Comments on: Jobo PhotoGPS reviewed

By: Marc

Marc — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:16:29 +0000

@Eli - Most GPS devices require the camera time to be synchronised with the GPS (usually set to UTC). The PhotoGPS works differently and with this you don’t need to set the camera clock specially.

You can see the manual and more info on the device web page:

http://www.jobo.com/web/photoGPS.486.0.html

By: Anonymous Coward

Anonymous Coward — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:30:43 +0000

It can’t lose a fix because it never has one. When triggered by a the camera’s hot shoe, it records 0.2 seconds of GPS timing signals and goes back to sleep. It can’t get a fix in that time, no GPS receiver can (on its own). A stand alone GPS system has to listen for up to 30 seconds to receive the ephemeris and other extra satellite data for a complete fix. The trick is that all that data is the same at a given time, no matter where you are. So there’s a server out there that is recording the extra data all the time. Then when you plug the PhotoGPS into your PC, it contacts that server to retrieve the rest of the data it needs to calculate a fix. Only then does it go to the third party server you mentioned to find out “what’s near”.

To more directly address your concern about the urban canyon scenario, I think PhotoGPS is probably going to come out worse than normal GPS loggers. Because if the GPS signal is unusable due to location in those 0.2 seconds, you don’t get a fix and you won’t have nearby track points a logger would have to interpolate from.

However, what’s keeping me from buying one is they don’t mention what is being done to protect your privacy. At least the second server is told every where you’ve been, and given the subscription model, it can’t be an anonymous query.

Neither of these might be of concern if you’ve got an open sky and are going to upload everything to flickr anyway. In that case it’s a cool gadget.

By: Eli

Eli — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:56:37 +0000

This jobo PhotoGPS sounds good to me. I have a question about the time coding. I usually reset my camera to local time when I am traveling. It makes sense for a sunrise photo to be time stamped 06:30 and the local day of the week, rather than whatever it might be in Boston MAssachusetts. What about all these GPS devices, or just specifically the jobo. I am going to China in May. Beijing is 12 hours opposite to Boston’s eastern time.
Will I have to leave my camera in GMT for the sattelites?
Camera is the Leica V-Lux1.

By: Jobo photoGPS reviewed » Coolest Gadgets

Jobo photoGPS reviewed » Coolest Gadgets — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:39:58 +0000

[...] The answer to that question can be found, as always, on our sister site coolest reviews. [...]