Canon today announced the EOS 650D/Rebel T4i. You can read about all the other great features in theusualspots, as usual, we’ll concentrate on the geotagging features.
Just like I thought It seems they’re sticking to the same GPS Support via the hot-shoe, which they introduced with the 5D Mark III. That’s great news for us, as it will greatly increase the chance for us to create an Unleashed for Canon.
Here’s the corresponding paragraph from their press release:
“The EOS Rebel T4i is also compatible with Canon’s previously introduced GP-E2 GPS Receiver that can be mounted to the camera’s accessory shoe. The GPS unit was created to serve outdoor photographers; it records shooting locations including latitude, longitude and altitude, as well as camera direction. A Logging function can tell how far a photographer has traveled as well.”
As promised, I checked the possibility of modifying the Unleashed D200+ to make it fit the D800:
It is possible to get it to work, but you have to remove A LOT of the casing, and actually you would even need to remove some of the PCB (see how it sticks out of the cut case), which will quickly cause great problems if you overdo this.
(yes, that extra cut out is for the new “3D” white dot)
While some brave souls will attempt to do this and will probably manage, This is not a solution I will recommend to our customers.
We’re working hard on a successor to the Unleashed D200+, and are redesigning it to make sure it fits the D800 properly. We will make existing customers some sort of an upgrade offer, be it trade in, or just a loyalty rebate of some sort, we still need to work out the details on that. So don’t hesitate to get the Unleashed D200+ for your current camera, while you’re saving up for that D800 – you’ll be able to upgrade the Unleashed as soon as we have the new version ready.
Today Nikon announced the Nikon D3200. With its 24 Megapixel sensor and high resolution LCD, it’s really quite a step up from the entry-level D3100. That’s probably why Nikon is claiming that it’s not a replacement for the D3100, but rather an addition to the lineup.
From our point of view, the greatest news is that Nikon is sticking with the socket for GPS devices they introduced with the D90, which they’re now including in all their consumer DSLRs. We’re happy to be able to tell you that our Unleashed Dx000 will be compatible with the D3200!
Apart from this, I’m also looking forward to how well the WU-1 wifi-adapter will work – and how it will differ from the excellent wft-e5 for the D4. The latter works remarkably well, and allows camera control including liveview from any browser. I’m glad the WU-1 is so small – that way it won’t interfere with the Unleashed Dx000, and both can be used at the same time.
It’s official – the long awaited Canon EOS 5D Mark III was released a few hours ago. Read the press release, or check out previews and hands-on details at the usual sites – I won’t re-iterate those here.
I must however mention the big news, that Canon seems to finally be embracing geotagging, and announced the GP-E2 GPS receiver along with the 5D Mark III.
Image by Canon
It has 3 modes of operation:
Direct communication with the camera via the hot-shoe (only 5D Mark III and 1D x)
Direct communication with the camera via USB (7D – with limations)
Logging a GPS track (any camera)
Unfortunately, no other camera is supported yet, but I suppose that the hot-shoe communication will be available with all future Canon DSLRs. This is great news, as we might well be able to produce a single Unleashed for all Canon cameras, which will allow wireless direct geotagging, and who knows what other great features we will think of for you.
Canon’s GP-E2 will offer the following key features:
Here’s the relevant paragraph from the 5D Mark III press release about this new accessory:
“The EOS 5D Mark III also has an optional Canon GPS Receiver GP-E2, which can be connected to the camera via the accessory shoe or a USB cable. With a GPS logging function built-in, the GP-E2 will log latitude, longitude, elevation, and the Universal Time Code – and allow viewing of camera movement on a PC after shooting. With its built-in compass, the GP-E2 receiver will also record camera direction when shooting, even when shooting vertically. The Canon GPS Receiver GP-E2 is compatible with the EOS-1D X and EOS 7Di as well as the EOS 5D Mark III.ii”
i) When the EOS 7D is used with the GP-E2, the following restrictions will apply: a) geotagging function will not work for movies while recording; b) geotagging features will not work for movies when using the Map Utility; c) electronic compass information and automatic time setting is not available; d) transmission via the hot shoe is not possible.
ii) In certain countries and regions, the use of GPS may be restricted. Therefore, be sure to use GPS in accordance with the laws and regulations of your country or region. Be particularly careful when traveling outside your home country. As a signal is received from GPS satellites, take sufficient measures when using in locations where the use of electronics is regulated.
The EOS 5D Mark III requires a firmware upgrade to be compatible with the GPS Receiver GP-E2, which will be available soon.
