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<TITLE>Summary: Camera + GPS</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Thanks to all who responded to my query about finding a good-quality-but-not-too-expensive camera with a GPS built in. Here’s a summary of responses.<BR>
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<SPAN STYLE='font-size:0in'><HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%"></SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Consolas, Courier New, Courier"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>Aidan Wilson:<BR>
A low-cost option that's retrofittable but adds one photo management step is <BR>
the photrackr mini:<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.gisteq.com/PhotoTrackr/PhotoTrackrDPL900.php#fragment-2">http://www.gisteq.com/PhotoTrackr/PhotoTrackrDPL900.php#fragment-2</a><BR>
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Which is basically gps tracker, but the way it works is you sync your digital <BR>
camera's clock with its own, and then sort of, have it around when you take <BR>
photos. Then later, when you transfer photos onto a computer, the included <BR>
software (Mac and PC compatible) uses the timecodes to find the correct <BR>
lat/long coords and inputs them into the EXIF metadata.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">This led me to ring the Gisteq rep in Australia, who said he still has a few Gisteqs in stock, but he now deals with Qstarz, which is a much higher quality product:<BR>
<a href="http://www.qstarz.com/">http://www.qstarz.com/</a><BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Margaret Carew:<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>An iphone would work, they take really good photos and have the gps capability.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Anthony Jukes:<BR>
I have a Sony DSC-HX9v. It does unexpectedly good video as well as good pictures, and has GPS (though I rarely use it as it seems to reduce battery life). I can highly recommend it.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Pascal Roth:<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.teds.com.au/fuji-fp-f550-exr">http://www.teds.com.au/fuji-fp-f550-exr</a><BR>
</U></FONT>or<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.teds.com.au/canon-powershot-sx230-hs">http://www.teds.com.au/canon-powershot-sx230-hs</a><BR>
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Are going to be your cheapest options, I believe.<BR>
Shop around for prices.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Reuben Brown:<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Consolas, Courier New, Courier"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>I used the Panasonic Lumix TMZ20 for my field work in Arnhem Land. It<BR>
takes great pictures and also has HD video if you need it as a<BR>
back-up. However, the battery life is not that great when it is used<BR>
for filming, so I recommend carrying a spare charged battery and<BR>
charger so that you can film for longer than 30-45 minutes! GPS also<BR>
drains the battery a bit so you can turn it off when not using the<BR>
camera. I'm still getting used to using it, but I found the still<BR>
pictures to be fantastic just using the 'Intelligent Auto' function.<BR>
It does have very good optical zoom too for a compact camera.<BR>
<BR>
I bought it in 2011 from a camera store in Darwin for $500 or so - it<BR>
has probably come down in price since then as it had just been<BR>
released.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Anna Ash:<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>A couple of thoughts: An iphone has a camera, and you can download an App “Camera GPS”. This may not provide good enough photos, although I’ve found my Iphone camera pretty good. I guess coverage could also be an issue in the field.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%">Jimmy Huang:<BR>
In the last two years I've been suing a SONY DSC-HX7V (and they have HX9V now) to document tombstones in hot and humid southern Taiwan and in Manila. I also use its built-in video for interviews - recording pronunciations of person and place names. actually, I've accidentally dropped the camera a couple of times and it's still working!<BR>
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before SONY, the tombstone project i worked with had several samsung equivalents (i forgot the model). Samsung is cheaper but it doesn't last long. I remember we had to replace two samsungs that were good for only a year... then we switched to sony.<BR>
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SONY also captures the geo info - including directions - better (faster, and fewer errors) than samsung, which had sent some of our tombs into the ocean when we collated its images with google earth...<BR>
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overall, i'd say the most important considerations when choosing a gps camera would be: (1) accuracy of geo info, and (2) reaction time. e.g., in the field, you take a photo, you walk two steps to the north and turn your body slightly to the east to take another photo... here you'd probably need to remind yourself to pause - 5 secs, 10 secs, 30 secs, depending on the camera - before pushing the button. Pausing between photo-taking may seem counter-intuitive, and i always feel robotic, but if you just move from one spot to another and take shots smoothly and seamlessly, the camera may not get enough time to renew/rewrite the gps information.<BR>
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