Leica M10 with Visoflex - Some questions

[MikeMyers]

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Using my Leica M10 with the Visoflex mounted, activated, and working, is there any way where I can view the co-ordinates of where I am?

In the Menu, if I look at GPS and it is in RED, and says ON, does this imply that it is working, or waiting for the GPS to find where it is?

If it is ON, and working, does this mean the GPS co-ordinates are being recorded for every photo I take?

If I stop for a few minutes, and shut off the camera, I assume this turns off the GPS - but when I turn the camera back on, will it instantly know where I am, or will it hunt?

Finally, if I switch back to rangefinder mode, with the Visoflex mounted on my camera, is it still recording GPS data for every image?

 

......and final, final question, if I review my images later, perhaps on my camera, perhaps on my computer, will they all show the GPS data?

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[LocalHero1953]

With all these questions it sounds like you are in the best position to tell us, not vice versa. Try it, look at the EXIF data and report back🙂.

Solvitur ambulando.

[MikeMyers]

4 hours ago, LocalHero1953 said:

With all these questions it sounds like you are in the best position to tell us, not vice versa. Try it, look at the EXIF data and report back🙂.

 

I will try to do so later this week.  Visoflex is mounted and working, but I don't know yet about the GPS.  It says it is "on"  There does't seem to be a way to view the GPS information on my M10.

[MikeMyers]

I will have time to work on the above today.

 

Quick question - does the M10 have a display that tells me if the GPS is working or not?  It takes a while for the GPL to "lock in" my location.  How can I know that it has done so, and will be recording that data?

I'm gradually getting used to not having the thumb rest.

This is what I see in PhotoLab - GPS is empty.  ....but maybe the Visoflex hadn't yet locked in?

 

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[RexGig0]

My best guess is that the M10 will not display the information. It has been a while since I briefly played with the Visoflex 020 on my M10. I am too busy trying to clear storm debris*, after Beryl, at the moment, to dig-up my Visoflex, but I am curious, myself, so, if no other member posts an answer, first, I will look into this, later this week.

*We were lucky. Our house, fence, and trees are all OK. Some of our neighbors were FAR less fortunate.

[MikeMyers]

Sorry to read that, and GLAD you only got minimal damage.

Ouch!!!!!!!!

[ramarren]

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I have the M10-R and M10 Monochrom, and the Visoflex 020. While I've used the Visoflex with both cameras fairly frequently, I'd never turned on the GPS features before, so your queries led me to pull out the M10-R and Visoflex 020 to try it out. 

 

> Using my Leica M10 with the Visoflex mounted, activated, and
> working, is there any way where I can view the co-ordinates of
> where I am?

Not that I can discover. On reviewing an exposure made with GPS enabled, the only indicator that the exposure includes GPS information on the camera is the GPS flag at the top of the LCD will be on. 

> In the Menu, if I look at GPS and it is in RED, and says ON, does
> this imply that it is working, or waiting for the GPS to find
> where it is?

In the menu, when you toggle the GPS command to ON, it is displayed in red. Once it is on, the Visoflex unit will indicate whether it has acquired signal by turning off the circled "x" on the GPS flag. I am not sure, but I think this requires that the camera has been set to Live View mode so that the Visoflex 020 has been powered up... 

> If it is ON, and working, does this mean the GPS co-ordinates are
> being recorded for every photo I take?

In my very minimal test, the camera took about a minute to acquire signal with Live View enabled. Every exposure I made with Live View enabled recorded GPS information correctly, so long as the GPS flag indicated it had signal. 

I could tell when exposures I made included GPS information by looking for the GPS flag when I reviewed them in Play mode, as I said above. 

> If I stop for a few minutes, and shut off the camera, I assume
> this turns off the GPS - but when I turn the camera back on, will
> it instantly know where I am, or will it hunt?

GPS is a live connection facility. I didn't test this specifically, but it would seem to me (from the behavior of other GPS devices I have and use) that if the GPS system is powered down and then powered back up, it will have to go through the protocol to re-acquire signal. 

> Finally, if I switch back to rangefinder mode, with the Visoflex
> mounted on my camera, is it still recording GPS data for every
> image?

I didn't test this, as said above. 

Moving the exposures I made to the computer and opening them with Lightroom Classic, every exposure I made with GPS enabled and the GPS flag indicating that the camera had signal included accurate information in the GPS and Altitude fields of the Metadata panel, and showed the photos made at the correct location in the LR Maps module.

NOTE: I should say, all but one, because one exposure (made indoors in my condo, which is part of a 7 story building with steel reinforced concrete structural walls) showed the GPS location to be in the street about 30 feet from the actual location and reflected the correct altitude for that location. I presume this is because the GPS signal for that exposure was reflected in from outside since the patio door was wide open and the building structure usually blocks GPS signal transmission/reception.

Whether the Visoflex 020 and M10-R body will continue to write GPS metadata information when Live View is off needs to be tested separately. I just don't know whether it maintains power to the Visoflex 020 GPS module while Live View is disabled... 

Hope that helps a little.
G

Edited July 17, 2024 by ramarren