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5DII and GPS. Leap of faith or lunacy!

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Imakefoto4U

Imakefoto4U

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There haven't been many threads about using the 5DII with GPS. I finally got the wireless file transmitter and the tiny Di-USB GPS unit. The WFT-E4II is a big unit. I also have the Really Right Stuff L bracket and the camera sure seems huge now. I guess security people will assume I must be a professional. This borders on lunacy just to have GPS.

The Australian store was out of stock so B&H delivered one and I saved a few hundred dollars. Quick delivery from New York which impressed me.

I haven't tried the unit out because it is raining outside but will do so and report back. I also have a Garmin Oregon 550 as a backup and for locations for my other 5DII and G10. My HTC Desire has GPS capability as does the Garmin Oregon so I will have plenty of backup devices to take geo-tagged photos with. It would be much easier if Canon did what Nikon did and allow small GPS devices to be connected without a big wireless file transmitter. Only plus point is I have a vertical shutter release.

The real test will be carrying two cameras all day long! Rainbow Beach here I come.
 
As an alternative to a USB GPS unit, I've had good results with a small USB/Bluetooth adapter and a small Bluetooth GPS unit with the WFT-4A II.
 
There have been several threads about using GPS with the 5DII.

I use a $70 rechargeable GPS data logger about the size of a 5DII battery that I stuff in a pocket when I go out the door. I've configured mine to record my location every 30 seconds.

At the end of a trip I use GPiSync to read the log files from the data logger and apply coordinates to my raw files, along with the location name in the comments. As a side benefit I also get a track log of everywhere I've visited whether I took a picture or not, and I can use the same process to geocode the photographs of anyone else traveling with me.

Cheap, simple, functional and light :-)

Kevin
 
I use the same principle, the only difference is that geo-tagging is done while downloading my pictures with Downloader Pro.

I really don't understand why people use a so complex and expensive equipment to do very simple things...

--
Patrick J.

See equipment in my profile
 
Agreed - I use this GPS logger http://www.gisteq.com/PhotoTrackr/phototrackr-cd111.php

Spent the extra $20 or so for the "Pro" version of the software that tags the RAW files and it works great.

I'd much rather have a device the size of an old pager attached to my backpack or camera strap then have the cluge that Canon recommends.

It takes me an extra 5 minutes (or less) to tag the images once I'm at my computer.

--
'Women and cats will do as they please and men and
dogs should relax and get used to the idea.' -- Robert
A. Heinlein
 
I don't think using a separate GPS device is an elegant solution. It may suit others but I prefer to have GPS data embedded on exif data while shooting.

I guess not many 5DII owners have the file transmitter in the field for GPS.

There have been a couple of threads re GPS but this feature doesn't seem to be important. Some of those threads go back a couple of years when the 5DII was first released. I was hoping for more feedback from recent experiences.
 
I have 7D and bought WFT and di-GPS for it. They work, but there is a catch: after the camera has gone to sleep, it can take up to a minute for di-GPS to find location for the next shot. That minute is veeeeery long time if something interesting is happening right now.

Finally I found a better solution. My Nokia E71 mobile phone has gps and Bluetooth. With a simple software it can be turned into wireless gps and paired with the camera. Phone is always on so it knows the coordinates all the time. Even after 7D has gone to sleep, Bluetooth connection is re-established in just a few seconds and coordinates are accurate.

The only drawback is battery. Using gps can drain phone's battery after 12-16 hours of continuous use.

Not all Bluetooth dongles are alike. I had to buy several before I found right one: very small (sticks out of the camera less than one centimeter) and works reliably with my phone.

I also tried one stand-alone gps Bluetooth box, but it didn't work with the phone (works with my laptop, though).

You have to pay a high price for real time coordinates (money, bulkier equipment etc), but like you, I'm willing to do so. It's really nice to see right after shooting your location and altitude. Real time tagging is also more accurate. For me, it's worth it!
 
Good to see someone who understands what I am trying to do and wants to do the same thing.

It wasn't clear from your comments whether you still needed your transmitter attached to receive the wireless data from your phone. I have a phone that picks up GPS so that might be an alternative. I presume you still need the transmitter to receive the data. Someone else posted about this combination.

If I am out and about shooting I usually keep the camera on if I am taking lots of shots. So, the GPS might be okay and appear on most of the shots. I know my phone had to wait for shots and I lost a phone that way by putting it on my vehicle roof to pick up the signal then drove off forgetting that it was there! Ouch. Am more careful with my new phone.

What is the name of the bluetooth device that was successful with your 7D?
 
Imakefoto4U said:
Good to see someone who understands what I am trying to do and wants to do the same thing.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I do :-)

I used to use gps logger, but more than once something went wrong and I couldn't match timestamps with locations properly. Also, when using a logger, you're working blind and can't be sure if location data is stored at all. Location tagging inside the camera tells you immediately if location is recorded correctly.
Imakefoto4U said:
It wasn't clear from your comments whether you still needed your
transmitter attached to receive the wireless data from your phone.
Click to expand...
Camera must have WFT and it must have a Bluetooth dongle inserted into one of its two usb ports.

