6d and gps

Hi I'm going on holiday soon and want to activate the gps 24/7 on my camera. How long will a battery last whilst gps is on all the time .

Considerably less than with it off apparently...colleague of mine has it & he reckons that he losses between 10 & 15% run time with it activated, just going on what his findings were of course, don't know if he'd also been using the wifi during the same period.

I've never used it on mine but all I hear is the GPS kills the battery quickly. Why don't you try it and see how long it lasts?

If it is like the 7D2, you'll be charging the battery daily or every other day. The GPS is on, even when the camera is switched off.

Again, if like the 7D2, the GPS isn't the best. I got it to work reasonably reliably by leaving it on, and leaving the camera near a window where it could get a lock when it wasn't in use. I suspect they don't save ephemeris data on the satellites for very long, so it has to start cold if it hasn't seen satellites in several hours, but that is just a guess on my part.

Yeah, I was changing the battery on my 7D2 about every other day; wasn't flat, but I didn't want it to run out. That was turning the GPS off at night and on again in the morning (assign the function to your custom menu).

the issue as i understand it is that the GPS is always checking in even when the camera if off. It does this so that if you flip it on and take a quick pic it will know instantly where it is on the planet. I would suggest turning it off at night, or when you know you will not be using the camera for an extended period. You just have to make sure you turn it back on a few minutes before snapping the next pic.

get in the habit of looking at the bottom left of the top LCD to see if the GPS is on. Looks like it constantly blinks so it's pretty obvious.

edit: it also blinks on the main LCD. I only used it one day while shooting so don't really have experience to say how much it zaps the battery. I know WiFi is a big battery drain and I constantly turn it off and on when needed.

Capn Jack wrote in post #17888978
If it is like the 7D2, you'll be charging the battery daily or every other day. The GPS is on, even when the camera is switched off.

Having a 6D, and having left the GPS on, this is about right.

The GPS can take forever to get a lock, especially if one is trying to get a moving lock. It might be worth leaving it on while on vacation to avoid the initial lock time and to ensure you don't forget to turn it on, but I'd recommend that you bring at least one extra battery in case of emergency.

I have the 7D2 not the 6D but I would imagine the GPS units are very similar if not the same. I've attempted to use mine more than a few times. Like the other responses

Takes a while to get a location lock
Battery life takes a big hit
The blinking icon on the top display means you don't have location lock
Easily looses the location lock
Should definitely be turned off if the camera isn't going to be used for some time. I think it operates like your typical consumer grade hand held units in that power consumption is highest when trying to search for satellites.

The build in unit is very convenient when it works. I usually carry a hand held unit and take a picture of it prior to shooting at different locations. Not ideal but it works and the geo tags are easy to add to the pictures if so desired. Up to about 70mm FL I can just hold it out at arms length and shoot the screen.

A typical low end hand held GPS costs about the same as a Canon OEM battery.

Rod

Magic Lantern fixes this. Camera off = gps off. With ML installed i never turn off my gps anymore and don't have to worry about battery.

Ok I got a couple of spare batteries so I can maybe change them each day. One other thing once I've taken a photo with gps on what next , how do I access the gps data , will it show up on a goggle map or do I need a program to access it . Thanks

Once you've taken the photo the GPS data is a permanent part of the image. If you want to save the track data (for example, to tag photos from another Canon camera) you'll need to load the Canon software, at least the EOS Utility, and connect the camera directly to the computer. There's no simple way of just copying the track data from the camera like there is with a stand-alone GPS.

I was trying to find the answer to the same question for some time now. All I hear is that the battery will "take a hit". What is it - 10 percent, 20, 40, 50? Or is it, for example, 50 percent of the battery capacity whether or not you shoot anything? On vacation I typically shoot 300-400 shots a day. Throwing an extra battery in the bag is not an issue, so I do not really care, but still - what is the power loss with the GPS on?

aren't there apps that you can have on your phone, that then sync with your photos later

Ok still a bit lost with this gps thing, if I can explain what I want to do with it maybe someone will have a solution.
I'm going on a cruise and will be stopping in several countries and hopefully taking lots of photos.

When I get home it would be nice if I could view where I took the photos like on google maps or similar , is this possible?

I know when I go out riding on the bikes guys use their phones and track the route and download onto google maps .

Yes. In fact, the Map Utility that Canon includes with their GPS-equipped cameras will do just that, or many viewers will let you see them overlaid on Google Earth or Google Maps. If you upload them to Google Maps, they'll be there for the whole world to see (not that I'd recommend doing that).