diachronie

Low cost geotagging GPS with Canon 5D Mark II

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:43:37 +0000

What isn’t nice, is that Canon, unlike Nikon, offers no cheap and easy solution. With Nikon camera, you can directly mount your GPS unit on top of it and voilà.

Canon is another story. If you want your pictures being geotagged immediately (at the moment they are taken), you must buy the GPS adaptor: WFT-E4. Among other things, this baby will add the geotag directly to your pictures. But that comes with a price, almost $1000 for the WFT-E4! And you still have to buy the GPS unit.

As I had no use of the WFT-E4 except for geotagging and didn’t want to spend $1000, I searched for a low cost solution.

Qstarz

I settled for a GPS unit that does only records GPS track, like the Qstarz. I choose the BT-Q1000ex

It costs (2010) about 150$. I choose this one because it’s the most accurate and if you’re familiar with GPS units, you’ll have noticed that they don’t like slow speed, like people walking.

I hesitated with the Qisteq Phototrackr; but the chipset is less accurate and even if the unit costs less ($69) you have to buy extra softwares to geotag your pictures.

How it works

The process is in two steps. The first is that you have to synchronize your camera clock with your GPS clock. The second is that once you have imported your pictures on your computer, you must synchronize them with the GPS track recorded.

The Qstarz comes with two softwares, the Qtravel and Qsports. The one that interests me is the Qtravel. According to the manual, this software will geotag your pictures automatically.

The reality tells another story.

First, the Qtravel software couldn’t read Canon RAW file. Second, it wasn’t able to track the photos, despite the clocks having been synchronized correctly. Third, it is really slow.

I forgot completely Qtravel to geotag the pictures; instead, I’m using it to export the track in GPS format.

Then I use a marvelous free program called GeoSetter. There you say where you pictures are, and this program can read and write to RAW files, you import your GPS file and voilà!

In GeoSetter you can also add more information, like the name of the town or place, the time zone and so on.

Hopefully this post will save some of you time and money!

Ian Plant

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:09:09 +0000

Ian Plant is an American outdoor photographer and writer.

Ian’s approach to landscape photography is profound, yet humble.

Photographers pride themselves on their ability to “pre-visualize” a scene, taking a random jumble of elements and bending Nature itself by the sheer force of their will to create a pleasing composition. Truth be told, more often than not Nature is the one doing all the work; we just show up to make a record of the event. When something truly magnificent happens, how much credit can we really claim? The best nature photographers are almost invariably the ones who spend the most time in the field, simply waiting for magical moments to happen. The most we can hope to do is avoid making a mess of the wonder that is occasionally served up to us on a silver platter.

Source here.

We can enjoy sceneries that both have the technical mastery and reflect the patience Ian has to wait for the right moment.

It is also a great journey through places that many people would not visit within their lifetime. Personally, I always enjoyed reading the story behind the pictures and with Ian, you will really enter that backstage story and maybe glimpse the true beauty of his pictures.

If you’re a photographer yourself, consider buying his latest ebook “Chasing the light”. Not only it has a low price (5$) but offers great advices on light and scenery composition. And if you’re not interested in the photography tips, you can still enjoy Ian’s beautiful photography in A4 format.

All images posted here are from Ian Plant.

End of the day

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:38:10 +0000

How many days have already ended? Do they really end? Is there a beginning and an end? What’s a beginning and what’s an end anyway?

Sea of colors

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:35:28 +0000

Sunset after stormy weather. It amazing to wait for the right moment and realize that there is only *that* moment, which is the only right one..

Barrage de Cleuson

Myriam — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:18:00 +0000

Switzerland, Nendaz area.

Lac de Tracquet

Myriam — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:17:12 +0000

Nendaz, Switzerland.

Tracquet

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 07:16:27 +0000

Tracquet, Nendaz Switzerland.

Non speech

Myriam — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:56:53 +0000

Life wants me back to drawing after 16 years of break. I’m now in the process of learning how to paint with the computer.

I have no idea where this comes from, neither where it goes.

Feel free to visit the dedicated website: nonspee.ch

Dialog

Myriam — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:27:18 +0000

I don’t know what’s happening lately. I’m drowned to nature more than ever and specially to old trees. I can be lost in thoughts and suddenly stop dead in my tracks to look at a tree.

It feels like they’re talking a sweet music I forgot.

These one are very, very old, not far from 100 years, I guess.

Old friend

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:32:58 +0000

Never had this feeling before? When you meet someone you never met and it feels like an old friend?

It happens to me all the time, with people, animals and plant.

With some the bond is very strong, with other it’s only the same life spark we’re sharing.