M10 and GPS function

[BBHewee]

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I was thinking about this and take that with a pinch of salt, as it may be another way of me trying to convince myself I don't need to upgrade.

This means having the GPS means having the Visoflex permanently attached. I find that pretty ugly in all honesty. At least the MF grip is aesthetically more integrated. Thoughts?

[wattsy]

GPS can't always identify where my car is on remote local roads but I assume that's because the roads aren't mapped rather than the satellites' inability to find the car. In remote areas.

 

Am I right to assume that GPS works absolutely anywhere? And how about indoors: can it lose signal?

 

 

Without wanting to sound like a pedantic nerd it is worth noting that the satellites don't find or look for anything (though I suspect you didn't actually mean it like that). The satellites 'simply' broadcast a time signal that a GPS receiver picks up and uses to calculate its position. The limitation is always in the receiving device and the quality of the signal it can receive (which is often obscured by buildings and walls). My dedicated GPS which I use for walking struggles indoors so I'd be surprised if the GPS receiver in the Leica visoflex was much cop when you are not outside.

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[rfunnell]

Quick update.

The Visoflex purchased last week for my new M10 was unable to get a GPS signal so after using it for several days in many locations I returned it to my Leica dealer .

They had another Visoflex and another M10.

Same results so returned the product.

If your looking to have GPS with the M10  it may not be quite ready!

[Naper]

iPhone solution sounds great. I have a trip planned to Asia and would like something reliable. The 020 sounds as though it as limits. One additional question. If the GPS in EVF is not able to hook up with some satellites is there an indicator light or something that alerts the user that GPS is out of range?

 

GPS might not work in China. 

[cookedart]

Quick update.

The Visoflex purchased last week for my new M10 was unable to get a GPS signal so after using it for several days in many locations I returned it to my Leica dealer .

They had another Visoflex and another M10.

Same results so returned the product.

If your looking to have GPS with the M10  it may not be quite ready!

 

I found it took quite a while walking around to finally register a GPS fix. I'm definitely talking hours, and I've only seen it register one place. It seems slow and not very reliable. I actually assumed the same as you, that it didn't work at all, but chances are it just barely works.

[scott kirkpatrick]

Is there a way to turn off GPS in the 020 Visoflex, so that it doesn't waste power trying to capture a signal indoors?

 

scott

[vikasmg]

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Ok - thanks for your input. I have been a bit addicted to this with a D700 and a none brand GPS. Today I am still an M8 shooter! and this is definitely something very convenient and interests me. The M (240) in the handgrip is somehow more my style but maybe a EVF built in is not so bad.

 

Really looking forward to hear some news from people now gearing up with this and learn from someone getting hands on experience.

 

Just as background - my D700 and a 50$ solution is just fantastic - so my expectations for the EVF and functionality is of course high due to the price level  Never the less it is time for an type 240 or an M10 why my interest is high to follow this topic. Thanks for your help.

 

I have it on the Leica T and it works well though I don't use it much.

[vikasmg]

GPS might not work in China. 

 

Really?  Is there a way to block GPS signals without a solid overhead cover?

Edited February 1, 2017 by vikasmg

[vikasmg]

I was thinking about this and take that with a pinch of salt, as it may be another way of me trying to convince myself I don't need to upgrade.

This means having the GPS means having the Visoflex permanently attached. I find that pretty ugly in all honesty. At least the MF grip is aesthetically more integrated. Thoughts?

The MF Grip actually adds more weight and bulk compared to the Visoflex.  And offers no electronic viewfinder either :-)

[david strachan]

I've had several mapping units, particularly Garmin GPS units.  Used to use Garmin Charts on my boats with Etrex Vista's etc.  And car GPS units.

 

All of them take ages to get a fix, if you've moved to a new location, and then turn your unit on.  They drop out in many situations, and depend there on the quality of the aerial inside, and your overhead cover.

 

Honestly folks, I just think this problem with your camera GPS units, is just part of GPS problems everywhere, and with the whole system.  It is far from instantaneous.

 

Don't fret, it is not your camera fault, or Leica to blame.

