digikam/tool-geolocation.html

There are many phone apps that can create gpx log files. Handheld GPS devices can create these as well.

There are several bits of software that will geotag photos from gpx log files. I use Exiftool. Many use Exiftool under the hood to do the tagging. Lightroom can do it too.

armin304 · Apr 10, 2019

contadorfan said:
Haven't tried this myself, maybe someone here has & can comment better. There's an Android app called GPS Logger that stores phone GPS info in a gpx file. Supposedly you can download the gpx file in the photo organizer Digikam & match your photos' timestamps with the timestamps in the gpx file, and the corresponding GPS info will be applied to the photos.

I have no idea if this works as promised in Digikam. But might be worth looking into. Perhaps there are other phone apps & software that work on the same principal.

https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/extragear-graphics/digikam/tool-geolocation.html

It does work. I use Open GPS Tracker and Digicam to tag the images of my Sony and Samsung cameras. Don't forget to sync the clock of your camera with the clock in your smartphone.

But I definitely prefer the dedicated nGPS connected to my D700 and the internal GPS of the P900. It's much easier.

Usagi · Apr 10, 2019

Having GPS in some of my cameras but still I prefer to log whole route with my phone and later let Lightroom to tag photos by using routes from my phone.

GPS on cameras are just too slow and drains battery even when power is turned off.

The only benefit from in camera GPS is that it can add bearing information in EXIF.

Mickey67 · Apr 10, 2019

Speaking personally i absolutely need position info it and it needs to work everywhere - a gps unit on a camera does not do this unless there is an open view of the sky and you are outdoors.

To give some context i tried the built in the gps on several nikon cameras and stopped using it because it was too unreliable and impacted the photo taking process. I then moved on to using track logs on my mobile that i synced to the photos after the trip. This worked very well.

i tried another couple of nikons using snap bridge to tag via bluetooth. This had issues with battery use in the phone and the reconnect took about 20 - 30 seconds. The transmission of position info seemed to be unreliable.

finally the fuji xt3 it just works - everywhere and all the time. From power on within 10 seconds your exact position every time - damn impressive

Seriously what use is gps if it only works 80% of the time? That shot i took out of the car window for example it is tagged at the last gas station we stopped at

no intention to cause friction - apologies

Michael Fryd · Apr 10, 2019

Mickey67 said:
Speaking personally i absolutely need position info it and it needs to work everywhere - a gps unit on a camera does not do this unless there is an open view of the sky and you are outdoors.

To give some context i tried the built in the gps on several nikon cameras and stopped using it because it was too unreliable and impacted the photo taking process. I then moved on to using track logs on my mobile that i synced to the photos after the trip. This worked very well.

i tried another couple of nikons using snap bridge to tag via bluetooth. This had issues with battery use in the phone and the reconnect took about 20 - 30 seconds. The transmission of position info seemed to be unreliable.

finally the fuji xt3 it just works - everywhere and all the time. From power on within 10 seconds your exact position every time - damn impressive

Seriously what use is gps if it only works 80% of the time? That shot i took out of the car window for example it is tagged at the last gas station we stopped at

no intention to cause friction - apologies

Excellent point.

We all have different needs. Depending on your needs, builtin GPS in a camera is:

Something not at all needed or useful
Exactly what you need to geotag your images
Not nearly good enough to get the job done

Whether or not a manufacturer includes GPS in a camera is going to depend on which market segment they are targeting.

mattz10 · Apr 11, 2019

Michael Fryd said:
Whether or not a manufacturer includes GPS in a camera is going to depend on which market segment they are targeting.

I don't get the strategy.

What are they targeting when putting GPS built-in?

Olympus OM-D E-M1x, Canon 5DMK4/6DMK2? Professional photographers... mmh.

In the case of Pentax? Stars amateur maybe and professionals.

I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

Michael Fryd · Apr 11, 2019

mattz10 said:
Michael Fryd said:

Whether or not a manufacturer includes GPS in a camera is going to depend on which market segment they are targeting.

Click to expand...

I don't get the strategy.

What are they targeting when putting GPS built-in?

Olympus OM-D E-M1x, Canon 5DMK4/6DMK2? Professional photographers... mmh.

In the case of Pentax? Stars amateur maybe and professionals.

