Love GPS but Hate Battery Drain

I love having my images GPS tagged but hate that the function stays on even with the camera turned off. Surely, there is a way via a software update for Canon to give the option to only have GPS on when the camera is turned on?

Nic

How it behaves depends on which camera you have. My GPS function turns off when the camera does.

Long problem and Canon has been unresponsive. I believe on the 6D you can add a shortcut to the My menu setting for easier access to the GPS disable setting. The issue is when you turn ON GPS, it may take several minutes to acquire a position. If you take during that time, it may have incorrect data as a geotag.

You can install Magic Lantern. It has a setting that will turn off GPS when you power off your camera, then turn GPS back on when you power the camera back on. Works very well.

eddieb1 wrote in post #17647398
You can install Magic Lantern. It has a setting that will turn off GPS when you power off your camera, then turn GPS back on when you power the camera back on. Works very well.

Well, only if the camera is supported by Magic Lantern. The 7DII is the first camera I have had that has GPS and there is no ML for it. I have elected to use a free GPS app on my iPhone instead of messing with the in-camera GPS. My phone can use cell signals to quickly pinpoint where I am, whereas it sometimes takes several minutes for the camera to connect with satellites.. Also, I often see birds while driving and want to take shots from inside my car. Keeping a GPS signal in a car is difficult, at best, with the camera, and no problem at all with a cell phone. If I am in a location with no cell service I might use the camera's GPS, but otherwise a cell phone is more reliable for me. Lightroom makes it easy to tag the files using the file from the GPS app.

pknight wrote in post #17647415
Well, only if the camera is supported by Magic Lantern. The 7DII is the first camera I have had that has GPS and there is no ML for it. I have elected to use a free GPS app on my iPhone instead of messing with the in-camera GPS. My phone can use cell signals to quickly pinpoint where I am, whereas it sometimes takes several minutes for the camera to connect with satellites.. Also, I often see birds while driving and want to take shots from inside my car. Keeping a GPS signal in a car is difficult, at best, with the camera, and no problem at all with a cell phone. If I am in a location with no cell service I might use the camera's GPS, but otherwise a cell phone is more reliable for me. Lightroom makes it easy to tag the files using the file from the GPS app.

A few questions, I hope you can help with that.

How do you correlate the location you have on the iPhone with what you shot? Do you have to remember which shot was taken at which location?

Which GPS app do you use, and how do you import it to LightRoom?

Will appreciate.

Lbsimon wrote in post #17647482
A few questions, I hope you can help with that.

How do you correlate the location you have on the iPhone with what you shot? Do you have to remember which shot was taken at which location?

Which GPS app do you use, and how do you import it to LightRoom?

Will appreciate.

I would imagine the time stamp would allow you to match the coordinates with the photo.

Tim

Having the gps in the camera was / is an important feature for me. That being said, I rarely use it. I have gotten into the habit of carrying a handheld gps and take a picture of the displayed coordinates prior to shooting pics of the subject. I also carry a digital recorder to record comments / info so one way or the other I manage to capture location. A 15 minute drive puts me out of cell coverage so that won't work here but for places were it will work you could take a shot with the phone first.

Since the viewing software I use doesn't show the geotag info I don't even know if my onboard camera gps actually works. Need to remember to look at some shots using the canon software one of these days.

Rod

Lbsimon wrote in post #17647482
A few questions, I hope you can help with that.

How do you correlate the location you have on the iPhone with what you shot? Do you have to remember which shot was taken at which location?

Which GPS app do you use, and how do you import it to LightRoom?

Will appreciate.

I use an iPhone app called Geotag Photos Pro. There are others that are free. You simply start the app when you begin your photo session. It records the time and your location at an interval that you specify (more frequent logging uses more power). It creates a .GPX file from this data, which you can send to yourself via email and then save to your computer.

In Lightroom, after importing your photos from the session, you select all of the new photos and open the Map module. At the bottom of the window is a "Tracklog" button, which opens a menu that includes a "Load Tracklog" option. You click this and select the .GPX file that you saved. It will load the file, and the route you took on your session will appear on the map. Finally, you open the Tracklog menu again and select "Autotag XXX photos," where XXX is the number of selected photos. Matching the time stamp in the photo's EXIF to the corresponding GPS coordinates in the .GPX file, Lightroom assigns coordinates to each photo, and the location of the photos appear on the map.

It is important thing is to be sure that the camera's clock is synced with the phone's clock, and that you don't forget to change the camera clock if you change time zones. If you do forget, LR lets you quickly apply an offset to the EXIF data to bring things back in line.

RodS57 wrote in post #17647771
Having the gps in the camera was / is an important feature for me. That being said, I rarely use it. I have gotten into the habit of carrying a handheld gps and take a picture of the displayed coordinates prior to shooting pics of the subject. I also carry a digital recorder to record comments / info so one way or the other I manage to capture location. A 15 minute drive puts me out of cell coverage so that won't work here but for places were it will work you could take a shot with the phone first.

Since the viewing software I use doesn't show the geotag info I don't even know if my onboard camera gps actually works. Need to remember to look at some shots using the canon software one of these days.

Rod

You might try a geotagging app. It is much easier than what you describe.

I've run this feature all day long while shooting and it doesn't seem to have any significant effect on battery life in the 7D2. Sure if you forget and leave it in storage it will idle drain... I do wish they had a timeout feature where if the camera was switched to off for say 2-3 hours it would disable it.

I have no problem with any battery drain, but I carry three spares all the time so I guess I never worry about battery life. The in-camera GPS just doesn't work nearly as well as phone apps, which use cell tower signals to fix location, rather than satellite signals. My iPhone GPS app acquires the initial location in a couple of seconds, as compared to the several minutes it takes the camera in some cases. Also, I have never had the phone lose connection with its signals, but it happened regularly with the camera. Plus, I don't have to have a clear view of the sky for the iPhone app to work.

pknight wrote in post #17648421
I use an iPhone app called Geotag Photos Pro. There are others that are free. You simply start the app when you begin your photo session. It records the time and your location at an interval that you specify (more frequent logging uses more power). It creates a .GPX file from this data, which you can send to yourself via email and then save to your computer.

...

Thanks a lot. While I am ok with the 6D, I will give it a try to use it with the 70D and the T2i that I also use.

Keyan wrote in post #17648467
I've run this feature all day long while shooting and it doesn't seem to have any significant effect on battery life in the 7D2. Sure if you forget and leave it in storage it will idle drain... I do wish they had a timeout feature where if the camera was switched to off for say 2-3 hours it would disable it.

That's why my battery started going down when I had not used a camera for a week. The GPS stays on even when the camera is off!!!

pknight wrote in post #17648421
.... It creates a .GPX file from this data, which you can send to yourself via email and then save to your computer.....

THE GPX file is the key tp geo tagging without a built in GPS.

when i was in Africa in 2006, none of my cameras had GPS, and neither did i.

However, Tommy who was on the saem trip had a GPS (Garmin I think?) and he created the .gpx file and sent me a copy.
We had synchronized all our cameras time clocks with the GPS.

thus, the .gpx file worked for all of us to withing a few feet.

Using the .gpx file and "Downloaded Pro"
http://www.breezesys.c​om/Downloader/index.ht​m

The images get the GPS data.