# GPS, does anyone really use this???



## Half Way To Nothing (Sep 17, 2012)

Hi,

I'm not a Pro and after reading about the new 6D I'm left wondering if anyone uses GPS on their camera. What are the advantages what do you gain from it? I understand that it pin points a place you took a photo, but I can remember where I took my pics. Is there a commercial advantage to it?

Just trying to understand this a little more,

Thanks


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## shining example (Sep 18, 2012)

I'd use it if I had a camera that had it built in. I tend to wander around for hours taking photos, just following my feet, and do sometimes have trouble figuring out afterwards where I took some of the resulting pics.

I wouldn't pay extra for it, buy a module or include it as a decisive factor in a camera purchase decision, though.


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## Half Way To Nothing (Sep 18, 2012)

Can anyone else add to this??


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## wellfedCanuck (Sep 18, 2012)

I do a lot of hiking through dense bush where it's hard to know where you're located without GPS. It's a very handy feature on my iphone but of course the IQ of that device isn't even close to what I'd like to have on the trail. But I can see advantages even in an urban setting- trying to remember where, exactly, that beautiful Victorian was in SFO? Geo-tagging solves that problem.


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## dstppy (Sep 18, 2012)

It's nice on a personal level but it's just another piece of organizational data, much like most of the EXIF data. If, at some point, you want to gather all shots from location X, you can do so over the years.

In the end, it doesn't have a direct commercial application that I can see, aside from if you need to tell someone where something was, you have to look it up on a map, as opposed to have it typed in already.


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## InterMurph (Sep 18, 2012)

GPS is a great feature that I would have enabled 100% of the time. It should be built into my 5D Mark III, as it is built into the 100+ million smart phones sold every year now.


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## RuneL (Sep 18, 2012)

I've never needed it but I would have it enabled 100% of the time, of course I would. Much easier to index your news photography that you upload to whatever place that sells your stuff.


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## preppyak (Sep 18, 2012)

InterMurph said:


> GPS is a great feature that I would have enabled 100% of the time. It should be built into my 5D Mark III, as it is built into the 100+ million smart phones sold every year now.


Except you can't get a GPS signal through the all-metal body construction. The 6D has it because it has a plastic top case, which allows the signal through. Is GPS critical enough to you that you are willing to sacrifice build quality and weather sealing for it?


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## risc32 (Sep 18, 2012)

don't need it or want it. but then i don't like the idea of being tracked, some do.


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## AmbientLight (Sep 18, 2012)

well personally I don't need it and I don't want it. I guess it is mostly for those, who want their photos uploaded at Google Earth or do a lot of hiking.


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## Shnookums (Sep 18, 2012)

If you shoot in your studio all the time, you don't need GPS.
But if you are a street, landscape or travel photographer it would be a nice thing to have.

Lightroom now support GPS tags natively it even display the map where the images were shots.

I would have the GPS feature enable all the time on my 1DX if it had one built in. the GPS addon is 320$ and add some bulk to a camera already big enough...


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## mws (Sep 18, 2012)

I see little pro use for it unless you are working for Nat Geo or something like that. It's nice for personal use though. I used to manually add it to photos, but it got to be to much of a pain. I'm curious to it's effects on battery life of the camera, and how well it performs indoors. Also, since the 6D has Wi-Fi, is it using Wi-Fi assistance in location tracking similar to your cell phone? One thing to be mindful of is you are sharing your photos online, make sure to strip the location from the meta data.


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## Caps18 (Sep 18, 2012)

YES!

I take lots of photos wile hiking around National Parks. I like to know where and when I took the photos. I don't always remember to change the time on my camera to local time too.


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## miah (Sep 18, 2012)

For travel writers/photographers, GPS is indispensable. No matter how good your memory, after tens of thousands of photos shot all over the world you cannot possibly recall where all of them were taken. Add-on devices, like the Canon GP-E1 for the D1X, 5D3 and 7D are expensive, bulky, add complexity, and serve a single purpose. Internal GPS, like in the 6D and Powershot S100, S110 have two downsides: they take too long to acquire satellites when you're frequently turning the camera on and off to conserve juice, and they consume more of your battery's power than the same camera body would without it. Far afield, when battery power is not easily replaced, this is a real concern.

I prefer to use a real GPS while shooting, like a Garmin CSx60, since it provides so much additional utility for navigating, setting waypoints, routing, tracking, etc, and is a far more sensitive and reliable receiver. I then use Early Innovations Photolinker software to match my daily GPS track to the day's photos. This tags each image with the appropriate coordinates in the EXIF data, shows you each image on a map, and allows for manual override when necessary (like when you're in a cave or slot canyon and loose the satellite signal). Lightroom 4 then displays each image's location on a world map once the image comes off of your memory card and into your computer. 

