GPS on Nikon D300

Tulipone

Tulipone

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Chris
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Decided that it is time for a new toy - thinking of getting a GPS for my D300. Wondered if anyone has any experience of:

1. Nikon GPS units on the D300
2. 3rd party GPS units on D300
3. GPS in general on cameras.

Chris
 
I guess youve already done a search on google for nikon d300 gps?

There seems quite a bit of info

Dave
 
Dave - Absolutely correct, loads of information available, was not convinced by most of it. Chris White reviews seem pretty positive but the price of the ones he used is pretty steep. I was hoping that someone had taken a chance on one of the Chinese ones on eBay, decided not to ask directly.

I guess that this is an expensive toy that I really don't need. Wait a week......!

Chris
 
My old man has a GPS unit for his D300 (present from my brother, around £120 on eBay it was). No real problems with it, except it can take a wee while to sync onto the satellites to get a position when you switch the camera on. Fits on the hotshoe, with a lead running to the 10-pin socket.

I've been looking at one of the cheaper Garmin units, and a cheap link cable instead. Still undecided :)
 
I've got a Garmin gps receiver, the snappily titled Etrex Vista HCx, which is fab. It doesn't work directly with my D300 but you use it in conjunction with so basically when you go on a shoot somewhere, you get the thing recording your track which you then use to later match up with images you took along the way.

Basically the GPS tracking data says at say 10:51:02 am, you were at X and at 10:51:12 am you were at Z. The software then looks at the timestamp of your photo and if there's a photo taken between 10:51:02 and 10:51:12, then you must have been at point Y. It works very well.

There's loads of different software out there which will match up your position with the time the image was shot and it works really well. No need for cables or anything hanging off your camera.
 
I think that I would be looking for a complete hotshoe unit, not one of the bluetooth or cable to external device.

My wife would like to know why I want to waste money on 'this sort of thing'. Anyone have any really good answers. Need one quick and I'm floundering.

Chris
 
The method that I use with my D700 is to use one of these - MC35 JJC GPS Adapter - with a Garmin Etrex GPS receiver and the DB9 PC cable that it comes with.

If you already have an Etrex GPS or similar then this is a cheap approach.
 
There are disadvantages to a gps unit attached to a hotshoe. It can take anything from a few seconds to minutes for gps to find satellites and locate your position. You could well have taken your photos by the time you have turned the gps on and it locks on. Yes, you could leave it turned on all the time but its chances of receiving a signal inside a bag are somewhat diminished. A separate gps unit hanging from your bag or person, turned on for the whole day, or photo session, will always have the data.

Second point. Say you're wandering around a city and you step inside some nice building, church, museum, whatever. You get your camera out. No gps reception inside the building. If you have a separate gps already on, then it knows where you are when it loses signal as you step inside. When it comes to matching the time stamps, the program tells you there is a mismatch asks you if you want to apply the last known position i.e the point where you stepped inside and lost the signal.
 
I decided to take the plunge and get one - eBay from Hong Kong. Will update when it arrives.

Chris
 
My GPS arrived from Hong Kong (less than 4 days from order to delivery - sat in the Post Office for a day as we were out, so three really).

Plugged in, turned on and left for around 5 minutes inside to see if it acquired. Got bored and wandered outside, it acquired within 1 minute took a couple of snaps outside and inside the house - imported into iPhoto and GoogleMaps places it perfectly outside my house.

Perhaps I am easily impressed, but for a toy that cost £70 delivered that is going to enhance use on holiday that works without problems straight away, its worth every penny to me.

Anyone else?

Chris
 
Can you get something similar for the d200 do you know
 
My wife would like to know why I want to waste money on 'this sort of thing'. Anyone have any really good answers. Need one quick and I'm floundering.

I am interested in one of these units £70 .00 looks ok . What i would like to know is
" what did you tell the wife" because I will get the same crack.
 
Spend a bit more, get a handheld gps receiver or similar and tell her it's also a sat nav! Which it is.
 
coljun said:
My wife would like to know why I want to waste money on 'this sort of thing'. Anyone have any really good answers. Need one quick and I'm floundering.

I am interested in one of these units £70 .00 looks ok . What i would like to know is
" what did you tell the wife" because I will get the same crack.
Click to expand...

It looks like we are going on holiday 'to test'.

The device costs £70 - the holiday to Venice looks like it's going to be around £500. If anyone tells you that women are stupid, they are wrong. I'm now trying to decide exactly who's idea it was to get this GPS initially. Was it me? Not sure.
 
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