GeoPic II: A Low-Power Dedicated Geotagging Device for DSLR Cameras

Custom Idea has stormed to the front of the dedicated geotagging market with the GeoPic II, a GPS photo tagging device for Nikon digital SLR cameras. This new DSLR accessory is based around a high performance SiRF III GPS chipset and patent pending low-power technology solves a major problem suffered by many other DSLR GPS devices.

Geotagging is an exciting new area of photography that involves attaching geographical location 'tags' to your digital photos. Some DSLR cameras have the potential for geotagging built in as standard and just require a suitable GPS device to use this feature. An increasing amount of software is available to utilise geotags, for example by overlaying your photos on geographical map.

The GeoPic II is suitable for the Nikon D200/D300/D2HS/D2X/D2XS/D3 and the Fuji S5 Pro. It slides into your flash hotshoe and connects with a high quality 10 pin connector to your camera's accessory socket. Being only 35x58x16 mm (1.4x2.3x0.6 inches) it is extremely compact.

A problem suffered by many DSLR Geotagging devices is reduced camera battery life. For example, in tests with a Nikon D200, connecting a geotagging device can result in around an 80% reduction in the photo count for a fully charged battery. Thanks to patent pending technology in the GeoPic II this problem has been solved allowing you to take around three times as many photos before the battery is exhausted.

Three intelligent modes of operation in the GeoPic II provide a great degree of flexibility for the photographer. The first, 'continuous' mode of operation sends GPS data continually to the camera. The second, 'low-power' mode only sends GPS data to the camera when you are about to take a picture saving huge amounts of power. The third 'freeze' mode of operation freezes the GPS location on demand and sends this data to the camera instead, meaning you can geotag photos whilst indoors. Also in the freeze mode of operation, the GPS module in the GeoPic II is completely switched off so it has almost no impact on the camera's battery life at all.

A multi-coloured light shows the status of the unit, with a different colour assigned to each mode to ease operation. The unit includes a remote shutter release socket that is suitable for use with standard remote releases.

For more details see http://customidea.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=126