I don't work for, am not sponsored by, or otherwise shill for any of these companies. This is just the best way that I've found to get my work done. There are a number of alternative geotagging software applications out there, but I haven't found any of them to come close to Jeff Early's Photolinker. It's fast, intuitive, comprehensive, and he regularly updates it. I hope this information proves useful.


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## bakker (Sep 18, 2012)

Half Way To Nothing said:


> Can anyone else add to this??



I think GPS is just one of those features that you like for no reason. I'd love to have the location data written into the exif at the moment I take the shot. Especially in areas where maps are not exactly clear, like this one for example: https://maps.google.nl/maps?q=kilpisjarvi&hl=nl&ie=UTF8&ll=69.209282,21.490631&spn=0.104194,0.528374&hnear=Kilpisj%C3%A4rvi&t=h&z=12

But do I have a use for that extra data? No, it's absolutely useless. ;D 
So I don't want to spend €295 on it.


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## wellfedCanuck (Sep 18, 2012)

dstppy said:


> It's nice on a personal level but it's just another piece of organizational data, much like most of the EXIF data. If, at some point, you want to gather all shots from location X, you can do so over the years.
> 
> In the end, it doesn't have a direct commercial application that I can see, aside from if you need to tell someone where something was, you have to look it up on a map, as opposed to have it typed in already.


Tourism and Real Estate, to start. 

For an example of the former- boating on Georgian Bay, a beautiful area rife with treacherous rocks and shoals. People already put snapshots on google maps allowing other boaters to see what's worthwhile and which areas are no-go. Maps only tell you so much, photos paint a much better picture. In fact, some of the navigation software providers such as Navionics will give you a 50% discount on their charts if you submit geo-tagged photos.

In real estate the power is transfered to the viewer. He can zoom in on an area of interest then click on photos of properties quickly sorting through lists that would take days to physically view.

Like many new technologies- you don't know you need it 'til you've used it.


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## FunPhotons (Sep 18, 2012)

Sure, all the time with my S100. Even when doing a 5DMKII shoot I'll take a few S100 shots to pinpoint where I am.

When going on a trip I'll shoot while traveling along, seeing the pictures overlaid on a map (as in Lightroom) is a neat record of where I went. 

Looking back over old photos (not that old since GPS in camera hasn't been around that long) it's really neat to see where exactly it was taken. 

Stuff like that, not indispensable but I'll always prefer using a GPS when I can.


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## Waterloo (Sep 18, 2012)

Yes, absolutely. I can only think of one reason you might not want to use it. That being giving up the location of some of your secret spots. I can remember the film days and keeping an exposure log, all hand written and very tedious. Now it's all there in the EXIF data. From Lightroom it's one click and I can see where a particular shot was taken. Real nice for following my favorite subject, the wild horses here in Nevada, and keeping tabs on their whereabouts.


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## dolina (Sep 18, 2012)

If it was built into my camera I'd use it.

My application for this would be for landscape, wildlife and sports.

GPS is just another part of EXIF. It's like not wanting to know the f-number, shutter speed, color temp or ISO sensitivity.


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## TexPhoto (Sep 18, 2012)

If you own a mac, iPhoto has some nice features to show you tour/walk/vacation, by stringing all your GPS points together.

I wish I had it in one of my bodies. As it is i snap an photo with my iPad when I need the location. BTW most smart phones don't have GPS, or real GPS anyway. They determine their position from the signals from cell phone towers, and known WiFi-locations.


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## unfocused (Sep 18, 2012)

Very handy. You never know when you might need to locate the nearest Starbucks.


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## awinphoto (Sep 18, 2012)

Personally I have no need for it, but I can see how in photojournalism and safari trips and the like, It would be neat to have that info, if nothing else but a place to reference... Would I ever use it? Not likely, but it could be of use for other people.


