I've just had an interesting incident with Canon most bestest geotagger available in second hand market:
I was thinking about using the geo logging function, but the interval I set in the windows app seemed too short for me, so I set it in the camera, which is R6/2 with FW 1.3.0. The geotagger is on the latest FW still available, 2.0.2.
Of course, I just set the interval indoors and didn't test anything immediately. Fortunately before the real application, I decided to test the logger function and alas, I found out that the unit doesn't work anymore. It blinked forever in the acquisition mode and never acquired anything. The camera displayed "3D" signal but never the bar graph of signal intensity. Well it just appeared for a split second with full three bars and then it went to the "no signal" symbol of satellite with ø.
After mucho fumbling, cursing Canon and preparing myself for the android BT hell I was able to make it work again.
I simply decided to reupdate firmware (thus triggering some kind of reset most probably) which the windows app allowed me to do, I set the desired interval, too, and lo - it worked again, acquiring GPS signal within the expected time and doing the logging, too.
So I guess just use the unit on the camera and don't try ANY setting of the interval...? I certainly won't.
I always use logging and it has been fine for years, both off and on camera. It can be abit finicky to receive signal and set the camera time indoors. Mine is set to 5 seconds logging interval and lasts over a day with the Eneloop Pro, 2.5Ah.
EB-1 wrote:
I always use logging and it has been fine for years, both off and on camera. It can be abit finicky to receive signal and set the camera time indoors. Mine is set to 5 seconds logging interval and lasts over a day with the Eneloop Pro, 2.5Ah.
EBH
Well, mine was not able to receive the signal outdoors any time I kept it there. After the firmware juggling, it acquires signal within the beginning of the expected range of 30-60 seconds.
I have found another "issue" which doesn't really complicate my shooting, because I want to have it in the hotshoe anyway, but it doesn't seem like newer Canon cameras support the connection with the cable anymore. I have only EOS SL2 which takes the supplied cable without any converters, but it recognizes the receiver only in the hotshoe. Not on the USB port.
Although the manual describes it as a common option in case the hot shoe should be free and offers some widget to keep it on the side of the camera.
One of my two gizmos stopped logging, even if the lever is in logging mode, but that's fine because I typically have both in use, so one is logging, plus my phone is always logging with MyTracks on iOS.
MintMar wrote:
Well, mine was not able to receive the signal outdoors any time I kept it there. After the firmware juggling, it acquires signal within the beginning of the expected range of 30-60 seconds.
I have found another "issue" which doesn't really complicate my shooting, because I want to have it in the hotshoe anyway, but it doesn't seem like newer Canon cameras support the connection with the cable anymore. I have only EOS SL2 which takes the supplied cable without any converters, but it recognizes the receiver only in the hotshoe. Not on the USB port.
Although the manual describes it as a common option in case the hot shoe should be free and offers some widget to keep it on the side of the camera....Show more →
Was it new or used? Mine is one of the later ones probably just before they were discontinued. I got it to use with the R5 since the 5D4 and 1Dx series were going out of my routine usage. It's just revolting that Canon removed the GPS function. It is good that we can still use the GP-E2 with newer bodies like the R7 and R5 II at all. One of the most useful functions is setting the exact camera time.
EB-1 wrote:
Was it new or used? Mine is one of the later ones probably just before they were discontinued. I got it to use with the R5 since the 5D4 and 1Dx series were going out of my routine usage. It's just revolting that Canon removed the GPS function. It is good that we can still use the GP-E2 with newer bodies like the R7 and R5 II at all. One of the most useful functions is setting the exact camera time.
EBH
Mine is from the second hand, and given the old logs the previous owner left in the device, it's been recording at least since April 2013, so it's quite old. But in a way there's no reason the cameras would not connect to it through the cable, if the manual talks about it as about a completely generic option, so it's weird. Theoretically the cable is dead... I only tested the short one, the long one is still wrapped up and I didn't bother to test it yet. The generic usb connection works without problems.
I just put the logging output onto the google maps and with the frequency of logiing the position every 30 seconds, it's quite hit and miss... I was walking home from a work in an urban area, maybe that's the problem, but if this were my real steps, I'd think I was heavily drunk, just not remembering it.
For example in this screenshot, the position should have mostly followed the east-west street, but the log is... drunk. :-)
I wonder if increasing a sample frequency improves the precision.
I tested my GP-E2 on my R5 and it still works - at lest for attaching location to my images. Didn't try logging. If you are talking about the hot shoe extension cable mine still works for flash on both the R5 and R7. The cable may well not work on the R6II - I needed to upgrade my 270EX flash to the EL100 because the 270EX was inoperable on the new R6II hot shoe. I soon exchanged it for the R5 for other reasons. The 270EX works fine on both the R5 and R7.
