Z9 GPS/GNSS

[AcquiredTaste]

For those who have it, are you finding the GNSS to be as good as advertised? Hyper precise?

 

[michaeladawson]

With everything else going on and all the other threads and comments on the Z9 I forgot entirely about GPS in the camera. Makes me even more impatient to get my Z9.

I'm currently using GPS Tracks on my iPhone and then tag the photos in LR using the GPS log. But half the time I forget to turn on GPS Tracks on my iPhone when I'm out and about. It will be so nice if the Z9 has accurate GPS data.

I guess one of the big use factors is whether it turns back on when you turn the camera back on and does it reacquire quickly. If I have to go into the menus to turn it on every time I turn the Z9 on that is going to be a problem. I'll be better off using GPS Tracks.

 

[NickZ2016]

GPS is GPS. It won't be what I'd call hyper precise because the US government doesn't want it used for military purposes. I forget what the fudge factor is. 3 metres?

Your smartphone uses GPS-A that uses the local cell towers to help narrow down it's location. That helps speed up acquisition. Especially if you're traveling by air across country. It likely also downloads the current sat positions. They slightly change all the time. My sports watch every time I plug it into the computer downloads the current exact locations.

The camera doesn't have cell service and likely won't have routine position updates. That means if you hop a plane and fly for four hours expect it to take awhile for initial acquisition. If OTOH you're just using it around town and turning it on daily (or at least fairly often) acquisition should be fairly fast.

It's no different than any other standalone unit. Maybe the Z9 has better/worse antennas but the tech is fairly common these days.

 

[Snapshotx7]

GPS is GPS. It won't be what I'd call hyper precise because the US government doesn't want it used for military purposes. I forget what the fudge factor is. 3 metres?

Your smartphone uses GPS-A that uses the local cell towers to help narrow down it's location. That helps speed up acquisition. Especially if you're traveling by air across country. It likely also downloads the current sat positions. They slightly change all the time. My sports watch every time I plug it into the computer downloads the current exact locations.

The camera doesn't have cell service and likely won't have routine position updates. That means if you hop a plane and fly for four hours expect it to take awhile for initial acquisition. If OTOH you're just using it around town and turning it on daily (or at least fairly often) acquisition should be fairly fast.

It's no different than any other standalone unit. Maybe the Z9 has better/worse antennas but the tech is fairly common these days.

It's different since GNSS uses more than just US GPS. It also includes GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou. So it should be better than average.

 

[Richard B99]

For those who have it, are you finding the GNSS to be as good as advertised? Hyper precise?

It rather depends on what you mean by hyper precise. For me that would mean sub centimetres or better for GNSS these days. I strongly suspect the Z9 will be using the standard 3.5 to 5m (95% confidence) that we see in consumer receivers.

More important for me is fast acquisition on warm start. The 1 second mark would be my benchmark. Otherwise, you find you can switch on the body, take photo(s) and not have a fix recorded. Which is a pain. It’s also worse with mirrorless as we don’t tend to leave the camera on all the time (like with a DSLR). Fast acquisition is as much dependent on the antenna as the chip.

 

[AlireaPhotography]

This has not been an important factor for my decision for Z9. I never used GPS in my cameras and I never needed. But i would be happy first to know how I can get benefit from GPS? for example to arrange pictures based on location?! I need to understand more the usecases.

--
portfolio:
https://alireza.photography

 

[goldaccess]

It works well. As other GPS devices it has some little "dancing" when being inside my apartment. The offset is about 10-15 meters around the real position. it is worth to note that the walls and ceilings of our building has a lot of reinforced concrete.

This is on par with any other GPS devices I have used. Outside it works just fine. And it seems to get the signal quite fast when switching the camera on and taking a photo. Have not used/checked the logging so far.

(@Biggs23 can you point me to the advertising where Nikon speaks about "hyper precise"?)

 

[AlireaPhotography]

It works well. As other GPS devices it has some little "dancing" when being inside my apartment. The offset is about 10-15 meters around the real position. it is worth to note that the walls and ceilings of our building has a lot of reinforced concrete.

This is on par with any other GPS devices I have used. Outside it works just fine. And it seems to get the signal quite fast when switching the camera on and taking a photo. Have not used/checked the logging so far.

(@Biggs23 can you point me to the advertising where Nikon speaks about "hyper precise"?)

Can you explain how can someone get benefits from GPS? I am just purely unaware of the benefits and I would like to know how this can help in my photography? never used GPS in camera before.

 

[goldaccess]

Can you explain how can someone get benefits from GPS? I am just purely unaware of the benefits and I would like to know how this can help in my photography? never used GPS in camera before.

Have you ever been in a small village in France (or anywhere else) in the world and seen a photo taken from there in the past and wanted to know where the heck this beautiful spot has been?

Maybe you want to visit it again and point your best friend to this hidden spot.

 

[AlireaPhotography]

Can you explain how can someone get benefits from GPS? I am just purely unaware of the benefits and I would like to know how this can help in my photography? never used GPS in camera before.

Have you ever been in a small village in France (or anywhere else) in the world and seen a photo taken from there in the past and wanted to know where the heck this beautiful spot has been?

Maybe you want to visit it again and point your best friend to this hidden spot.

Makes a lot of sense. It has happened for me to be in spot while traveling which I can't remember exactly where it was after few month. This could be a nice feature. thanks

 

[peripheralfocus]

Can you explain how can someone get benefits from GPS?

