Pentax GPS Unit O-GPS1 Hotshoe Mounted Accessory GPS Unit for Pentax K-5, K-r

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Price: $199.00    

Product Feature

• Geotag your images for location information on popular photo sharing websites
• Chart the progress of a hike, bike or boating trip with interval position tracking
• A separate, but efficient power source will not drain your camera's battery
• Supports terrestrial based WAAS for highly accurate positioning
• Electronic Compass function assists while hiking or camping

Product Description

Geotag Images For Location Information On Popular Photo Sharing Websites; Charts The Progress Of A Hike, Bike Or Boating Trip With Interval Position Tracking; Separate, Efficient Power Source Does Not Drain Camera'S Battery; Supports Terrestrial-Based Waas For Highly Accurate Positioning; Electronic Compass Function Assists While Hiking Or Camping

Pentax GPS Unit O-GPS1 Hotshoe Mounted Accessory GPS Unit for Pentax K-5, K-r Review

I like to know exactly where I took my pictures as I mainly take landscape shots. With this attached, I get the exact location, the altitude, and the direction I was facing when the shot was taken, recorded and attached directly to the photo. So far, it seems to be right on or at least as accurate as the pixel resolution.

For the compass, you only have to calibrate it once for the direction between magnetic north and true north to be corrected. If you move longitudinally a good distance, you might have to calibrate it again, but it's not something that needs to be done for every shot.

The GPS acquires the satellites fairly quickly. With an open sky on a dry winter day, I got the 3D (4 satellites) reading in under a minute. The EXIF data recorded that I actually had 8.

The instruction manual and waypoint (destination) instructions leave a bit to be desired. The default file let's you find your way to Pentax offices around the world that you're probably never going to use. However, the sample file does give you the format. There are two ways you can set up waypoints. One is to take the lat-long from a photo and save it to the file. You can save up to 40 waypoints in one file this way. You can have 3 separate waypoint files giving you a total of 120 waypoints if you want.

The second way is to manually edit one of the 3 files that you've saved to your SD card. All three files are in the \GPS\DATA1\ folder on your SD card. The files have to be the names GPS_DAT1.TXT, GPS_DAT2.TXT, or GPS_DAT3.TXT. The camera won't read any other names. The waypoints are in DD (Decimal Degrees) in the following format:

TITLE= GPSDATAPentax [you give this name when saving]

DATA= PENTAX_Itabashi JP, N35.765182, E139.691208
DATA= PENTAX_Shinjuku JP, N35.691746, E139.695465
DATA= PENTAX_Osaka JP, N34.676910, E135.507095

If you have some waypoints from another GPS you would have to convert them in Notepad to this format, save them to the folder on the card, and then open them in the menu of the K-r. By selecting one of the 40 (max) you can then use the camera LCD screen to navigate to that waypoint (destination).

The Astrotracer function will use the anti-shake of the sensor to become a built-in equatorial mount. It only works in Bulb mode, and you'd better reset your auto-off function to off. You should also calibrate your compass before use to give it the greatest precision. Focus should be MF and you should check the focus as some lenses aren't in focus if just set on infinity. There is a maximum trace duration, which changes with the focal length lens used (longer lens = shorter exposure availability). The anti-shake function on the sensor only has so much movement it's capable of. Astrotracer can only be used with the K-r and K-5; it will not work with the 645D.

You can't use any flash while this unit is attached; it would block the built in flash from rising and of course, the hot shoe is already filled.

To use this GPS, you have to upgrade your cameras firmware to version 1.11. You can download this from Pentax and follow the instructions. It only takes a couple of minutes. The upgrade gives you the GPS menu items and some extra places in your photo's EXIF header files for the new data to be recorded.

I really like this unit. Before I got it I had to carry a GPS, take readings as I took pictures, and then use RoboGeo to write the information to the EXIF headers of the pictures. Now it's done when I take the picture. For me, the price was worth it. It doesn't replace a Trimble, but it's a lot smaller and saves post-processing time on photos.

Pentax GPS Unit O-GPS1 Hotshoe Mounted Accessory GPS Unit for Pentax K-5, K-r

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