GPS logger .... OEM or third party?

[Matthias099]

I am looking into buying a GPS logger that plugs right in to the camera's GPS port. I have found that there are big differences in price between OEM devices such as Nikon's GP-1 and other third party/no-name devices.

Can anybody make a recommendation about how those third party ones work compared to the original one? Are they worth the money? Did anybody have any problems with them? Also some apparently don't have an internal battery but run of the camera battery. Is this a concern? etc.

Any input is welcome.....

[OsmosisStudios]

From what I know, the GP-1 runs off the camera: it sits in the hotshoe and plugs into a port on the left side. I've not really tried it, but it'd be my choice.

[dakwegmo]

I tried a few different options that were supposed to work with the camera, but ended up hating all of them. The Nikon adapter that was supposed to work with handheld GPS units worked fine when I tested it but never worked in the field, and the two third party GPS loggers I tried made it difficult to tell when the camera was actually receiving a signal and tagging the images (I've heard this a problem with the GP-1 as well). I eventually gave up until recently, when I found the gps4cam iPhone app. If you have an iphone it's a very cheap option ($3) that so far works better than any of the other devices I've tried. My only complaint is that syncing the GPS data with my images is a bit slow, but other than that it's been well worth the investment.

Edit: There's also a Beta version for Android.

[sk66]

Before there were 3rd party vendors I hacked my own...worked fine. Only issue with them IMO is they take up your hotshoe AND your remote port. So no flash and no release cable. There are versions with a jack on the cable that will allow you to also use a remote cable; or you can always use wireless remote if your camera is capable.

[Matthias099]

Thanks for your observations. I don't have an iPhone or an Android, so a no-go on this.

The issue with the occupied hot-shoe wouldn't bother me that much, since I would use it for landscapes anyway and don't need the flash there. Also most of them now come with a plug for the remote shutter release cable; additionally I also can use the wireless remote shutter. So no problem there either. However if they are not reliable, even the Nikon GP-1, that's a problem .... why fool with it if it is maybe working, maybe not?


Hmmmmm.....

[dakwegmo]

If you have a standalone GPS receiver there are applications out there that will geotag your photos automatically from a GPX file. It's even included in the beta release of the new version of Lightroom.