Wanted to know if anyone with the same request... I am looking first to geotag my pictures using my Fuji camera and didn't find any GPS device I could plug to the camera. Anyone using this ? I am thinking of this to find back places I traveled and know eactly where it was.
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Geotags
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Greybeard2017
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You could use the XApp and geotag using your phone (Android works better than iOS)
Bruce in Virginia
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I’ve used Fuji XApp on IOS and it seems to work much better than the old Fuji app. You just set up the initial connection from phone to camera, and then also turn on the option to geotag (it is a separate setting). You have to turn it on each time you use the camera/phone combination.
You can use that same connection to transfer any or all photos to another device (I like viewing them on my iPad), backup camera settings, etc.
You can use that same connection to transfer any or all photos to another device (I like viewing them on my iPad), backup camera settings, etc.
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Greybeard2017
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Thats the problem - you cant just set it up once, wander around taking pictures and have them accurately geotagged - this makes it just too cumbersome for me to bother with.
Set the camera up to synchronize time and location with a Bluetooth paired with the phone. KEEP the Bluetooth turned on in your camera. Then when you launch the app on the phone it should sync time and location. You might want to wake up the phone from time to time if it is not updating. From what I remember you can set the location update in the Xapp.
Fuji’s app is not as good as Leica’s or Nikon’s as far as geotagging. However the new app is head and shoulders better than the old app. It works pretty well for geotagging without drawing down either phone or camera battery.
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Greybeard2017
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Thats the point - you have to reconnect the phone and camera every time you want the location synchronized - reportedly not the same with Android which works as expected
I think that's the main problem, it doesn't work well with iPhones at the moment, on my Android I connect it once, and usually takes just over a day before it loses connection and I have to open the app again to connect it, which means for it's working brilliantly tagging with reliable precision.
Works fine with my iPhone. Some things to check. Go into the iPhone settings and insure that the Xapp is allowed to use location "All the time." Next in the Xapp, you can set the frequency of update.
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Greybeard2017
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Interesting - can you confirm that you can:
- connect camera and app then walk around with the camera (changing location)
- turn the camera on during the walk and take pictures (without touching the iphone and XApp staying in the background)
And when you check the images they have correct locations (rather than the location of the last place camera and app were both turned on and connected).
I don't have my Pro3 any longer. I'll try it on my wife's H2 if I can talk her into letting me use it.
I don't normally turn my camera off while I am actively using it. When you turn it off, the connection will be lost. Most cameras today have low energy Bluetooth Low Energy. This was designed for applications to maintain connectivity while mitigating the battery draw when the application is running in the background.Bluetooth Low Energy - Wikipedia
If you turn the camera off or blow away the Xapp on the phone, the connection will be lost and the connection will have to be reestablished. The connection process will take a few seconds.
With my Leica Q2M, if I don't blow the Fotos app away and leave it up in the background and the camera is asleep, it is not really asleep as the BLE connection will keep updating the camera and eventually it will run the camera battery down. I found that out the hard way. I left the camera on for a couple weeks sleeping and when I went to use it - the battery was dead. It turns out that one of the features of BLE is Bluetooth does not really go off but will wake up every once in awhile to check if the connection with the paired device (phone, iPad, PC, etc.) is on and reconnect as long as the Fotos app is up either running or in the background. That was intentional. So if I don't want my Leica to reconnect on its own, I need to blow away the Fotos app.
So my advice is check you location services settings in your phone for X app and make sure it is aways and precise. Then set the update rate for location and time in Xapp to what your want it to. Bring up Xapp, turn on the camera and let the camera connect to the phone. Then walk around for awhile, allowing the camera to go to sleep along the way and see how it works. Then turn the camera off (while leaving the Xapp running in the iPhone). Then turn it back one and give it a few seconds so the devices can fine one another and step through the connection protocol and then take some images to see.
I've not done that test with a Fuji yet. I'll have to wait until my wife lets me use her XH2. There is no guarantee she will do that since she does not trust me to not change her settings.
However, after upgrading to Xapp, if I left Xapp up it worked fine on my XPro3 for the brief overlap of a couple months before I sold the Pro3. With my Z8 and Q2, as long as the app is up - even in background and Bluetooth is on in the camera, they will connect and communicate. That is how it should work. However, I must admit that Fuji's documentation of the Xapp sucks to high heaven. Also Fuji's documentation of its network settings in the cameras sucks as bad if not more.
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Greybeard2017
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Thats the point - if you turn off the camera the connection is lost with the iPhone app - when you turn the camera back on the connection is still lost - location is not updated.
Then check your connection settings in the camera and the app.
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Greybeard2017
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Are you saying that I'm wrong - that it doesn't work like this?
I just grabbed my wife's XH2 and iPhone 14. The phone is is configured Xapp location = "Always." The camera is paired with the phone.
