GPS

[marcolinger]

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I am really happy with the new firmware. Mainly because I have also the SL2 and will now have the same menu approach.

One, perhaps stupid, question : wouldn’t it have been possible to have also the GPS function like the SL2 ? I know, most of the time it doesn’t work but I still hope that Leica will be able (!?!?) to correct this problem.

 

[JayBird]

Personally, I am glad it does not have it. It is a feature that I would not use.

[jaapv]

14 hours ago, marcolinger said:

I am really happy with the new firmware. Mainly because I have also the SL2 and will now have the same menu approach.

One, perhaps stupid, question : wouldn’t it have been possible to have also the GPS function like the SL2 ? I know, most of the time it doesn’t work but I still hope that Leica will be able (!?!?) to correct this problem.

 

Given the size of Luxembourg, do you really need GPS?  

[ramarren]

15 hours ago, marcolinger said:

I am really happy with the new firmware. Mainly because I have also the SL2 and will now have the same menu approach.

One, perhaps stupid, question : wouldn’t it have been possible to have also the GPS function like the SL2 ? I know, most of the time it doesn’t work but I still hope that Leica will be able (!?!?) to correct this problem.

If there is no GPS hardware in the camera, no one can add GPS with a firmware update. To the best of my knowledge, the CL does not include any GPS hardware. 

G

[scott kirkpatrick]

Neither does the SL2 have GPS hardware.  That information is copied over (on rare occasions) via Fotos.  The SL2 makes it less power-draining by using BlueToothLE, which the CL also doesn't have.

GPS is an international nightmare for a simple group of opto-mechano-camera engineers to master.  It forces them to deal with the requirements of countries with peculiar sensitivities in their politics, and with radio ministries that control whether your product can be imported and sold, or will be impounded at their borders.  Phone makers are big, well connected to their governments, and so Leica's philosophy seems to be to let them deal with it.  In another few years we may see Leica move to something like the SL2/Q2 solution for geolocation, and actually make it work reliably.  Other camera makers, I hear, have gotten pretty far with this approach, although it seems to take several model releases to get there.

Edited August 23, 2020 by scott kirkpatrick

[ramarren]

In addition to Scott's comment, I have to add that I find geolocation of my photographs to be of virtually zero relevant value. If I want to track where I made various photos, I snap a picture with my iPhone at the location and can then use the time stamp from that to find all the photos made at that time (and thus location), and copy/paste the GPS coordinates to them in a few seconds. 
 

that does the job as reliably and accurately as I need, and proves quite convenient. 
G

[nicci78]

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GPS stamps are only useful for poachers to kill interesting game aka big 5 more easily. 

[jaapv]

Not really. Game moves around. 

[dadu007]

It's not helpful when you say something along the lines of "GPS isn't relevant to me, I wouldn't use it,  and so it doesn't matter."

It is relevant to many users, especially for those cataloguing geotagged photos in certain databases, where you can then search for photos in a radius around a certain location.

The CL doesn't have the GPS hardware built in to it (like the SL does, thus its plastic "hump").

I think people (like me) are searching for an elegant way of geotagging photos taken with the CL.

I've seen mention of the GPS4Cam app, but that app is not available in Apple's App store in the US.

Today I discovered "GPS4Camera" (different name) in the US Apple app store, and have been messing with it all day. It's built by a lone developer in the US, and I've been emailing with him back and forth all day...mainly because he left out some crucial instructions, LOL.

As I understand it, the app should work this way:

1. You start the GPS tracking in the app. 
2. Tap the "Sync" button in the app; you'll then see a QR code. Take a picture of that QR code with your camera (i.e., Leica CL)
3. You can lock your phone and put it in your pocket. The app is still recording GPS coordinates as you walk.
4. Take pictures on  your walk
5. At the end of the walk, stop the GPS tracking in the app.
6. Export either a .gpx or .kml data file from the app.
7. Dump one of those files (the .gpx OR .kml file), plus all your photos (including the photo of the QR code) from the walk into one folder
8. Run his qrfinder.exe in the folder (this on Mac OS only, PC not supported)...
9. ...what is supposed to happen (I think) is that qrfinder will extract the time from the QR code, sync the timestamped GPS coordinates (the app records them at short intervals) to your photo capture times, and then use Exiftool to push the corresponding gps coordinates in to the exif metadata of the photos.

I could not get this to work today, but if it ever does work as designed, it would be an acceptable solution for me (and others, I suspect).

BTW, I had a Pentax DSLR that had built-in GPS, and it worked flawlessly and accurately. I wish the same for the CL2.