On a recent trip I used Camera Connect on my iPhone 15 Pro to supply location information to the R5, R7, and G1X3. It worked reliably for all three simultaneously. In the past I found this very fiddly and unreliable. I'm happy for this development so probably won't use the GP-E2 much any more. Just remember to put the cameras into airplane mode when not in use as they will go through battery quickly even when off.
I knew the EL-100 had been discontinued, but it's sad that Canon no longer makes an equivalent. I don't use flash often and never needed more than these small ones. I now have three since my 270EX still works on my current bodies and I bought a used 270EX II from MPB to play with the slave mode. I mostly use flash (or video light) for macro and multiple light sources is useful.
Bringing this old thread back up, because I finally could go through the GPS data in my Iceland photos in detail, and I have mixed feelings. I mean... Get GP-E2 or some equivalent while you can. The alternate method of BT connection with the smartphone that I used as a backup method was pretty bad.
* It would simply stop working, but the camera would not display it to you it was missing GPS input
* It would get stuck at one set of coordinates for hours(!) but the camera would not display to you the associated time stamp had stopped moving
I'm so disappointed, the GP-E2 at least worked pretty reliably if it had signal.When I lost it while on the trip, I bought two additional ones from the second hand sources immediately upon return. The BT-App solution has basically only one nice feature, and it's that it doesn't block the hotshoe.
My attempts at connecting the GP-E2 with the provided cable did not work unfortunately, with R6/2 or 200D that I tried. I know the cable is the 7D solution, but had anybody better luck with newer (or RF) bodies?
Canon should probably find a way to put out an updated unit that can do geotagging via cell towers in addition to satellite GPS. That's what makes phones more or less accurate. Figure that you'd have one signal or the other available, unless you're in a cave!
johnctharp wrote:
Canon should probably find a way to put out an updated unit that can do geotagging via cell towers in addition to satellite GPS. That's what makes phones more or less accurate. Figure that you'd have one signal or the other available, unless you're in a cave!
I guess the cell tower signalling would need some simplified version of cellphone hardware, maybe including a SIM card of some sorts... Not sure this is viable method.
They can do a cheap thing though, at least make the camera clearly indicate that the GPS source is gone/stuck. That small indicator rectangle in the viewfinder (or rear display) is not particularly informative.
EB-1 wrote:
What cell tower? If I photographed in the city I'd know closely enough where I was.
EBH
Mobile phones use so called "augmented GPS" (AGPS), they use triangulation data from the cellphone network together with the pure GPS data to be more accurate in the process of establishing the actual position.
Of course, but only near cities where there are cell towers.
The GPS should be reasonably accurate without it, especially if the receiver has bands for multiple satellite constellations. I think the GP-E2 is so old that it only receives the US GPS signals. Anyways
EB-1 wrote:
Of course, but only near cities where there are cell towers.
The GPS should be reasonably accurate without it, especially if the receiver has bands for multiple satellite constellations. I think the GP-E2 is so old that it only receives the US GPS signals. Anyways
EBH
Yeah, it's probably too old.
But adding A-GPS would be huge, given how difficult satellite coverage is in cities (or under any cover whatsoever).
EB-1 wrote:
Of course, but only near cities where there are cell towers.
The GPS should be reasonably accurate without it, especially if the receiver has bands for multiple satellite constellations. I think the GP-E2 is so old that it only receives the US GPS signals. Anyways
EBH
You can triangulate whenever you have a cell signal. Of course, in open country the cell towers would be much further apart, 25 years ago they told me in ideal cases as far as 20 miles.
Yep, GP-E2 receives only the GPS signals. But seems to be much more reliable at delivering reasonable position to the camera without giving up or simply getting stuck.
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Flowernut wrote:
just take the same gps chip out of the 5D4 and put it inot the R5 and 'R6. Probably would cost them $5 or $10,
From what I read in the instruction manual for 5D4 (I don't own it though) what's inside is most probably just built-in GP-E2. But is still better than nothing.
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johnctharp wrote:
Hope that one was better than the one they put in the 6D...
I still have 6D, but while it was my main camera, I never felt the need to do geotagging. Now, Canon in their eternal wisdom decided that I need to buy R6 Mark 5 to have a GPS in mid tier RF camera...
The 5D IV GPS was more than adequate when I used a bunch of them from the souths of Patagoniads to the norths of Svalbard, and Africa and Central America in between. Not only could it tag the RAW files, but it could create a track log that could be used to sync files from other cameras. Surely 10 years later they could provide a better module with GPS/Gallileo/GLASNOST, etc.
geotagger available in second hand market:
