Canon 5D3+GPS Receiver? VOTE!

[Marsu42]

How do you sync the GPS data with the metadata, and how close are those points given time differences in camera clock and GPS clock?

Use Geosetter or Lightroom 4 - the camera/gps clock sync is extremely precise, and you can get a better gps unit with shorter logging intervals so even every turn of a fast moving car is logged just fine.

 

[prestonpalmer]

How do you sync the GPS data with the metadata, and how close are those points given time differences in camera clock and GPS clock?

Use Geosetter or Lightroom 4 - the camera/gps clock sync is extremely precise, and you can get a better gps unit with shorter logging intervals so even every turn of a fast moving car is logged just fine.

Geosetter is only for Windows. How do you sync the GPS device with the camera initially? What GPS recorder do you use?

 

[Marsu42]

How do you sync the GPS device with the camera initially? What GPS recorder do you use?

The camera and the gps device are simply synced by clock, no initial sync necessary - which is why you have to make sure your camera clock is current, the gps device gets its clock from the satellites. Then get the gpx log file from the tracker by usb and import it into Lightroom 4.

I've got a cheap Holux GPSport GR-245 because it has a display and also shows bike speed, distance traveled et al and allows for coordinate entry while outdoors for ad-hoc geocaching or usage with a paper map.

For photography tagging alone, get another logger without display but more precision (higher number of sats tracked = more accuracy when in your pocket or trunk), the bt747 chip is said to be very precise and power efficient.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

As a professional photographer, many of my travels take me overseas to remote and often desolate 3rd world countries. Places where GPS data in the metadata would be very, VERY nice.

Since I started shooting with my first Canon DSLR, the 10D, I thought with each revision, THIS TIME, canon will put the GPS receiver IN the camera, rather than a hot she mount that is big, expensive, cumbersome and not realistic to keep on the camera device. So here we are, a dozen cameras later, at the 5D3, and the best we have is a $270 GPS receiver?

My thoughts... GPS Receivers are wicked small, incredibly efficient, and present in just about every single handheld device we carry. From a financial and business perspective, I cant imagine that Canon actually sells too many of these external GPS units. Who wants to pay for this cumbersome thing? Instead, Canon should put this modern GPS technology directly into the camera body itself. Marketing a new DSLR with "GPS Receiver built in!!!" would be far more attractive to buyers, and end up selling far more camera bodies, and ultimately make more money that trying to sell an external unit. Even if they were to mark the cost of each body up by $5 (the cost of a VERY good GPS unit, the kind we find in iPhone4) They would make more money than trying to sell this GP-E2!

I am a little frustrated that we are this far with technology with no Built in GPS. Id like your opinions!

the price is crazy, no way for me
their unit costs as much as an entire ipad practically, crazy

 

[prestonpalmer]

Exactly. I just can't imagine that enough people are willing to buy it to even cover the cost of tooling the equipment to make it! Seems backwards if you ask me.

 

[CanineCandidsByL]

There is also a nice little iphone app called gps4cam. It will take snapshots of your location on a regular basis and then you photograph the iphone screen to capture some data which additional software will process and add GPS data to the photos. It works well with JPG, but I keep forgetting to try it with RAW photos.

What it doesn't capture is compass direction. Not generally a big deal, but something I would love to see when trying to decipher lighting in other peoples photos. Knowing direction, location, and time, you could know exactly where the sun was in relation to the subject.

I'll see if I can get that taken care of.

dilbert, if the costs were even over $10, or if it couldn't be disabled, I wouldn't want it included. Unlike many of the software only features many complain about existing or not existing, this would be a tangible cost on every camera body. But then again, you can find this feature in "very" cheap cameras.

One option with the antenna, since that seems to be a concern to many, is to layer it just outside of the metal body. We are only talking about a thin laminate that doesn't have to be larger than a postage stamp. Another option is an external antenna (I don't like that idea either)

Or we could go in a different direction with integrated bluetooth which could allow various accessories including 3rd party GPS, phones/tablets as screens/controllers, cellular network access, and 3rd party network devices. I'm not holding my breath on this one either.