Cameras with GPS?

[guzhogi]

Hi everybody, I have an older Sony Alpha 99 that I like because it has builtin GPS. I find it useful for when I take pictures on hikes, I can group them by where I was. Do any cameras nowadays have GPS? Looks like Sony's mirrorless cameras don't, nor do Canon and Nikon, but I only did a quick 5 second look. I'm not really in the market right now, but nice to know what my options are.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

I know my little Fuji Waterproof camera can tie into a smart phone to grab co-ordinates. A feature I have never used as:

1. I don't have a cell phone.
2. The camera is waterproof and goes many places that a smart phone should not.
3. The WiFi connection would definitely reduce battery life.
4. Consumer feedback suggests the set-up is awkward, and unreliable.

 

[Jerry_]

Some cameras (mainly P&S) will still have an integrated GPS.

For most cameras you will however find third party solutions that allow to integrate GPS coordinates.
@OldMacs4Me already listed on solution.
Two additional solutions are:

1/ post-adding the coordinates: having a GPS (or an app on the phone) that tracks where you go. Once you return to the computer you upload the GPS coordinates file along the photos and some photo DAM software will add the GPS coordinates to the picture, based on the timestamp. Obviously the time in your camera need to be good

2) I however prefer to use an external GPS receiver (brand : MicNova) with my Nikon DSLRs. They connect by cable to the camera (so there are different cables according by camera brand) and are quite reliable. The advantage is that they do not only add directly the coordinates in the photo metadata (EXIF), but they also update the time on the camera. Requirement here is that your camera has a plug where to connect the GPS.

 

[mollyc]

The new Nikon Z9 has gps. It's not common in many dslrs/mirrorless because of the battery draw.

 

[jwolf6589]

Hi everybody, I have an older Sony Alpha 99 that I like because it has builtin GPS. I find it useful for when I take pictures on hikes, I can group them by where I was. Do any cameras nowadays have GPS? Looks like Sony's mirrorless cameras don't, nor do Canon and Nikon, but I only did a quick 5 second look. I'm not really in the market right now, but nice to know what my options are.

My Powershot does not BUT…. One can link it to my phone and get geotag information.

 

[bunnspecial]

When I had a Nikon D500, I used SnapBridge, which connected to my phone with Bluetooth and I could use that to GPS tag.

Nikon use to also make a sort of unwieldy GPS that fit in the hot shoe and connected to the 10 pin remote port used on a lot of the higher end cameras. Not sure if they still make that or if it’s compatible with any of the Z cameras.

 

[NoBoMac]

1/ post-adding the coordinates: having a GPS (or an app on the phone) that tracks where you go. Once you return to the computer you upload the GPS coordinates file along the photos and some photo DAM software will add the GPS coordinates to the picture, based on the timestamp. Obviously the time in your camera need to be good

This.

Or, if you have an Apple Watch, can setup a Shortcut to grab current location and save to a Note. Or, use the Camera Remote app on the Watch to have the phone take a picture. Either works for me, as I'm usually happy enough with general area location for most pictures so occasionally shoot a pic with the phone, and if need specific, just whip out the phone and click more often/when warranted (eg. quick snap of what I'm shooting to visually sync with real(tm) camera image).

 

[mtbdudex]

Gps tags and app that uses them is so easy visually to see stuff. This is my iPhone and apple photos. As I zoom in it will keep segregating groups to exacter locations.

A very handy and powerful tool.
Oh, my iPhone camera qualifies as a camera right?

 

[glenthompson]

When taking pictures with my Sony mirrorless I usually take an iPhone picture too so I have a location record I can add to the Sony pix.

 

[Jerry_]

When I had a Nikon D500, I used SnapBridge, which connected to my phone with Bluetooth and I could use that to GPS tag.

Nikon use to also make a sort of unwieldy GPS that fit in the hot shoe and connected to the 10 pin remote port used on a lot of the higher end cameras. Not sure if they still make that or if it’s compatible with any of the Z cameras.

My first GPS was the Nikon one.
However performance of that device was poor (it took ages to get current coordinates and it lost coordinates each time you turned off the camera) and was consuming high on the battery.
If I remember correctly I paid it about 350€+ new

This is why I finally opted for a third party device. Gets the current coordinates in a reasonable amount of time, has an own on/off switch (either if you want it to be ready between two captures with the camera off, or it being off for not draining on the battery when you don’t need it) and an internal small rechargeable battery that gets powered by the camera, when it is on.
Those devices cost a bit over 30€ new

Both devices sit on the hot shoe and have different cables to fit different camera models (and for the third party: brands)

As much as I love using Nikon gear, this one piece was what I disliked most.

 

[mackmgg]

It's not common in many dslrs/mirrorless because of the battery draw.

It's unfortunately not common in mirrorless cameras mostly because of price and size (needing to put the antenna somewhere outside of a metal chassis, but that one's not really an issue on plastic cameras). Battery drain isn't really a major concern with a modern GPS receiver (relative to everything else the camera is doing at least) especially with mirrorless. The battery I have with my R6 would power a GPS (with nothing else running) for well over a month, and I expect would account for less than 1% of the power draw of the camera. Another issue currently is that they're kind of hard to get with the chip shortage!

It looks like Nikon is adding GPS back in though with the Z9 and Canon with the R3! Hopefully it's not going to be a feature limited to that price point and it trickles its way down into cheaper models. As @mtbdudex showed, it's super convenient being able to sort my photos by location. I'm way more likely to remember where I took a photo I'm trying to bring up than what exact day several years ago it was taken!

But to OP's question, the Nikon Z9 and Canon R3 are the only current generation DSLM cameras with GPS. Plenty of ~4-5 year old cameras have it, but at that point you'd probably just buy another used A99 somewhere. Otherwise you're stuck using an app paired to a phone, which I've never bothered to do. Alternatively photos can be geotagged afterwards if you record the outing with a dedicated GPS such as one of the ones from Garmin or even an Apple Watch workout.

 

[cthompson94]

When taking pictures with my Sony mirrorless I usually take an iPhone picture too so I have a location record I can add to the Sony pix.

This is usually what i do also, i know you can also connect them via bluetooth or wifi (i can't remember off the top of my head for location data) to automatically put the location data in the photos, but it is almost just as easy to do the quick snap of the iphone, i typically take a picture of the camera screen to help remind myself to grab the gps coordinates

 

[wilberforce]

Nikon Z9 has GPS (plus GLONASS/QZSS)

Not having a Z9 yet, I use my Apple Watch to track location then auto-tag in Lightroom