Test 1 -I bring up Xapp. It is configured to "Smartphone Location Sync" - ON. Then I turn the phone on. The camera connects to the phone which shows in the LCD as the Bluetooth icon on and in Xapp on the phone as connected. I take a shot I check it in playback and location is present.
Test 2 - I put the app into background mode and monitor the connection on the camera and the phone and camera are still connected. It will stay connected until the camera is turned off at least on my wife's H2.
However, with the Xapp in background when I turn the camera off to disconnect it will not reconnect if the phone remains in background. However, as soon as it is brought out of background it reconnects in a second or so.
So when you start out turn on Xapp turn on the camera, throw your phone in your pocket with the configuration as above and the phone should provide updates even if you phone goes to sleep the connection will remain live. This was not the case on the old Fuji app as every time the phone went to sleep, the connection would more than likely be dropped. Fuji seems to have fixed this in Xapp. I don't turn off my cameras until I am finished relying on putting it to sleep instead. The connections will last through sleep. If one insist on taking a few shots, turning off the camera, then the app will need to be brought to the foreground on the phone to reconnect when the camera is turned on.
Granted of the three different brands I have, Fuji, Leica and Nikon, the Lecia Fotos is probably be best implemented followed by the Nikon Snapbridge followed by the Fuji. However, they will all maintain connections when the camera is on. Of course there will be a drop from time to time but in general it should work fine now. Snapbridge will actually connect when the phone is asleep which Fuji won't or I can't seem to find a setting to do that. The same for Fotos.
TESTED: Fujifilm Real Time Geotagging via Bluetooth. Quick Guide and Some Tips + Auto Image Transfer - Fuji Rumors
Fujifilm Auto Geotagging Back in October, I told you that Fujifilm will release a new firmware update for real-time geotagging within 2017. Well I was wrong… it came 15 days later ;) . The bluetooth on the X-E3 is one of the reasons I went for the X-E3 instead of any other Fujifilm camera. I…
www.fujirumors.com
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Greybeard2017
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Exactly - you’ve got it - that is the problem - it doesn’t sync location unless you explicitly bring the app out of the background.
Android phones work as expected but iPhones don’t (or rather they don’t with the Fuji app).
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That's the issue in question with the iPhone. On Android, I can connect my phone once and then freely turn on and off my camera or put the app in the background without having to bring it back out until roughly over 24 hours have passed (I don't know the exact time I just know there have been times I've connected the day before and it still holds the connection when I turn on the camera again the day after).
I'm not certain if it's an apple or Fuji (more likely a Fuji problem) but they need to sort it out as I'm sure that's a large chunk of their userbase that doesn't get the benefits of part of the app.
It's Fuji. Both my Q2 (Leica) and Z8 (Nikon) will connect to the iPhone when the app is in the background on my iPhone, Fuji won't. However, the Fuji will stay connected - even through sleep. Bluetooth LE is designed to work the way my Q2 and Z8 work. So I suspect either Fujifilm didn't quite understand the protocol of "Smart Bluetooth," used an Bluetooth chip that didn't fully support the standard or designed it to work the way it works. I don't have a problem in the way it works. I do know that with a Fujifilm if geotagging for a given image is important I will take a second to wake up my iPhone and make the app active, then take the shot.
However, I don't see the need to keep turning on and off the camera besides wearing out the switch. I know the earlier Fuji models, XT1/2, Pro1/2, etc., took a long time to wake up from sleep - in fact longer to wake up that boot up so it made sense to turn them off after a shot. That's not true today.
I turn my cameras on and leave them on with a reasonable time to sleep. I don't actually have any issues with the Xapp. It's head and shoulders better than the old app.
So your options are.
1) trash your iPhone and get an Android.
2) leave your camera on during the session.
3) trash you Fuji cameras and get a Z9 or Canon R3 which have GPS chips3
4) Complain on the Internet.
Personally I would choose 2 and 4.
Sorry, I don't mean to be terse, but I don't see any reason to turn off a camera today until one is finished using it.
I think that heavily depends on what you're shooting and whether you have the batteries to be able to supplement the camera never turning off. For landscape, perhaps, where you find the shot and then you're done, sure that makes sense, but for something like street photography having the camera on (for the way I shoot it anyway) is a big unnecessary drain on the battery when I can have a shorter sleep timer and preserve more power. My X-T3 appreciates the time it gets to not chew through batteries whilst it's down by my side looking at the ground.
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That’s why the camera has a sleep mode. In sleep all the displays are off along with the sensor. The camera draws little power in sleep mode. A half press, it wakes up and ready to go. Back with my XPro2, it took longer to wake up than boot up, something I didn’t understand. But the current generation of Fuji’ the battery and the wake up faster than they boot up. Today, my camera goes on when I start a stays on until I’m finished.
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