 

all best

[vikasmg]

GPS can't always identify where my car is on remote local roads but I assume that's because the roads aren't mapped rather than the satellites' inability to find the car. In remote areas.

 

Am I right to assume that GPS works absolutely anywhere? And how about indoors: can it lose signal?

 

Actually you should be able to see where your car is even if the map doesn't show the road it's on.  The road and other features are dependent on the map.  The GPS satellites only allow the GPS sensor to triangulate your position.

 

I had an old map with the GPS system that did not reflect some newly reclaimed land on which there were roads.  The map showed my car driving over the water that would have been there before the reclamation.

 

- Vikas

[cookedart]

Is there a way to turn off GPS in the 020 Visoflex, so that it doesn't waste power trying to capture a signal indoors?

 

scott

Yes. You can turn GPS off entirely in the menus.

[LocalHero1953]

Really?  Is there a way to block GPS signals without a solid overhead cover?

There were discussions about this earlier. It seems GPS chips are programmed from manufacture to be disabled when they find themselves in China. A Chines requirement that manufacturers (all in China??) go along with.

Edited February 1, 2017 by LocalHero1953

[rfunnell]

Interesting discussion   however I did have the Leica SL for the past year and it just worked  and found the signal rather fast  by comparison.

One thing I did notice was that the camera gets hot when you walk around in Live mode for some time which is necessary to run the Visoflex.

There doesn't seem any option to run just the GPS without the Live View - or am I mistaken ?

[cookedart]

Interesting discussion   however I did have the Leica SL for the past year and it just worked  and found the signal rather fast  by comparison.

One thing I did notice was that the camera gets hot when you walk around in Live mode for some time which is necessary to run the Visoflex.

There doesn't seem any option to run just the GPS without the Live View - or am I mistaken ?

 

I believe as long as GPS is on in the menu, it will work regardless of whether or not Live View is active. You can check the info menu and see the satellite icon, which implies that the GPS is active and working.

[BBHewee]

The MF Grip actually adds more weight and bulk compared to the Visoflex.  And offers no electronic viewfinder either :-)

But the Visoflex sticks out like a sore thumb. The grip doesn't imho.

[ErikP]

I found it took quite a while walking around to finally register a GPS fix. I'm definitely talking hours, and I've only seen it register one place. It seems slow and not very reliable. I actually assumed the same as you, that it didn't work at all, but chances are it just barely works.

 

I have an NO-Name GPS from Ebay to a Nikon camera, (CN manufactured for 40$ that works perfectly........). Strange that Leica did not nail this then if people experience problems?

 

Is consensus that there is malfunction or low performance? I find that strange since the technology is mature and copied for a long time on the market. 

Edited February 4, 2017 by ErikP

[FrankSL&M]

Is it possible to sync with my SL's GPS unit?

[dan_]

If you use the Leica's iPhone app, does it record the GPS location from the iPhone instead? I think they should introduce this function

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[jonoslack]

Hi There

It's an interesting subject - I'm pretty certain that there is no malfunction with the GPS in the M10 - lots of effort went into this.

I'd guess that if you want a GPS to get a very fast fix in difficult circumstances then you need a lot of power (which clearly is not a problem with the SL where the GPS is pretty flawless).

 

I've found that if you want the best chances of a good GPS fix with the M10, then you need to turn off Live view (to save battery)(except when you need it), and also turn off sleep mode (and have a spare battery!). To be fair, I don't think it uses a huge amount of power if LV is switched off. Of course, this isn't a perfect solution, but then it isn't that often that it's really important to have a GPS fix.

 

I spent a happy afternoon in a German forest with someone else and 4 cameras, and they all gained and lost fixes pretty much simultaneously. Some days it seems to work flawlessly, getting a fix on every shot . . Other days it's much more patchy. It seems that it depends on a lot of factors to work well, but probably the actual configuration of the satellites is quite important.

 

Couple of points that have come up

1. You don't need live view enabled for GPS to work

2. You can turn it off in the menu if you don't want it, but do want the EVF

3. You can see the symbol in the info screens - easiest when not using live view - 3 options a) ON had a fix within 24 hours 'i' showing c) no fix for more than 24 hours 'x' showing