Sony's New Venture

Garbz · Sep 26, 2007

The GPS data will most likely be embedded in the EXIF.

I wonder how much of an extra expense this adds to the camera. I still personally feel this is a very strange addition to be part of the camera itself, rather than an attachment. Surely there are other ways they could add value for the consumer than add a feature which I will assume (for now anyway) very few people will use. Time will tell though. Personally I'd prefer if they integrated a walkman for those long hikes instead

usayit said:
So in essense.. we are in agreement.... Sony (just like all brands) have their hits or misses...

Actually I don't fully agree. I do kinda. They have their hits and misses with retail customers. But their long standing tradition of servicing their wholesale oem part customers with very very fine quality devices while at the same time producing lots of often mediocre crap for their retail consumers while riding on the hype bandwagon "we produce great CCDs (true)" or "we invented the CD (also true)", but ultimately delivering a poor product, like my dvd player which doesn't start properly if the display is dimmed when you turn it off.

This is an attack on the company itself not on the camera which may turn out to be very fine indeed. But the trend of consistent quality stopped in the 90s.

Sw1tchFX · Sep 26, 2007

upper end nikons (d200 and up) have gps in them.

JHF Photography · Sep 26, 2007

I saw this in action at a Toronto photo show this past spring. Sony had a booth set-up, featuring one of their digital P&S cameras with GPS in the camera. It tracked the GPS co-ordinates, then embedded them in the exif data.

The photos were then uploaded into the software that came with the camera, and it plotted out on a map of the world where each individual photo was taken. They demonstrated with photos from a carribean cruise (THAT must have been a real tough assignment...). The map could be zoomed right down so each photo spot was seen easily, and then when the map point was clicked on, a full screen version of the photo pops up.

It was pretty cool..... my friend and I were impressed. Although we both felt it was very gimicky. I can see some merits to it, but I think it will have more appeal to the casual snapper who likes all the gadgets and gizmos. I could also see pro's who were doing a documentary of a geographical region having some use for it too, but again, I think money could be spent on more useful camera functions.

Iron Flatline · Sep 26, 2007

It's a feature to market.

Sort of like PictBridge, who really uses that?

table1349 · Sep 26, 2007

Oh boy, Now if we can only get Pentax to put a single slice toaster in their bodies I would never go hungry while shooting again. :lmao:

Sorry, there may be a niche market for such a thing, but sounds way to gimmicey for me.

Garbz · Sep 26, 2007

Sw1tchFX said:
upper end nikons (d200 and up) have gps in them.

No they do however have the ability to plug a GPS unit into them via the 10pin connector on the front, which in my mind makes it far less gimmikey.

JHF Photography · Sep 27, 2007

Iron Flatline said:
It's a feature to market.

Sort of like PictBridge, who really uses that?

Great example..... I don't even know what PictBridge is! :lol:

gryphonslair99 said:
Oh boy, Now if we can only get Pentax to put a single slice toaster in their bodies I would never go hungry while shooting again. :lmao:

Sorry, there may be a niche market for such a thing, but sounds way to gimmicey for me.

I think you might be onto something with the toaster idea..... :lmao::lmao::lmao:

I agree, it's really gimmicky, and the market is very small. But I have some family members who are all about the gadgets, they would snatch this sort of thing up in a second.

Patrice · Sep 27, 2007

I can see how some journalism customers might want the location in the exif for authentification reasons.

usayit · Sep 27, 2007

or.. the police.. investigations type stuff... (sorry.. too much TV lately)
or.. for scientific purposes..

table1349 · Sep 27, 2007

usayit said:
or.. the police.. investigations type stuff... (sorry.. too much TV lately)
or.. for scientific purposes..

You have been watching way too much CSI lately. We can not pull finger prints or DNA out of the air, fingers do not leave prints on every surface known to man and we actually turn the lights on in the lab and there is NOT ONE female officer on my department that looks like most of those "forensic experts" on CSI. (God I hate that show!!!!!!!!!!!:angry1

Seriously, we don't use GPS in police work. Even the best GPS is only good down to a couple of feet. We live by millimeters and measure from fixed points. I can see surveyors using it or some similar job.

TCimages · Sep 28, 2007

gryphonslair99 said:
You have been watching way too much CSI lately. We can not pull finger prints or DNA out of the air, fingers do not leave prints on every surface known to man and we actually turn the lights on in the lab and there is NOT ONE female officer on my department that looks like most of those "forensic experts" on CSI. (God I hate that show!!!!!!!!!!!:angry1

Seriously, we don't use GPS in police work. Even the best GPS is only good down to a couple of feet. We live by millimeters and measure from fixed points. I can see surveyors using it or some similar job.

Interesting. So if you recover electronic images from a raid or arrest, The location of where the images were taken wouldn't be useful in an investigation? I bet a recent snapshot with GPS of one of FBI's most wanted would be useful.

I don't think the idea of GPS info in the exif suggested fingerprints or dna.

usayit · Sep 28, 2007

gryphonslair99 said:
"forensic experts" on CSI. (God I hate that show!!!!!!!!!!!:angry1

You think that is bad.. I hate how TV shows and Movies portray computer experts... There are some "normal" people here.. not just a building full of geeks...

Alex_B · Sep 28, 2007

TCimages said:
I'm not so sure I like it. If I take a picture of my house or places I frequent often, guess what...

A useless feature that takes a piece of your privacy. These are the kinds of things that play right into a stalker or predators hands.

you can always remove the data if you want.

but for many of my shots it would be valuable (shots where you cannot acutally tell the position and even I forget over the years).

NikonD40x@Denver · Sep 28, 2007

Alex_B said:
you can always remove the data if you want.

I would assume the data of the photo would not be able to be edited, I don't think I could change what aperture the camera was set on a certain photo.

Click to expand...

table1349 · Sep 28, 2007

TCimages said:
Interesting. So if you recover electronic images from a raid or arrest, The location of where the images were taken wouldn't be useful in an investigation? I bet a recent snapshot with GPS of one of FBI's most wanted would be useful.

I don't think the idea of GPS info in the exif suggested fingerprints or dna.

In this situation we are not using the GPS, just like we did not us the camera to take the photo in the first place. We never turn down others stupidity. A photo of one of the FBI's most wanted would not be nearly as useful as the owner of the camera. The photo from the camera is a snapshot of the past. The person can tell us what we want to know about the present and that persons location.

As for GPS info in the exif data, usait just suggested GPS might be something the we would us. It is not a tool that we would have a normal use for. We use things like DNA, Fingerprints and pinpoint locations not something that will get you within a few feet.