A few days ago, Nikon announced the D800 and the D800E, and again they did not build in a GPS Receiver. While I’m sure this will happen in the future, Nikon do still have some work ahead of them to get this to work well enough for a pro camera! And contrary to what they say – it’s not (just) about the limited space inside the camera body. Read some of my thoughts here. Nikon did keep their 10-pin port for attaching external GPS devices.
Unfortunately, Nikon changed the physical design of the area around that 10-pin port in such a way, that our Unleashed D200+ no longer fits, at least not without modification.
The problem is that Nikon made the D800 smaller, the lens mount wider, and most contours of the camera more slanted. This results in less space near the 10-pin port to begin with, and that space decreasing even more as you try to push the Unleashed further into the socket – so much, that it is not possible to firmly plug the Unleashed into the socket. Electrically, it would still work, but physically it does not fit.
Illustration of the problem area – proportions are not exact.
We now need to wait until we get a D800, in order to evaluate whether it might be possible to make the Unleashed fit by modifying its casing (i.e. cutting or sanding off the one edge of the back of the Unleashed) to fit the slanted edge of the lens mount, and how we will need to redesign the next version of the product to account for the changes.
I just read an interesting interview by imaging-resource with Nikon’s General Manager of Design: Toshiaki Akagi, amongst others. After talking about several aspects of the D4 and other general topics, they got to the topic of why there is no built-in GPS in the D4:
Dave Etchells, Publisher, Imaging Resource: We had a number of readers, also, asking about GPS, and why you can attach a GPS receiver, but people are saying why wasn’t GPS built into the camera?
Toshiaki Akagi: We always have a GP-1 GPS accessory, then we want to use a GP-1, and if we include a GPS function in the camera, the camera would be bigger. And GPS still has a little problem, so for example indoors, we cannot get GPS data, then we are considering now to adapt the GPS to the next model, in the future. While you are indoors, the performance is not stable, so that’s why we gave up to install the function in the body as of now.
We were at PMA@CES, exhibiting our products. On a slow morning I wandered over to the CES, heading straight to the Nikon booth. After admiring the D4 for a while, I seized the opportunity, to gather proof for everyone, that our Unleashed D200+ is compatible with the D4. I took my favorite GPS, which managed to keep a fix even inside the Convention Center hall and plugged an Unleashed into the D4. It fits beautifully.
After 3 seconds, the Unleashed had connected to the GPS, and the GPS icon on the LCD lit up:
Took a photo, and what do you know: it’s geotagged with our location in Las Vegas!
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So there you go: Proof that our Unleashed D200+ is fully compatible with the new Nikon D4!
PS. I went to see Canon’s GP-E1, which they announced 3 months ago! They did not have one with them! Can you believe it? I certainly couldn’t! On top of that, no-one at the booth had any knowledge about it, other than having heard it exists.
So the rumours were mostly true. Nikon released the D4 today, and it meets all expectations. What an amazing camera!
I won’t go over the spec’s again, you can read those on dpreview.com, engadget or any other gear-site. One thing you might not read much about on other sites, are its GPS capabilities:
The Nikon D4 does not have built-in GPS. This might be unbelievable to some people, but I completely understand Nikon’s decision. Yes, there are plenty of other cameras that have built-in GPS, and that cost a fraction of the D4. But before I’ll try to give you some pointers as to why Nikon might have decided against GPS functionality. But first, the good news:
That means that you’ll have the possibility of adding what some people call “the next best thing to built-in GPS”, but we consider it to be even better than built-in GPS: our tiny Bluetooth Module on the camera, connected wirelessly to an external GPS of your choice. You can choose the GPS you prefer, whether it’s the cheapest you can find, or a sub-meter Trimble or Leica GPS that may well be worth more that the camera itself. And the greatest advantage: you can easily upgrade that GPS without having to upgrade the whole system.
Canon has just announced their new flagship DSLR, the EOS 1D X And the big news is that they have finally decided to add two (or rather one and a half) GPS accessories to their product lineup along with it: the GP-E1 and the WFT-E6A:
The GP-E1 is a dedicated GPS Unit, and the WFT-E6 is a wireless file transmitter. However, it seems Canon liked our Idea with the Bluetooth GPS connectivity, and so decided to add that functionality into the WFT-E6. Unfortunately, both devices are compatible only with the new EOS 1D X, and won’t work with previous generation cameras. Although much smaller than the WFT-E2, both these add-ons are still much bigger than our Unleashed. Oh, and the pricing is supposed to be $300 and $600 respectively, plus the $6800 for the camera you’ll need to be able to use those accessories ;-)
So, as rumored, Nikon released the D5100 today – the successor to their D5000, the mid-level consumer DSLR, positioned between the D3100 and the D7000.
I won’t tell you about the details or technical specifications, you can read about those elsewhere, such as on dpreview.com. But here’s what will interest our readers:
