Jobo Photo GPS - Geo-imaging System

The questions I would want the answer to before considering buying one of these are:

1. How does it react to being hidden away out of satellite view inside a camera bag?

2. With regard to the above question, should it lose track by being put inside a bag, how long does it take to reacquire its position? (I'm assuming that the device is still powered and not turned off by the camera being turned off).

I think my separate QStarz tracker is likely to be much more versatile, useful and considerably cheaper.
 
MisterE said:
The questions I would want the answer to before considering buying one of these are:

1. How does it react to being hidden away out of satellite view inside a camera bag?

2. With regard to the above question, should it lose track by being put inside a bag, how long does it take to reacquire its position? (I'm assuming that the device is still powered and not turned off by the camera being turned off).

I think my separate QStarz tracker is likely to be much more versatile, useful and considerably cheaper.
Click to expand...


It's not the same thing is it! The whole idea is it auto records the gps position straight into the exif data of the pic you take!
 
admirable said:
It's not the same thing is it! The whole idea is it auto records the gps position straight into the exif data of the pic you take!
Click to expand...

It's not that different. Auto recording doesn't make it better. What if you use more than one camera as I do? I use two dslr bodies and my pocket compact. All can have the gps info added afterwards. It's no big deal to add gps info on a pc.

And it's not as reliable as a standalone tracker if you have to wait for it to acquire satellites every time you take it out of a bag. This process can take up to a couple of minutes. Or if you take photos inside a building - the separate tracker hanging from your bag or somewhere has your location before you enter the building. The Jobo one may not have.
 
So every time you take a pic I presume you have to record the gps info/mark it on your device like a waypoint? or have I got this wrong?
 
admirable said:
So every time you take a pic I presume you have to record the gps info/mark it on your device like a waypoint? or have I got this wrong?
Click to expand...

The gps tracker records your location every couple of seconds (this time is user variable though). All it does is match up the time with the exif time on the photos. So it's necessary to have the times synchonised. My tracker has a button to mark specific places that I choose without having to take a photo. The gps prog google map will show these points as well as photo points. It will also show the accompanying google sat photos too.
 
Good stuff,

The only guy I know that uses camera gps is a land surveyor and when he first got his unit he thought it was the dogs charlies! It would probably be the Nikon one.
 
admirable said:
It's not the same thing is it! The whole idea is it auto records the gps position straight into the exif data of the pic you take!
Click to expand...
Nope, it's EXACTLY the same!

From the link that you gave in the initial post:
"Coordinate the geo-data and your picture on the PC or laptop using the supplied software."

That's no different from this:
http://www.randomconnections.com/?p=1263
is it?

The Jobo may sit in the camera's hot shoe, but it has no way to communicate with the camera, with the CF card or the EXIF of the pictures. That part has to be done later by a PC, whichever of these solutions you use.

Stroller.
 
Like Stroller said, the Jobo does not record straight to EXIF data - it's a normal GPS receiver and logger that is activated by the the camera to record data at the time the photo is taken, you still need to run it through the software to write those locations to your EXIF - that's why a standalone GPS unit or an iPhone is just as good, and a lot more versatile too.


kissfoto said:
Nice idea but many of the areas I visit do not have any mobile phone reception or service. Get 40 miles outside of Phnom Penh, no reception. (y)
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The GPS receiver in an iPhone doesn't need mobile reception to work - only if you want to download the maps for the area you're in and even then you can pre-cache them as described in the blog post.
I think the older iPhone's relied on network triangulation but the 3G version has a proper receiver in it.

I keep mine in my bag or in a seat-pouch when I'm mountain biking and it picks up the GPS signals fine - no need to have it out or hanging off anything.
 
I bought a GPS receiver for this (a Garmin eTrex Vista) and it does work but I just find that it's not that convenient and doesn't always fit into my workflow when I'm out taking photos. I keep forgetting to bring it with me and turn it on! I'd love a GPS receiver that plugs into the hotshoe and records straight to the image, like the Nikon one does. Can anyone recommend one? Or maybe I just need to remember to use my Garmin more.
 
welly said:
I bought a GPS receiver for this (a Garmin eTrex Vista) and it does work but I just find that it's not that convenient and doesn't always fit into my workflow when I'm out taking photos. I keep forgetting to bring it with me and turn it on! I'd love a GPS receiver that plugs into the hotshoe and records straight to the image, like the Nikon one does. Can anyone recommend one? Or maybe I just need to remember to use my Garmin more.
Click to expand...

