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Nikon GP1 GPS and the Nikon D3


mike_doyle2

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<p>I own a Nikon D3 and am considering investing in the above device in order to record the locations where my photographs are taken, when I was looking at the compatible cameras it does not list the Nikon D3s. Does that mean the D3s has GPS built into its specification? I am interested to know if this is the case as I will shortly be upgrading my second camera and am considering a D3s body, and if it already has the GPS built in then I would be wasting over £200.00 on the GP1 for my D3. Look forward to your responses, regards, Mike</p>
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<p>There is no GPS "built-in" on the D3S. However, the camera will happily record GPS data if such are coming in through the 10-pin terminal. Any device feeding NMEA-format data to the camera will be acceptable.</p>

<p>The Nikon GP1 is clunky compared to better solutions. Look into products from Dawntech.hk and foolography.com.</p>

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<p>I am using the GP1 in combination with a D3X, and it works perfect. Only thing is i need a conversation cable for my remote control when used on tripod. And i do not agree with the word clunky, it is just a small black box to be put in the flash shoe on top of the camera .....</p>
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<p>Hi Bjorn, Shun and Mike, thanks for the responses, I will go ahead now and order one, but will hold fire on a replacement second camera body in case, as Shun says a replacement for the D3s may have the GPS built into its specification, I am surprised that the GP1 is not given as compatible with the D3s though. Again thanks for your helpful comments, regards, Mike</p>
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<p>Mike, the GP1 was introduced back in 2008: <a href="00RXQ8">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00RXQ8</a><br>

The D3S wasn't announced until October 2009. Therefore, I am sure it is merely a matter of updating the list of compatible cameras as new cameras are introduced. Most likely, the new D7000 is not listed either. When you have a compatibility matrix between many bodies and many accessories, keeping everything up to date is not a simple task.</p>

<p>The D3, D3X and D3S are almost identical cameras with different sensors and electronics. The D3S also has video capture and auto sensor cleaning. Otherwise, they are so similar that any accessory that is compatible with one should be compatible with the entire D3 family across the board.</p>

<p>Given that Nikon managed to put a GPS into fairly small digicams, I am a bit surprised that they haven't added it to the single-digit D series. Hopefully that future D4 will have that. I very much would rather not have another item attached to the body.</p>

<p>But the big question is how well the GP 1 works, outdoors, indoors, etc.</p>

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<p>Hi Shun, thank you for the very interesting and informative response, and I agree with you in regard to add ons, as opposed to built in features, and also look forward to Nikon's next offering having the ability to record GPS co-ordinates into its metadata. My reason for these being so important is that I am an historical researcher of the Great War, and often find myself in very out of the way places, most notably trenches and front line positions that were for example in the middle of fields, and I locate them by using old trench maps with the latest maps on a handheld PDA, if when I locate these obscure locations I could take photographs that recorded the GPS co-ordinates, this would then enable me to return to the exact positions at a later time using the PDA, without the need to repeat the previous work with maps, I would also be able to share these co-ordinates with fellow researchers, of course I am referring in the main to research in France and Belgium, but also northern Italy and in the last two years Gallipoli in Turkey, so not exactly somewhere where I can just go and visit on a whim from the UK. As to the accuracy of the GP1, once I have put it to use and proved its technology I will indeed report back, again thanks for taking the time to offer me your advice, regards Mike</p>
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<p>I have been very happy with my di-GPS Pro L (w/ built-in data logger) on my D200 and D300s. I design military training ranges and have to do preliminary investigations and layouts prior to performing actual surveys (LIDAR and ground). I also have to photograph existing facilities prior to modification. GPS on the camera allows me to accurately position my photo location when I import the photos into Aperture on a MacBook Pro. Using the "Places" feature in Aperture and selecting "Satellite" image puts a pin right on the photo. I find this highlly accurate for my needs - within 20-30 feet at worse case.<br /> If you have an iPhone, it also records the location for use in Aperture or in iPhoto. The downside is that I only have lat and long, no azimuth. I am trying out a new iPhone App called "Tactical NAV" that can take a photo and provide lat, long, azimuth, and altitude. It is on the iTunes App store. I find that lat, long and azimuth are accurate but altitude is only approximate.<br /> I have gotten so used to the GPS as used in Aperture that I leave the di-GPS Pro L on my camera all the time.</p>
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<p>I started geotagging fungi pictures using a GarminETrex attached to a serial to 10 pin converter. Now I geotag most birds pictures and I changed to a GPS unit from Promote Systems (http://www.promotesystems.com) that attach to the camera 10 pin connector. It is compact, has a Sirf Star III chip that is very sensitive and fast to acquire signal from the satellites and has an efficient energy saving scheme</p>
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  • 2 weeks later...
<p>Thank you for the comments Natasha, I have now purchased a GP1 and will be testing it within the next week or so, for my purposes I only require what the GP1 has to offer, and when I am out in the field working, I alway carry at least three fully charged spare batteries with me so do not expect battery drain to be an issue, when of course I travel to Europe I also take my charger, enabling me to always have the means to recharge spent batteries. Regarding the compass, most of of my work is from detailed maps that I download to my Mio PDA, once I have located the position, my object is to take the necessary photographs which will record the exact locations/s, via the GP1, so that should anyone, including myself wish to return there at anytime in the furure they will be able to locate the exact position by using the co-ordinates that I have recorded on my website relating to that particular location. Thank you again for your comment, I do appreciate the many comments that my original enquiry generated, it is what makes this forum so unique, and also helpful in allowing members like myself to arrive at balanced decisions, it is also useful when comparisons with other products are made too, thank you again to all posters. Mike</p>
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  • 7 years later...

Is there any GPS for a Nikon d3s that does not use the 10 -pin connector? I need that for the remote shutter release cable.

OR -- Alternatively -- is there a remote shutter release that uses one of the other receptacles OTHER than the 10-pin one, so that I can use that alternative for the remote release cable.

Thanks much in advance

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<p>I am using the GP1 in combination with a D3X, and it works perfect. Only thing is i need a conversation cable for my remote control when used on tripod. And i do not agree with the word clunky, it is just a small black box to be put in the flash shoe on top of the camera .....</p>

What is a "conversation cable" -- does that allow you to use another receptacle other than the 10-pin? (I would like to use both a gps input and a remote shutter cable release if possible?

 

Sorry if this is as elementary a question as it sounds like.

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An inexpensive way if you have a cell phone with GPS and a camera and if you are using Lightroom:

 

1) Be sure your camera is set to the same time as your cell phone (this will insure all the images, both cell phone and Nikon, are grouped together in Lightroom).

2) When you arrive at the location, take an image with your cell phone. Be sure the cell phone has recorded the GPS data with the image.

3) When you move to a new location take another image with the cell phone.

4) After you load the images to Lightroom, select the cell phone image for the location first (making it the most selected) and the select all the other images you took with the Nikon at that location.

5) Press Sync Metadata button. A window will open allowing you to choose which metadata item to synchronize. Select the GPS data.

 

Now all the images you took at that location are GPS tagged. Since civilian GPS data is accurate to about only 10 meters, you can move about quite a bit without needing to take another image with the cell phone and record new GPS data.

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