Nikon GPS Unit really needed???

[Weenie]

GPS is a big deal for me. The GPS on cell phones is not accurate within a couple feet (for example, take a bunch of pics from your iphone into Lightroom and see how they can be up to several hundred feet away from the actual photographic location). The benefit of the real satellite GPS is that, although it can take a while to sync, it's extremely accurate. It also records elevation instead of just latitude and longitude information. According to this article, there is minimal difference between the name brand Nikon and a third party.

 

[bribrius]

I have gps on my Nikon and don't even use it. I haven't used it. That could mean I don't get out much though....

 

[pgriz]

There are various freeware packages that allow you to add GPS tags to images that aren't tagged. You do need to know where you have taken the shot, and then using Google-Earth or a similar software, you pinpoint the location and the software then copies the GPS coordinates into the meta-data. Another way, is to merge a GPS track with your camera's images, using the common time to establish the coordinates when the image was taken. It does work, but you have to make sure that the GPS unit and the camera have the same starting time. This process is called "geotagging" and you can search for sites and software that do this. However, it may not always be wise to share this kind of information when posting photos on a public-accessible web-site.