I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

Offering a low price entry level cameras gets customers interested in the brand. A low price model gets people in the door to look at that camera.

Leaving off GPS, from the entry level model makes it easy to up-sell travel amateurs to a more expensive model (which may have GPS and a higher profit). After all, think of how much nicer it would be to have GPS, and it's only a few dollars more...

Tom_N · Apr 11, 2019

armin304 said:
Michael Fryd said:

Smartphones use "assisted GPS". Information acquired over the cellular network augments the GPS chip. This allows the smartphone to get reasonable performance out of less expensive GPS chip. A camera without a cellular or Wi-Fi connection can't use assisted GPS.

Click to expand...

This is wrong. Nikon provides almanachs for the next 14 days, which you can upload to the camera. If you don't do it, please don't complain about a too long first time fix.

You're talking about schedules of orbital positions, which must be manually downloaded and then transferred to your camera.

He's talking about a system where servers aid in triangulating your device's position or in providing up to date schedules of orbital positions. That requires a network connection. It is also more convenient, when it works.

ronniemac · Apr 11, 2019

In reply to Maltz10:

And landscape photographers?

mclewis · Apr 11, 2019

mattz10 said:
I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

To be honest if you care about having your photos geotagged it is easier to just use a phone or separate GPS device to record a track log and use appropriate geotagging software. This works with every single digital camera and means you no issues with cameras failing to GPS lock in a timely manner or other GPS related issues. It works. All you need to do is make sure your camera's clock is set correctly and remember to turn on the logging.

It is what I do.

Michael Fryd · Apr 11, 2019

mclewis said:
mattz10 said:

I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

Click to expand...

To be honest if you care about having your photos geotagged it is easier to just use a phone or separate GPS device to record a track log and use appropriate geotagging software. This works with every single digital camera and means you no issues with cameras failing to GPS lock in a timely manner or other GPS related issues. It works. All you need to do is make sure your camera's clock is set correctly and remember to turn on the logging.

It is what I do.

Of course, built-in GPS is a great way to accurately set the time on your camera.

Personally, I prefer a camera with built-in GPS. Sometimes I don't need it. Sometimes it doesn't work well enough. But I find that many times it meets my needs to geotag my images.

mattz10 · Apr 12, 2019

mclewis said:
mattz10 said:

I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

Click to expand...

To be honest if you care about having your photos geotagged it is easier to just use a phone or separate GPS device to record a track log and use appropriate geotagging software. This works with every single digital camera and means you no issues with cameras failing to GPS lock in a timely manner or other GPS related issues. It works. All you need to do is make sure your camera's clock is set correctly and remember to turn on the logging.

It is what I do.

These are all bunch of multiple action you do in your workflow in order to have geotagged picture.

And there's one step you missed to mention yet: applying your track log to the pictures.

A long time ago mankind washed dish and clothes by hand then dishwasher and washing machine came in. That's what I mean by "easier".

In my experience "easier" means I have less work load to do, which means built-in GPS it's "easier", external logger is much worst in terms of ease.

mclewis · Apr 12, 2019

mattz10 said:
mclewis said:

mattz10 said:

I don't know if a pro photographer need GPS, I'm not a pro (and I'm happy about this) but manufacturers are badly missing one target: travel amateurs.

Click to expand...

To be honest if you care about having your photos geotagged it is easier to just use a phone or separate GPS device to record a track log and use appropriate geotagging software. This works with every single digital camera and means you no issues with cameras failing to GPS lock in a timely manner or other GPS related issues. It works. All you need to do is make sure your camera's clock is set correctly and remember to turn on the logging.

It is what I do.

Click to expand...

These are all bunch of multiple action you do in your workflow in order to have geotagged picture.

And there's one step you missed to mention yet: applying your track log to the pictures.

A long time ago mankind washed dish and clothes by hand then dishwasher and washing machine came in. That's what I mean by "easier".

In my experience "easier" means I have less work load to do, which means built-in GPS it's "easier", external logger is much worst in terms of ease.

Well it is easier in the sense that you won't have to suffer with the often less than optimal GPS package in GPS equipped cameras and you are not limited in camera choice if you are thinking of buying a new camera.

If you already have a GPS device and record track logs then it isn't much extra hassle.

Decent built in GPS functionality is the ideal solution but it is not widely available.

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GPS tagging

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