Canon 6D and GPS...

[hjoseph7]

I complain a lot about the Canon 6D, but it does have a great feature that I thought I would never use, that is, a built-in GPS.  As a Real-Estate photographer, sometimes my assignments take me to "New Development" areas that are not listed on the map yet. Often these new development areas are a little farther from civilization that I would like !

The Realtors don't like to post the driving directions on-line, because of competition and Scams, beleive it or not. The only way to find some of these places is to loacate a nearby Landmark(if there is one),  then work from there. The Realtors are often not available when you call them and if they ever get back to you, it's too late !  Several times I found a property by pure luck, or by asking the people in the neighborhood, but if you ask me how I got there, I could not tell you ?

This is when the built-in GPS on the Canon 6D comes in handy. I can plug in the Latitudes on a Google map and it will show me exactly where that property is, in case I have to go back.    

Another thing I noticed is that unlike internet addresses and Domains the same name of a street adress can be used over and over, even in the same State. For example '123 Emerald street' can be located in California, South Dakota, North Dakota, Houston TX, or Dallas TX.  so you have to be really careful what you plug into your GPS.  It could get quite frustating not to mention the gas you spent.   

[JDMvW]

It's not only the 6D. Many cameras record GPS location. Phone cameras typically do.

[AlanKlein]

Use your phone to save your GPS location if your camera doesn't have GPS.

[Robin Smith]

I never use this feature myself. When I had the 6D I found it used a lot of power. I liked the 6D very much otherwise, in fact I preferred it for general use to the 5DIV.

[znabal]

I bought the 6D in 2013 specifically for the GPS.  At the time, I was traveling all over the world, A LOT! and it helped me remember exactly what I photographed & where, from buildings, to statues and waterfalls and beyond.  I still go back via Lightroom Classic's "Map" function and pull up a year's worth of photos and then zoom in on a general location in say Europe and I can find exactly the photos I took there.

[laurencecochrane]

On 11/14/2022 at 6:03 PM, Robin Smith said:

I never use this feature myself. When I had the 6D I found it used a lot of power. I liked the 6D very much otherwise, in fact I preferred it for general use to the 5DIV.

Yes consumes quite a bit of power even when camera is switched off. Turned it off on my 7D MkII

[mikemorrellNL]

FWIW, I bought a 2nd hand 6D way back in 2015 as a FF upgrade for my (at that time) trusty but getting definitely old 40D. That upgrade improved image quality and doubled image resolution. For the kinds of (amateur) photography that I do, the way I do it and that the ways that I publish any photos, I've had no complaints about the 6D since then. I've occasionally considered 'upgrading' to a 2nd hand 5D. Now the 5D mk IV.  But whenever I've weighed up how an upgrade would add any real benefit to my photography or the quality of my (digitally published) photos, I've never seen many. Even an upgrade to the Canon 6D mk ii didn't seem to offer many real benefits.

Looking back 10 years, I still consider the 6D a 'breakthrough' camera in making a FF digital camera available at consumer prices. FWIW, on any 'photoshoot' I always carry a spare battery and cards so power consumption has for me never been a real issue. I just switch batteries. It's also never been necessary but - just to be sure - I can usually recharge my first 'empty' battery while using my second battery.

I completely accept that - depending on the types of photography that you (want to) do - the 6D is now an 'old camera' and that there are are - 10 years later - much better and more technologically advanced digital cameras available.  But - as with all 'technological advancements'  - I always ask myself: 'Would this new, improved tool fundamentally change my process or the quality of my photos?". Perhaps I should experiment more 🙂.

Edited December 6, 2022 by mikemorrellNL

[Mark Keefer]

I love the GPS feature. I travel a lot, coast to coast...going through so many states and I see an image taken a year ago and I may wonder was that in Utah or Arizona or Wyoming, California, New Mexico and I can click in Lightroom and see exactly where the shot was taken. Nice feature to have. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Mark Keefer