GPS - Nikon D700/D300

[erik_christensen3]

<p>I have read the treads covering GPS (relatively old) and have not found any recommendations to what I would like.<br>

I am interested in a GPS unit to be fixed to the camera or connected otherwise f.inst. Bluetooth/adaptor and the GPS should have:</p>

<ol>

<li>position</li>

<li>name of location</li>

<li>altitude</li>

<li>direction - electronic compass</li>

<li>Battery - preferable not built in (not camera battery)</li>

</ol>

<p>At the same time it should be very easy to connect to the camera, as I normally of cables fixed to the my D700 and another to the D300 and the just move the GPS unit.<br>

Anyone who has a recommendable GPS with the above specification? Unfortunately I have only heard/read negative reviews of the Nikon GP-1 and my Solmeta fail constantly after a little more than 1 years use, unless somebody can recommend the latest Solmeta Geotagger Pro 2 - quality of battery and cable!</p>

[Palouse]

<p>I have the Solmeta N2; some days it takes for ever to get a satellite fix and there is too much variation in it's reported position. And it eats batteries for breakfast!</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>There's no way you're going to get the name of the location automatically stored Erik, but when you open up a GPS enabled picture you have the opportunity to display the location in Google maps or Open streets given the right software.</p>

<p>Also any connected dongle - either GPS or Bluetooth - is going to use the camera battery. The least power-hungry option is a Bluetooth transceiver IMO, but obviously you then need a separate Bluetooth GPS gizmo. Personally I wouldn't worry about the camera battery drain aspect. My home-built Bluetooth dongle is powered from the permanent 5v line of the camera and has no noticeable effect on battery life. I left it on for 12 hours continuous to check the battery drain, and it consumed about 1% of the charge life.</p>

<p>Connection will be via the 10 pin socket of the camera; it's the only way to get GPS data into the camera. As I say I built my own Bluetooth dongle that doubles as a cabled trigger, but similar devices are available commercially. Try Phottix and Micnova, or just do a Google for Nikon compatible GPS/Bluetooth adapters. They must have the 10 pin connector for the D700 and D300 though.</p>

<p>Here's a link to a screen shot I posted earlier showing the GPS metadata in the EXIF and below it you can see the options to show map locations.<br /> http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00cice</p>

<p>(For some reason creating hot links in Photonet's editor no longer works for me - sorry)</p>

<p>PS. The direction/electronic compass option might be difficult to find unless you pay a premium price for it. And it should be perfectly possible to link the GPS of a smartphone to a Bluetooth dongle with the right "app", but I've had no luck doing that myself.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Just looked up the spec for the Solmeta Geotagger pro 2. It seems to have a lot of features that personally I'd never use, but so it should for the hefty pricetag. I notice it also uses an MTK chipset. Comparing MTKs with similar generation SIRF chipsets, I'd take the SIRF version every time. Much faster lock from cold and no surplus proprietary data string to confuse the issue.</p>

[erik_christensen3]

<p>Thanks for you comments. Joe I have no technical knowledge of the GPS and chipsets, and I have also seen the Solmera Geotagger Pro 2, which has what I want, but my experience with their after-sales service department is ...... whereas pre-sales is better than excellent -:)<br>

The geotagging via the mobilephone is a no go here in Vietnam, as there are still many places, where the coverage is very bad unless you have a subscription with the supplier owned by the Army, which I do not have or want. I will have a look at Phottix and Micnova.<br>

Regarding the name of the location then I may have misunderstood this function, as I have just noticed, that when uploading photos to Flickr then position and name of location (same time a little different from want we call it) are mentioned, but that may be taken from the google map</p>

<p> </p>

[jim_foley4]

<p>Did you look at the MC-35 or MC-35A? You would have to use an older hand-held GPS that supports serial communication (not USB). I have this cable and an older Garman unit but I have not looked at all the data recorded with it. The GPS I have does not support a magnetic compass. Bearings are determined by direction of motion. I assume the MC-35 is powered by the camera but the GPS runs a very long time on it's own battery. Also you can us an external antenna on the GPS. So you can keep the GPS in your pocket/pack and put the antenna on your hat for better reception. The other good thing about this is the GPS can stay on all the time so you don't have to reestablish satellite links.</p>

[erik_christensen3]

<p>Jim - I am not in doubt that your proposal will be functioning, however, it looks a little bulky to me, as I mainly use it on the streets not so much landscape.<br>

I think I will go for the Phottix</p>

[adam_nowak2]

<p>For my Nikon D7000 I have:<br>

AK-N7000 bluetooth adapter from Aokatec and Qstarz BT-Q818XT Bluetooth GPS Receiver</p>

<p>It's a wireless setup. Bluetooth adapter is very small, plugged into camera. The GPS receiver I usually keep in my pocket.</p>

<p>This setup works great. It's small, no cables and uses no camera battery. I get longitude, latitude and altitude.</p>

<p>To display images I use WordPress plugin. It uses image metadata including GPS to display image and camera position on Google maps.</p>

[jim_foley4]

<p>Erik - I now use the GP-1 if I want GPS. The only thing I don't like about it is that it takes a little while to find a location if you turn off the camera a lot. Which I tend to do. It's really a shame that the little Bluetooth adaptors are either dedicated to GPS or file transfer. The Nikon WU-1 won't even connect to a regular PC. Such an artificial limitation.</p>

[adam_nowak2]

<p>There no waiting for GPS signal if you use Bluetooth adapter and separate GPS receiver. There are adapters available for most of the Nikon DSLRs</p>

<p>I turn the receiver on when I start shooting. Turn it off at the end of the day. The battery lasts 12 hours or more. I can turn the camera off anytime. When I turn it on it'll pair with GPS receiver in a second or two.</p>