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## JoeDavid (Sep 18, 2012)

miah said:


> For travel writers/photographers, GPS is indispensable. No matter how good your memory, after tens of thousands of photos shot all over the world you cannot possibly recall where all of them were taken. Add-on devices, like the Canon GP-E1 for the D1X, 5D3 and 7D are expensive, bulky, add complexity, and serve a single purpose. Internal GPS, like in the 6D and Powershot S100, S110 have two downsides: they take too long to acquire satellites when you're frequently turning the camera on and off to conserve juice, and they consume more of your battery's power than the same camera body would without it. Far afield, when battery power is not easily replaced, this is a real concern.
> 
> I prefer to use a real GPS while shooting, like a Garmin CSx60, since it provides so much additional utility for navigating, setting waypoints, routing, tracking, etc, and is a far more sensitive and reliable receiver. I then use Early Innovations Photolinker software to match my daily GPS track to the day's photos. This tags each image with the appropriate coordinates in the EXIF data, shows you each image on a map, and allows for manual override when necessary (like when you're in a cave or slot canyon and loose the satellite signal). Lightroom 4 then displays each image's location on a world map once the image comes off of your memory card and into your computer.
> 
> I don't work for, am not sponsored by, or otherwise shill for any of these companies. This is just the best way that I've found to get my work done. There are a number of alternative geotagging software applications out there, but I haven't found any of them to come close to Jeff Early's Photolinker. It's fast, intuitive, comprehensive, and he regularly updates it. I hope this information proves useful.



The new GP-E2 replaces the need for a standard GPS unit for the 5DM3 unless you need it to navigate. It acquires signal lock in less than 30 seconds most of the time. I do a travel photography trip (usually to a country I'm not that familiar with) once or twice a year. I was in Scotland last June for 2 weeks. My memory is pretty good to but, 14 consecutive days of travel hitting multiple locations each day, the geo-tagging was a big help when I got home. Plus if I ever want to return to the exact location I'll have the GPS coordinates to do it...

My only complaint about the GP-E2 is that it isn't powered by the camera and needs AA batteries. I took lithium batteries with me and didn't need more than a 4-pack for the entire trip so it's not that big of a deal but it could have been made smaller if it didn't need the internal battery.

JM2C


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## distant.star (Sep 18, 2012)

.
After reading this, I can account for some legitimate GPS uses. I've often asked the same question.

What I cannot account for is Canon asking me to pay for another non-photography gizmo that I do not want, do not need. As long as it's an offboard accessory, it does not affect me. Those few people with specialized needs can buy the accessory and use it all day long without affecting me.

But now they've asked me to subsidize their GPS needs, and that's not fair. And you'll have a hard time convincing me that enough people want/need GPS that it's a legitimate product enhancement in my photography tool.

This is one reason I am saying the 6D is not a camera designed for photographers. As Canon says in their product literature:

"...the EOS 6d is truly the Full-Frame DSLR camera for everyone."

I believe it's aimed squarely at the social media crowd who want everyone to see the lovely oatmeal they had for breakfast -- and see it right now! "Wow, they look like steel cut oats!"

This trend will no doubt continue, and I don't like it. I have accepted video, which allowed them to raise the price of my photographic tool because a lot of would be film makers are willing to pay for it. That and the legitimate needs of photojournalism, which is headed toward a video world and away from stills generally. But now I'm having to pay for GPS, WIFI, etc. What's next, a Facebook button, texting, having a phone call on my camera interrupt my composition?

Sorry, I'm sure this is more than you want to know. But I do have an excellent GPS unit. It has nothing to do with my camera, and I enjoy what it does for me. But I don't want to pay so others can have it in my camera! Let them buy the accessory and subsidize Canon that way.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 19, 2012)

Waterloo said:


> Yes, absolutely. I can only think of one reason you might not want to use it. That being giving up the location of some of your secret spots. I can remember the film days and keeping an exposure log, all hand written and very tedious. Now it's all there in the EXIF data. From Lightroom it's one click and I can see where a particular shot was taken. Real nice for following my favorite subject, the wild horses here in Nevada, and keeping tabs on their whereabouts.


Another is the soldiers in Afganistan. They turn it on, and post on Flickr. Enemy knows just where to drop the mortar shell thanks to your GPS.
Also good for those who want to track you with plans to steal your gear or worse.
Lots of people have found out the hard way that neat new features can result in unexpected side results.


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## miah (Sep 19, 2012)

You don't have to give away your secret spots or allow the enemy insights into your whereabouts when posting your shots to the web. Simply strip the GPS metadata from your photo upon Export. In Lightroom, check the "Minimize Embedded Metadata" box from within the Export dialog. This will retain date/time/authorship/copyright information--but knock out everything else.


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## dr croubie (Sep 19, 2012)

There's a trend amongst the younger generation, take a photo, upload it to some site where anyone can see it, add GPS, tag yourself, tag your friends, say where you were with whom and when, what you were doing, what your were buying/eating/drinking.

Liguid Gold to advertisers and identity theft.

I will most certainly not be a part of that generation. I may (still, it's trying me) have a Facebook account, but i've got privacy settings up the wazoo. Any future cameras that i may or may not own and have GPS, this feature will be firmly turned OFF (unless of course I'm hiking and need it to save my life, but that's emergency-use only).


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