Edited August 24, 2020 by dadu007

[ramarren]

dadu007: I can only speak for myself and my aims, goals, and usage in photographic pursuits. Sorry if that seems 'unhelpful' to you; it's my honest opinion. I don't pretend to speak for others' desires or needs. For me, to do so is pretentious and condescending. 

There are many excellent uses for GPS and I use it extensively for many of those other things. But as far as I'm concerned, geotagging my photographs has virtually no value: My photography is not intended to be forensic or documentarian in nature. The things I like to hear least when a viewer is looking at my photographs is "What is that?" and "Where is that?" If those are the kinds of responses to work I show that I hear most, I know I've missed my mark.  

G

[pop]

The app to look for really is "GPS4CAM" (http://blog.gps4cam.com). The correct operation is outlined on their very homepage: start tracking with the app, take your trip and shoot your photographs, at the end of the trip tell the app that you're done and photograph the QR code which is then shown with every camera you've taken with you, upload the pictures to your PC (including, of course, the picture(s) with the QR code), run the GPS4CAM app on your PC (Win or Mac).

It's the only product I know which properly handles the different time of day clocks of your devices. 

However, you can also get by with tracking your path with just about any of the many GPS tracking apps available for your phone or with a dedicated GPS device. You can transfer the location data to your photos with a simple GPS app such as GPSPRUNE or just let your image processing software do that if it can.

[dadu007]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but:

"GPS4Cam" is not available in the Apple App store for the US. (Their last blog entry is from 2014?)

GPSPrune is java-based (security risk) and does not handle RAW files (e.g. .DNG), only .jpg files.

Edited August 24, 2020 by dadu007

[jaapv]

I just found it in the appstore.

 

 

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http://www.gps4cam.com/

[dadu007]

@jaapv

You're confusing "GPS4Cam" with "GPS4Camera", which are two different apps.

GPS4Cam (recommend here in the forum) is not available in the US.: http://www.gps4cam.com/

Apps in the Apple App store are regulated/restricted by country. Apparently GPS4Cam is not flagged for use in the US.

GPS4Camera is in the US App store, and apparently also in the Netherlands App store (look at the app name in your screenshot), and is the one I was experimenting with yesterday...

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by dadu007

[HuntingSand]

I'm a big fan of GPS tagging. I go all over the place (the world, really), and really appreciate retracing my steps in post production. The Viso of my TL2 has it, and so does my S camera. The SL had it, too, but for one reason or other it got dropped for the SL2. And no, it's not a firmware thing, this is an actual piece of hardware (chip, etc.) which requires calibration and opens up (in certain countries and locations) an interesting can of legal worms. 

[dadu007]

Just to follow up:

The GPS4Camera (not GPS4Cam) is a bust for me...while the programmer is a nice guy, I think the app is more of a hobby venture for him and it's not quite ready for primetime.

I have two workable and acceptable solutions now:

1. I found HoudahGeo (Mac only, https://www.houdah.com/houdahGeo/), which is only 43 USD (39 Euro). I like it!  It supports RAW files. 🙂 Basically I can use my Cyclemeter phone app (https://abvio.com/cyclemeter/) to track my route when walking/riding/hiking, and then export a .gpx file from that and import it into HoudahGeo. HoudahGeo then easily pushes the appropriate coordinates to each photo, based on matching the timestamps in the .gpx file and exif info in the .dng files. I tested this with great results before purchasing HoudaGeo. It's best to try to match the camera's time as closely as possible with the time on your cell phone.
2. My photo database, IMatch (https://www.photools.com/), can also import the above .gpx export and geocode my photos using that within its Map Panel. However, I prefer to geocode my photos BEFORE adding them to my IMatch database only because it's bit tedious to undo bad info in IMatch. So I'll use HoudahGeo.
3. So I will geocode photos from my Leica CL on my MacAir, then move them to my Windows PC where IMatch (a Windows-only application) resides.

Edited August 26, 2020 by dadu007

[jaapv]

Well, if you are combining with Windows, the original GPS4cam is alive and well on Google Play. 

Houdah appears to be a non-starter as it integrates with Photos, which I have disabled as far as possible on all my devices.

[pop]

vor 10 Minuten schrieb jaapv:

the original GPS4cam

.. he says the phone component (which does the actual tracking) is not available for the iPhone where he lives.

[jaapv]

Pity.

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Hallo,

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vor 1 Minute schrieb jaapv:

Pity.

True.

Given that a fully working android phone can be had for something like USD 150, I think I would buy one for this purpose. It would not even need a SIM card. That would have the advantage that the phone doesn't try to do a lot of other things while tracking the trip.

I did the same for using the occasional Windows app. I bought myself a new laptop with all bells and whistles for less than USD 250. It just sits there until I use one of those Windows apps such as driving a scanner.