It's only a few selected cameras that allow this - for the rest of us you're stuck with logging gps tracks and syncing them to your EXIF data on the computer.
 
Personally, I've a Garmin Edge 705 that I use for bike rides and hill walking. I then use Geosetter to add the GPS location to the files after they are on the computers HD. It takes 5-10 minutes to do a couple of hundred files. Providing the time/date on the camera is set correctly, i've found it to be bang on, and not too much of a PITA to do.

I don't think i'd spend £250-300 on the Edge just to tag my photo's but i'd already got it for riding anyway, so what the hell. On a related note, I found review on here of a product that seems pretty much ideal for landscape toggers who want to know exactly where the shot they took last year was... Tiny little gizmo about the size of a camera battery. Not bad for £40 from fleabay
 
That last one looks good, pity batteries only last 10 hours, need a way to extend this I think....
 
10 hours operational on 2xAAA batteries isn't too bad - it's a day worth of walking around if you switch the logger off while you have your lunch. 4xAAA's and a charger for in the car and you're sorted for a fortnights touring holiday. You don't get much better battery life out of the Garmin units, and some of them (my Edge for example) have their own non-exchangeable batteries. At least the fleabay special runs on standard batteries that you can pick up pretty much anywhere there's a shop or garage.
 
I have decided to go the qstarz Q1000p route in the end, although it is a little more expensive. I will report back how useful it is in around 3 weeks.

My reasoning:
1) I have a GPS navigation device (non tracker, it links with my Mobile, which runs tomtom), this has had a minor over-heating issue, and is currently a battery taped to a PCB. The qstarz can replace this (according to the blurb)

2) I am going on two trips soon. The first will be my test-trip for the device, a week away. The second, will be a serious test, two weeks in america, including a cruise. I will not be able to access a computer, so the large number of waypoints will be useful (it claims 200,000, but at 1 point per 15s, for maximum 16 days [jet lag], that is 92,160 well within spec I think). I reckon 15s is enough accuracy, the first trip should let me know. I know someone who would be interested in getting a track done of the cruise itself. I am surprised that the gosget states ~90 days logging at the same time interval, somewhere there is some disparity as to what the systems can do (I believe that the 200k of the qstarz is Lat/Long, Altitude , so I am not sure how much less data it can log!)

I am of the understanding that the qstarz can charge and log at the same time (has a car-charger, what use would it be if when you plug it in, it turns off!), which, with a 32hour (stated, questionable) lifetime from a charge will give me the freedom to plug it in and charge whilst I am asleep.
 
Be wary of the QStarz tagging software at the current version if you intend to append gps info to DNG files. It can destroy a significant number just importing them. And, as usual, I'm the innocent victim to discover this. They'll fix it in a new release.
 
Thanks for the warning. I usually store my photos on CF until I know I have finished with dangerous operations. Also, my wife is nagging me to get a proper backup done as well!

As I have a server which uses gallery2 (ref), I am considering bypassing the qstarz tagging, and using a linux tool, gallery2+gpsmap to join things together.
On the cruise we should be visiting 3 different islands, and I hope, that the track can be split to provide a map/album for each one.
 
I'm usually careful too but I never imagined that just importing photos in to the program would do any harm. It was a few days later that I noticed that about a quarter of my DNGs had been reduced down to around 25k and unviewable. It took a couple of hours detective work to find the cause. Fortunately (or naturally really) I still had the original raw files. I subsequently used Geosetter to embed the gps data.

Apart from that, the QStarz has worked well on its one 11 day outing. It tracked my flight across to India, hanging it against the window. It's useful when taking photos out of the window. I got a suction cup to hang it from. I did get a question from a stewardess, asking what it was, and when I explained that it wasn't a phone transmitting but just a satellite receiver she was ok. I think the case supplied to carry it around is a bit flimsy and crap so I'll be looking for something else sometime.
 
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