These are just variations on what other people have said, but I use GPS data in my pictures when I'm location scouting -- so if I see a scene that I'd like to revisit in different weather, or log as a good spot for a later portrait session, I can shoot a record shot of it that includes the location. I do that with my phone camera quite a lot, but sometimes it's nice to see how the scene looks through the actual camera that I'd use to shoot the real picture.

I also use GPS data when I'm captioning or keywording photos I've already taken; by checking the map, I often find that the photo was taken next to a creek or mountain whose name I wouldn't have known without the aid of the map/GPS fix.

 

[michaeladawson]

Can you explain how can someone get benefits from GPS? I am just purely unaware of the benefits and I would like to know how this can help in my photography? never used GPS in camera before.

I think you've received enough responses to know what the benefits of having GPS coordinates are.

For me, it's simply data. What if you had no EXIF information on any of your photos. Would that hurt your photography? Does having that EXIF data help you a year later?

GPS coordinates are just another piece of data. My photography wouldn't suffer at all if I didn't have it. But I like having it. Especially on my travel photos.

Another piece of data that I'm not sure the Z9 will give you though, is directional data. Not just where you were on the map, but what direction was the camera pointed. This can be as useful as the GPS data.

 

[RedFox88]

GPS is GPS. It won't be what I'd call hyper precise because the US government doesn't want it used for military purposes. I forget what the fudge factor is. 3 metres?

Your smartphone uses GPS-A that uses the local cell towers to help narrow down it's location. That helps speed up acquisition. Especially if you're traveling by air across country. It likely also downloads the current sat positions. They slightly change all the time. My sports watch every time I plug it into the computer downloads the current exact locations.

The camera doesn't have cell service and likely won't have routine position updates. That means if you hop a plane and fly for four hours expect it to take awhile for initial acquisition. If OTOH you're just using it around town and turning it on daily (or at least fairly often) acquisition should be fairly fast.

It's no different than any other standalone unit. Maybe the Z9 has better/worse antennas but the tech is fairly common these days.

It's different since GNSS uses more than just US GPS. It also includes GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.

No, that’s only is of more benefit if you are in areas with obstructions cell phones are single frequency GNSS receivers and are in the 30 foot range for accuracy

So it should be better than average.

 

[AstigmaticOwl]

This has not been an important factor for my decision for Z9. I never used GPS in my cameras and I never needed. But i would be happy first to know how I can get benefit from GPS? for example to arrange pictures based on location?! I need to understand more the usecases.

Lightroom has a map module that allows you to see a selection of images by location. For travel photographers it can be useful in determining where particular images were taken.

My brother, my brother-in-law and I all took cruises on the Yangtze River prior to the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. There is a several year spread in the images. I've always wished we'd had GPS so that we could see which images were taken in similar locations.

I suspect that some wildlife photographers would appreciate knowing where some animals or birds were found.

Genealogists also like to know where in a county a particular headstone was found.

Clearly GPS is not something that everyone needs or cares about. Some of us definitely find use for it.

 

[John-altf]

I just did a quick test in my backyard. waited to get a signal took a few images. turned off location data in camera and turned on location data through Snapbridge on the iPhone took few pictures. Then turned off snapbridge and turned back on in camara gps.

first few shots were about 40' north of my location. the Snapbridge/Iphone location was within 15'. And when turned the camera gps back on those images were about 50' west of my location.

Although the snapbridge location was more accurate, the cameras location is good enough data for me and what I use it for.

 

[Z9chris]

Would this gps tracking work if someone stole the camera? Would I be able to track it down?

 

[joe pasint]

GPS is GPS. It won't be what I'd call hyper precise because the US government doesn't want it used for military purposes. I forget what the fudge factor is. 3 metres?

Your smartphone uses GPS-A that uses the local cell towers to help narrow down it's location. That helps speed up acquisition. Especially if you're traveling by air across country. It likely also downloads the current sat positions. They slightly change all the time. My sports watch every time I plug it into the computer downloads the current exact locations.

The camera doesn't have cell service and likely won't have routine position updates. That means if you hop a plane and fly for four hours expect it to take awhile for initial acquisition. If OTOH you're just using it around town and turning it on daily (or at least fairly often) acquisition should be fairly fast.

It's no different than any other standalone unit. Maybe the Z9 has better/worse antennas but the tech is fairly common these days.

https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/

 

[Richard B99]

Would this gps tracking work if someone stole the camera? Would I be able to track it down?

Not really. The person with the camera can find out where they are but you cannot because it doesnt communicate it onward.

 

[Ken Seals]

For those who have it, are you finding the GNSS to be as good as advertised? Hyper precise?

The first time I really paid attention to the GPS locations in my Z9 was back in April when I h photographed a high school track meet. The meet was mostly on the track which was behind a fence that I had to stay behind.

During the meet, I moved up and down along the fence over a distance of about 90 yards. When I looked at the image positions in the LrC map module, I displayed exactly where I was when I made the exposures.

I just returned from a trip to Moab and Arches. I just checked those photos on the map and it's very accurate. Yes, I would say precise. I could see on the map the exact locations of quite a few images I made at Double Arch and the trail leading to it. Here is the map.





Notice that the points are at the edge of the trail exactly where I was standing so I wasn't blocking traffic on the trail.



--
Regards,
Ken - LR ACE
FAA Remote Pilot Certificate, ATP ASMEL
Mizzou PJ '66
www.kenseals.com