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FOTOS App 2.1 released (Geotagging)


Matsaly

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I plan on updating to FOTOS 2.1 and trying it out in the next few days. Upon further review of the notice posted on the Red Dot forum I quote:

 

There are two methods for operating the new Geotagging feature in Leica FOTOS 2.1:

  • While in the app: As soon as Leica FOTOS is opened all connected Bluetooth cameras can get Geotags
  • Always [Beta]: Geotagging always works, even when your mobile device is locked – this option is currently in Public Beta

 

Given the pitiful development and rollout of the geotagging feature I remain highly skeptical about this feature. But hope springs eternal...

 

 

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I just downloaded V2.1. It’s a definite improvement from the previous version. Connection took one try. In the past it took several attempts. It goes into Sleep mode after 30 secs, but comes back immediately when the App shutter button is pushed. Big improvement. I tuned the Auto Power Off to OFF on the camera. That helped. It easily stayed connected in Sleep mode for 5+ minutes. Good job SW team! 
 

Under camera settings I changed the shutter to continuous and that did not work when pushing the shutter button. 
 

My single biggest beef is the FOTOS app totally ignores if the camera is set to Manual Focus. It always used AF. This is a big limitation for macro as well as normal operation when trying to photograph moving subjects. In my case, Hummingbirds on a feeder. 
 

I sent a feature request to Leica about this. 

Edited by Leica Guy
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It works fine for me (iPhone/iPad). Set on Always in the new version of FOTOS. After taking a photo, GPS icon (satellite) appears in the lower right corner. You don’t have to have FOTOS app open. If you download your photos from the camera to the app, the GPS coordinates are there (if you click on them it will show you a map). Have not seen the GPS info in LR (iPad) however...

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vor 15 Stunden schrieb johntobias:

The gps icon is on on the camera display but not found the geotag exif  data yet🙄🙄

The GPS-Symbol i always there, but it must be highlighted to show that its active.

vor 14 Minuten schrieb LocalHero1953:

Is it any faster at downloading images from camera to phone?

Yes it is, but not a lot (or the same as before) for JPG photos, thumbnails are obviously faster

 

I did some quick tests and found out the following for my Android Phone:

1° You must enable geotagging in the settings menu of Leica Photos when connectd
2° the GPS-Symbol on the camera must be highlighted
3° with WiFi on you can use only remote control
4° when you press the shutte while in WiFi mode you will be asked to shut down WiFi
5° If you say yes to shutdown, then you can take photos with the shutter button and geotagging still works
6° Android will show on the top status bar a Leica sign and this shows that the camera is/will be connected in Geotagging mode
6° you can switch off tha camera and switch it on later and geotagging still works

So basically it should work like this:
switch on Bluetooth on both devices
connect camera with bluetooth to the phone or tablet with WiFi (still the same slow way)
press shutter button to stop WiFi
the Leica Sign should apear on the top status line and there is a message that geotagging is acrive and that it is syncronizing
leave the house and take the photos, you can switch the camera off inbetween if needed
At home download the photos and voilà, the photos are geotagged

AFAIK the IPAD/IOS was even more awkward to connect, so you may fix this problem first and then try to activate geotagging.

On Android it seems that it works and that is good! It could be much easier and without starting the WiFi, but at least it's a working solution.

Chris

 

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vor 5 Minuten schrieb Juchelka:

It would be hard for me to tell, since I have not done it before (this version), but it didn’t feel terribly slow for 8 DNG downloads.

It is already boring slow for JPG's over a WiFi connection .....
if i immagine to download 20 DNG files, OMG!

Chris

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What are your main reasons in your workflow to use that app? I played around some years ago but the I saw no benefit for me so I never used it again. Maybe I do not see the important point!

Btw: for geotagging I use my excellent "GeoTagr"-App on the iPhone. Lightroom recognises the data immediately.