Unfortunately most dongles are too big, so that they stick out from the camera. With luck you can find small but working dongle. Canon's own Bluetooth adapter should work, I ordered it and made some tests, but it's too big.

Finally I found very small dongle from local electronics shop. Unfortunately it seems to be cheap no-name brand so I can't give you name of the manufacturer.
Imakefoto4U said:
I presume you still need the transmitter to receive the data.
Someone else posted about this combination.
Click to expand...
Since WFT doesn't have built-in Bluetooth (it only has wi-fi) you'll need a Bluetooth receiver (dongle).
Imakefoto4U said:
If I am out and about shooting I usually keep the camera on if I am
taking lots of shots. So, the GPS might be okay and appear on most of
Click to expand...
Okay, then it's not a problem for you. But I like to wander around in foreign cities and snap pictures occasionally. Then wake-up time is a problem. Phone knows your position all the time and it can even show you a map.
Imakefoto4U said:
the shots. I know my phone had to wait for shots and I lost a phone that

way by putting it on my vehicle roof to pick up the signal then drove off > forgetting that it was there! Ouch. Am more careful with my new phone.
Click to expand...
Funny - I lost one Gps logger (Sony) in the exactly same way! Phone is more important so you'll carry it in your pockeat all the time.

Boy, I wish next Canon body will have built-in GPS (or at least built-in Bluetooth receiver).
 
Just curious -- why do you want GPS data in your images? What do you do with it?
--

 
Well for one thing you will know exactly where you were when you took an image. This may not be a big deal for some people but I shoot tens of thousands of images a year in diverse locations around the world. I want to be able to go back to my image files 10 years from now to see if that little stone shed with the sunflowers in the foreground was in Normandy or in the Seine Valley. Another great example was when I was following wild horses off trail in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It took me several hours and several laps of the park road to find them. Two weeks later another photographer was taking a trip to the same park and looking for a place to start looking for wild horses. He went to my GPS location and found them within 20 minutes. Maybe some insecure photographers may think that their locations are secret and sacrosanct; fine for them, but as Ansel Adams has proven: it is not the precise location but the photographer that makes all the difference.

By the way I use an Amod geologger and Houdahgeo software. It takes me about 10 minutes to geotag all my exif files when I get home from a trip. The Amod batteries last for a day or two, many times longer than any cell phone, and don't rely on cell phone signals to give the geographic locations. And if you are careful, you will never get the camera and logger out of synch. If you do, there are several quick and easy software solutions to getting them back in synch.
 
I picture old ruins (Castles, churches, gravestones, bridges etc).

They are mostly in hard to reach areas, I publish brief history, local legends and coordinates with the pictures.
For me, it would be really nice to have a built in GPS.
--
M.F.Demirhan
 
When I upload the final JPGs to Flickr it creates maps for me, so friends and family can share the journey with me. Looking back at photos years later it's nice to know unequivocally where they were taken.

Kevin
 
Interesting. I frequently carry a GPS with me, but I keep its tracks separate from my pictures. If I want to find the spot I was when taking a picture I can match them up if I need to, but I haven't yet needed to do so.

I'm more likely, though, to want the GPS location of whatever my subject is, rather than the location of the camera. For macro shots, there wouldn't be any difference, within the accuracy of a GPS unit, but for other pictures there could be. I realize you can extrapolate one from the other, but what I was really interested is if you actually use the data. I simply haven't had a need for it yet.

I do have geocoded pictures online, but they were easily geocoded using google maps.
--

 
There are a couple ofl reasons why I want GPS locations on my Exif data. First I may post photos on my sites and want to have many appear on Google Earth. I get tired of seeing small and inadequate photos from some places I visit.

I also want people to be able to find locations of photos I have taken. This is mainly for friends and family. I don't mind sharing my photos so don't have to keep locations secret.

An example is Rainbow Beach in Queensland. The Coloured Sands are spread along about 10 km of the beach. It takes about 4 to 6 hours to shoot the beach if you are walking. Then another 5 hours to walk back which is harder in the soft sand. When you get home you wonder where each photo was taken. You know approximately because of the time and order. You can make a panorama of some areas but not be able to locate them on a panorama of the whole beach. Amazing, but true! With GPS I will know exactly where every Coloured Sands photo is taken.

Also, I do a lot of bushwalking in mountains and I want the locations where I took all my photos. Some times I go off the paths so it isn't easy to pinpoint where I was. Most of the time it is obvious but sometimes it is not. On some sites you can share your trip with other trekers and hikers.

It is a simple matter to disconnect the unit if I don't want the data on photos. Well, I would take the file transmitter off to save weight.
 
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