PhotoWalkPro

Geotagging is a lot of fun, and pretty handy too, especially when you are trying to sort out locations from a lot of different shoots.  It also helps if you want to show someone exactly where you were shooting.  For the past couple of years I have been tagging my photos with the di-GPS unit from Dawn Technology.  It has served me well but it does have a limitation, it won’t work with my D90.  The di-GPS uses the Nikon 10-pin connector port to embed the GPS data but the D90 does not have the 10-pin port.  That’s why I was really excited to get my hands on a new Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit.  The GP-1 is GPS done right, and because it’s made by Nikon, it integrates perfectly with my camera system.

I have to say that when I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the unit comes with both the 10-pin connector cable as well as the GP1-CA90 cable that fits into the accessory port on the D90.  There is also a port on the other side of the unit for connecting an MC-DC2 remote cord.  The unit itself can fit in the camera hotshoe or on an adapter that clips to the camera strap and frees up the hotshoe for your flash.

Operating the unit is as simple as plugging it into your camera.  There are no switches to turn it off or on.  It draws its power directly from the camera.  When the camera is turned on, the small LED on the back of the unit will flash red until it finds at least 3 satellites.  There will also be a small GPS icon that appears in the top LCD panel that will blink until adequate signal coverage is achieved.  Once the unit has found 3 satellites, it will flash green.  Four or more satellites gives you a solid green light.  Once you have satellite coverage, you need do nothing else but shoot away.  The unit will record your current lat and long location as well as the elevation and altitude.  It is also accurate to about 10 meters, not bad for something the size of a matchbox.

Once you have shot with the camera and GPS unit, you can load your images into Lightroom and check the data in the Metadata panel locaed in the lower-right of the Library module.

Clicking on the GPS data takes you to a Google map with a pinpoint directly on your shooting location (you must have an active Internet connection for this feature to work).

Everything about this small unit is topnotch.  I can’t think of anything I would do to improve the performance or aesthetics.  It works flawlessly without any need to activate something in the menu.  It is a little pricey but even at $210, it still comes in around $90 less than the di-GPS.  The best reason to buy this unit is that it just plain works and that’s why it gets the PhotoWalkPro Gotta Have It award.

Related posts:

1. Review – Thermaltake BlacX Docking Station
2. Nikon D3100 Announced
3. Nikon D700…What’s the Point?
4. My Review of the Eye-Fi Pro Wireless SD Card
5. Review – The Trek-Tech TrekPod Go! Pro

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 12:07 am and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.