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OK,   All working perfectly now, I simply re-paired the phone/camera with the fotos app and hey presto, geotagged (even speed!)   Downloads seem a good bit faster for jpgs to my phone but I’m really a raw shooter and haven’t had time to check that out yet

 

nice one Leica 👍👍👍

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The Bluetooth pairing to get the GPS data seems really slow.  The camera is off, I turn it on, and it can take up to a minute for the Bluetooth indicator to flash and then the GPS indicator  lights up.  Anyone else experiencing this delay?  It's kind-a hard when you are ready to take a picture and have to wait for GPS data.  

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Seems like it still isn't working properly. I enabled this then took a series of 40 or so photos (not using the app) without moving at all. The first 15 photos taken over a 15 minute period have no location info. After another 14 photos the location information disappears. This is over approximately a 2 minute period. The timestamp between the last photo with location info and the first without is 2 seconds. I believe that the GPS icon was showing active the whole time in the EVF/LCD. However, it looks like it is always dimmed in the quick menu.

So, although it seems that location data can now be captured outside of using the remote feature of the app it is not consistent which is discouraging.

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vor 12 Stunden schrieb iRandom:

So, although it seems that location data can now be captured outside of using the remote feature of the app it is not consistent which is discouraging.

I made some more tests this afternoon using the nice weather and my new bike.
For all the tests below my Galaxy S20 Phone was within 1 meter of the camera

- Camera Switched off over night and then switched on: No Geotagging
- Then camera connected with Fotos, Geotagging works

Then i cycled to another place and left the Q2 switched off

I switched on the camera and took a photo pressing the shutter: no geotagging
I connected tha camera once again with Fotos and pressed the shutter: Geotagging works again

Then i cycled home and left the camera on, but sleeping
I pressed the shutter to wake up camera and took a photo: No geotagging

So against my belive from yesterday, once the camera will go to sleep mode or is switched off she looses contact with smart device and so geotagging will not work.

To make Geotagging happen, Q2 must be connected every time she go in sleep mode or is switched off OR kept awake what is bad for screen and battery.

It seems to me that the Q2 keep bluetooth connection for reciving coordinates using the shutter button what make drop the WiFi connection,
BUT this works only as long the camera is awake, if she falls asleep or is switched off the bluetooth connection drops and to get coordinates again,
the whole, slow and anoying pocedure to start WiFi must be done again.

Uncomfortable stuff!

Chris

P.S. As the WiFi connection don't drop when the camera is used remotly with Fotos, it may continue to work if the camera fall asleep.

Edited by PhotoCruiser
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That's the problem(above post).  Once the camera goes to sleep, it loses the Bluetooth connection.  When it wakes up, watch the display for a few seconds and you will first see the Bluetooth and GPS indicators come on greyed out.  Then the Bluetooth indicator will flash and the GPS will turn white.  At that point, you are good to go.  The problem is it can take up to a minute for the Bluetooth to connect and provide GPS information.  Also, if you playback a picture and it has GPS data, it will show the GPS icon on playback.  No GPS icon, no GPS data.  

My AirPods connect instantly, why does this take so long?

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OK, so this new Fotos 2.1 geotagging seems to have a pretty terrible UX.

After trying lots of things, mostly failing, then reading the info above, it seems that the user is expected to need a lot of patience (with no explanation in the documentation that that will happen).  Sequence seems to be:

- turn Q2 on
- after 9 seconds it displays a (not very) greyed bluetooth and GPS icon
- after a further 16 seconds it briefly blinks the bluetooth white and back to "grey", then turns the GPS icon white
- photos after that are now geotagged (as T.J. above helpfully pointed out, you can check on the camera's playback

Initial experiments suggest that the Fotos app does not need to be in the foreground, and you don't need to interact with it to reconnect for geotagging; but it does need to have been started.  I even got it to geotag from the iPhone while my GPS/mapping app (ViewRanger) was recording a route.  If you quit the Fotos app you get a message saying that geotagging has been turned off.

I guess I should set auto-power-down to a very long time and take a spare battery :-)

I hope it does work reliably  Using the phone's GPS rather than building hardware into the camera is a great solution, because the phone gets a more accurate fix and can work without line-of-sight (by using its database of wifi base stations and other data).  It just has to work faster, and reliably.

Will test tomorrow during a walk.

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