NatureScapes.net Forums

My cameras: Fuji GFX50S, Nikon D810, and Nikon D500
None are equipped with GPS, but I believe all are capable of using an outside GPS to tag GPS coordinates in the metadata.

I know Nikon had the GP-1 and 1A units but I understand they were unreliable at best.  I also understand you can use the GPS on your phone (iPhone, in my case) to tag coordinates, but I think I would rather have individual GPS units on each seprate camera instead of having to switch whatever it is that I may have to switch on my phone everytime I switch cameras.

Does anyone know of a generic GPS unit that can be hot shoe or cold shoe mounted that might work for each of my cameras?



It's probably obvious by my questions that I'm rather clueless about this and my options.  If anyone knows of a good, CURRENT tutorial or info about the best way to do all this?  Most everything I've found is old and probably obsolete.

Thanks in advance.

There is an app called Geotag Photos Pro https://www.geotagphotos.net It works with both Iphone and Android smart phones. A bad thing it is you have to remember to turn it before start shooting.

Pretty much all of the cameras now pair with your phone via bluetooth or a dedicated wifi hot spot set-up in the camera. When paired and the app running on your phone, it should geotag all of the shots in the metadata for the photo.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Pretty much all of the cameras now pair with your phone via bluetooth or a dedicated wifi hot spot set-up in the camera.  When paired and the app running on your phone, it should geotag all of the shots in the metadata for the photo.

OK, but when I switch from one camera to another, do I have to physically change any settings on the phone?  Especially when changing from the Fuji to the Nikons.

Also, does the phone need to be near to the cameras, like attached to the camera, or can the phone be a fair distance from the cameras?

Bluetooth generally has a range of about 30 feet. You usually can simply pair the camera to the phone’s bluetooth. A password may need to be entered. Google “Pairing a camera to a smart phone” for more info. Here’s info on connecting Fuji to Android:

https://app.fujifilm-dsc.com/en/camera_remote/bt_connect_android.html

And Nikon info:

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/using-your-nikon-cameras-built-in-wi-fi.html

Joe

SantaFeJoe wrote:Bluetooth generally has a range of about 30 feet. You usually can simply pair the camera to the phone’s bluetooth. A password may need to be entered. Google “Pairing a camera to a smart phone” for more info. Here’s info on connecting Fuji to Android:

https://app.fujifilm-dsc.com/en/camera_remote/bt_connect_android.html

And Nikon info:

https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/using-your-nikon-cameras-built-in-wi-fi.html

Joe

Thanks so much, Joe.

Thank you all for your help.

I got my Fuji paired up with my phone thru Fuji Remote Camera app, but it's certainly not the solution I'm looking for. Much too convoluted of a process - Turn on camera, open app on phone, go to settings on phone, wait for everything to pair up. That's a lot of wasted time. There has to be a better way.

I'm going to pair up my Nikons today; hopefully that will be less convoluted.

Langsey wrote:There is an app called Geotag Photos Pro   https://www.geotagphotos.net  It works with both Iphone and Android smart phones. A bad thing it is you have to remember to turn it before start shooting.

John, I have downloaded this app and will give it a try as I'm headed out for 4 days in the field this morning.  I hope it proves to be useful.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Langsey wrote:There is an app called Geotag Photos Pro   https://www.geotagphotos.net  It works with both Iphone and Android smart phones. A bad thing it is you have to remember to turn it before start shooting.

John, thanks so much for this recommendation.  I just returned last night from 3 days in the swamp using Geotagphotos and it worked perfectly and was super easy to use.  I didn't have to fool around with any wireless nonsense paring phone to cameras or anything.  After downloading the app, I had to sync each camera's time & date to that of the iPhone and that was it.  As long as those times stay the same, I won't have to worry about having to do that again.  At the beginning of the morning I just opened the app and hit "Start" and that's all I had to do.  At the end of the day I just opened it and hit "End".  I also had to download the desktop app to my laptop & to my desktop when I got home. I then uploaded my images to my computer, then open Geotagphotos, tell it what folder the images are in, and it finds the images and geotags them all with the location information.  So SIMPLE!

A couple of points to remember:
If you cross a time zone, you need to make sure your phone is set to where the AUTO time zone change is turned OFF so your phone and cameras stay synced timewise.  Either that or remember to change the time/date in each of your cameras when your phone changes.  It was easier for me to just turn off the AUTO change feature in my phone.

The actual geotagging takes a few minutes, at least on my computers.  Not real long, but it probably took 10 minutes to geotag 600 images or so.  I guess that time will vary depending on wi-fi speeds, but I'm not sure.

For $11.99, Geotagphotos.net is a steal!  Plus, you get your first 3 trips free to be able to try it out before buying it.

Thanks again!!!  Great recommendation.

EDIT:  I just actually timed the geotagging process.  To geotag 739 images, it took 6 min. 20 seconds.  That was on my desktop at home.  In the swamp, using my iPhone as a personal hotspot for my laptop, it too CONSIDERABLY longer to tag a smaller number of images; maybe 45 minutes to do 400 or so images.  

Bill,
Great that you like it. It can be a little quirky when you forget to change times zones. Have done that. I usually wait to get desktop to geotag and sometimes on my laptop when on the road, depending on wifi and amount of photos. Have been using the app for sometime now. I just got to remember to turn it on before I shoot. Senior moments.
John