Leica M10 and GPS

When one of my friends asked me why I was paying so much for a camera I told him I was paying for fewer features. However one feature that I like (somewhat) is GPS, and you only get that on the M10 when you use a Visoflex electronic view finder. I do not like electronic view finders, so that is not an option for me.

 

As it happens, I also cycle, and I recently bought a Garmin Edge 25 - a small bicycle computer that weighs almost nothing, and can fit in a pocket or camera back very easily. What is even nicer is that the interface is USB, and the file system on the device is exposed. Now the fly in the ointment is that Lightroom wants a GPX file, whereas Garmin uses a more comprehensive standard called FITS. However, there free program "Garmin BaseCamp", which I use to save my rides, also has an export function that converts FITS into GPX. From there is is relatively easy (in as much as anything is easy in Lightroom) to add geotagging to photos.

 

The time on the Edge 25 is GPS time, and so the time on the M10 (set manually) needs to be pretty accurately set. Also, GPS is power hungry, and I have not yet discovered how long the battery will last on the Edge 25 - I think it is good for 4 or 5 hours anyway, possibly longer (advertised time is 8 hours).

The time display on my Garmin 64T reads to the nearest minute, which is a little coarse for geotagging images. Cell phone time is GPS time. Cell towers use GPS time signals to stay in sync with other towers. If you find an app which reads to the nearest second, you can set your camera more accurately.

I don't know how to edit my previous post, so let me make two corrections here: "small enough to fit in a camera bag" (not "back") and "the free program Garmin ..." not "there free....". Finally, it appears from forum posts about the Edge 25 that 8 hours is an accurate estimate of battery life.

If your GPS will run when connected to a charger, you might be able mouse a USB battery pack.

 

I use an Apple Watch to set the time on my camera to the nearest second. It doesn't have built-in GPS, but I can safely ignore the 0.2 second lag of Bluetooth from my phone.