Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I shoot outside in my trip abroad, and can view all details + map on Picassa - this is really cool, could see all the places + root I've been.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Tagging my photos of trains is critically important. Nikon's GP-1 is extremely accurate. However, it sometimes fails to record the location data because it is a little slow. The trains fly by before the unit makes the required satellite connections. It would be perfect if it were a little faster.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I like that this device is so small. In fact, I wonder when Nikon will include this technology in their pro bodies.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

If I could give this 0 stars, I would have. It worked, maybe for a week or two, but that was about it. At best, it worked 50% of the time, and at worst, it works less than 1% of the time. I've taken at least 10,000 photos with the GPS unit on and attached to my camera (D90), but less than 250 photos were geotagged. Unfortunately, I read all the bad reviews of this product after I had already purchased my own. I definitely don't recommend this product.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Eazy to figure out and install on the shoe or on the strap with included bracket. Battery life will be a bit shorter due to time needed to lock position.

Overall works good

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I've had it on my D3 for about 3 months now, and it almost never works.

For example, to day I was out shooting for 3 hours in Bangkok, outdoors all the time. I took 284 shots; it did not give me a single GPS coordinate. This is pretty typical of its performance; it plain old doesn't work.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

In the past I always carried a Garmin GPS Map 76CS unit with me when I traveled. I would write down the coordinates in a notebook then later match the photo with the location. When hundreds of photos are involved it proved to be quite time consuming. Now it's automatic.
The GP-1 GPS unit finds and locks on satellites just as quickly as my previous handheld GPS unit and there is no notebook and no extra time writing.
The unit is small and light and the ten pin connector connects easily and securely to my D800E. I am very pleased with it!
As to battery life… I always carry extra fully-charged batteries with me. So far… I have never needed to change batteries. I turn off my camera when I'm not shooting.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I do a lot of travel photography and thought that it would be very useful to have the GPS location of every photograph recorded. So, I bought the G-P1.

It is easy to install and after your turn it on it eventually finds the satellites and it works as advertised. However, I do not leave my camera on all the time to save battery life. So, every time that I reached a place where I intended to take photos I would have to wait until the GP-1 was ready.

I often photograph in cities. I leave the camera on all the time but as I am walking along sometimes a building will cause the GP-1 to lose contact with a satellite and stop working.

To make a long story short, after using it for six months I was too frustrated by the delays and stopped using it.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I really like using this tool - - it places my photograph in the world and helps me organize my many images. I do wish that Nikon would build the GPS INTO the camera, but since they don't this tool give me the info I need to name my images accurately and simply. Works seamlessly with the Lightroom map module.
If you use this, I recommend an extra battery since you need to leave the camera on to hold the GPS information, but you should have an extra battery anyway!
Simple tool that does the job.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I read some of the other reviews and was a little worried at first about the GP-1. Some of them said it was very slow and not accurate. I didn't have any issues when I took it on my recent trip to Yellowstone. The first time you turn it on it can take a minute or two to lock into where you are (similar to a vehicle gps). But after it knows where you are you can turn the camera on and off and the gps will find your location in less than two seconds.About the gps not being accurate has some truth to it, granted its not as accurate as your smart phone but it will target down to about 30 feet. For what most photographers use this for 30 feet is plenty good enough to know where you were.It does drain the battery a little faster than usual so be sure to keep an extra battery handy if you are taking lots of photos. But even with a day of 700 pictures I still didn't need to change my battery out.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Its amazing how small and light yet very acuratley gives you your positionon earth. It will be so easy to identify the places we travelled to in say ten years with the help of of GP-1 GPS and iPhoto.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I have been involved with GPS in my job as regional habitat manager for the last 18 years with SD Game Fish and Parks. Most of my work has been with survey grade GPS with sub meter accuracy. This unit is all that you could ask for; very accurate, fast satellite acquisition, compact size, excellent price. I will be purchasing 2 more units for my other cameras.
Thanks for a great product!!!

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I use this with D300s. The device was smaller and lighter than I expected, so I leave it on the camera nearly all the time. The 10-pin cable is a little inconvenient because it's a bit longer than needed when on the accessory shoe and has a rigid connection at the camera, so it can snag on things and is subject to damage knocking around in a bag or while shooting - the most vulnerable part of the system.Because this occupies the 10-pin connector port on the D300, there was no remote solution available from Nikon when I bought this, but the Vello radio remote provides a D90 cable which plugs into a port on the GPS so you can use that remote easily with the GPS. I use the remote to release the camera when held high overhead on a pole or tripod to shoot over obstacles and get a higher perspective.Power consumption is high - 3-4 hours of use to drain a new fully charged camera battery if you set the camera to leave the GPS on so you're always ready to record position to the file. It picks up in a few seconds after a short power-off, but can take a minute or two at startup.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

It took way too long to find any satellites. Then if you take 5 five steps to take another photo it starts all over again. Not a very effective unit. Would not recommend it!

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Awesome artefact, a must have for a traveler photographer as it provide you with exact coordinates of where your pictures were taken.
There is absolutely no set up, just plug in and play. I have used it in the Nikon D5000, D300, D300s and D90 without any problem.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

This accessory is great with a few caveats. First, it is slow to acquire satellite contact when mounted or when the camera is switched on or woken up. Second, the cable connection is one more thing to get snagged. It would be great if the GPS unit could communicate with the camera via the hotshoe.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I'm going to confess that when I first saw this device, I asked myself 'when would I ever need GPS information stored in my pictures?' This changed about a month ago when I started working for a new company. Part of my job entails traveling along scenic roadways and shooting pictures to collect stock imagery for future publications. I purchased the GP-1 for my Nikon D90 and to use with the office's D7000 so we can keep a more precise record of where our imagery was taken. Programs like Aperture and Lightroom can visually display picture locations by overlaying pins over Google Maps or Bing.

The device works as advertised. In my experience (when used outside), it initially takes a minute or less to get a lock on the GPS satellites. Once that's done, it usually takes between 3-10 seconds to establish a subsequent lock. Once locked on, the GP-1 then embeds the GPS date into the Meta library for each photo taken. This data includes latitude, longitude and altitude.

The GP-1 does not have a built-in compass. This means it won't be able to record which compass direction you were pointing the camera at the time. This doesn't particularly bother me.

The device is small and barely adds any weight to the camera. It also doesn't appear to be a significant drain on the camera battery.

The only truly negative comment I can make about the GP-1 is the cost. It doesn't seem like it should be as expensive as it is. I'm not an electronics technician, though, so I'll let this gripe slide.

On a twenty mile scenic route, I might take hundreds of pictures and the convenience of having an exact location automatically logged into each pictures means I spend less time writing down image file numbers and locations and more time actually shooting the pictures. This alone makes the GP-1 a convenient addition to the work I do.

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Stick it on your camera and it just looks like a piece non esential junks hange off my camera. Please can't nikon with it multitude of connector just design something that is pleasing to the eye and visually unobtusive. On the plus side it works great so far on my D800. NW

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

I use this on a Nikon D3200 with a Nikkor 70-200 F2.8 VR lens for wildlife photography. The accuracy is unbelievable consistantly within a few feet

Comments about Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit:

Turns on when plugged in, turns off when unplugged. Seamlessly integrated to load GPS to my photos.