Nikon D300 integrates GPS support
Due to a desire to always offer up full disclosure, I confess I’m a Canon girl. I’ve used Kodak and HP and Fujifilm (twice even) but now that I have a dSLR, I’m a huge Canon fan. I’ve never even used a Nikon camera. However, I wouldn’t be opposed to using Nikon if someone wanted to give me one!
The Nikon D300 is interesting though. The D300 is not only an excellent dSLR camera with lightning-fast reaction time (and up to 100 frames in burst mode at 8 frames per second!), it has a very nice little extra feature that can be really beneficial to travelers.
When I look at the majority of my vacation photos, I can usually remember where they were taken because they’re usually pretty major landmarks - things like JFK’s grave site in Arlington cemetery, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Niagara Falls in Ontario. They’re obvious and I don’t need any help to recall the information.
But sometimes you see something that’s not a landmark, like an unusual store front or a nice tree in good light. That’s the kind of picture where, especially if you took a lot of photos or were on a long road trip in multiple locations, you might not remember where it was taken. You may not care and may be happy to just say, “oh here’s a strange sign on the side of the road” but if you do want to remember the precise area, the Nikon D300 can help you.
That’s because the Nikon D300 has built-in GPS support. Not many people are going to keep specific notes unless they’re hardcore pro photographers. However, if you happen to own a GPS device, you can hook it up to the D300. Every time you take a photo, it records something called EXIF data - things like the settings you used, the focal length, the type of white balance, the date and time, and more. With the GPS device hooked up, it will also record GPS information to your EXIF data. That means that when you’re at home and wondering where the heck that little duck pond was on your long trip, you can look at the recorded data and see exactly where it was.
It’s the sort of thing that might be more information than you really care about for some people but if you’re really into your photography and want to keep a good record of your trip, it’s the kind of bonus that’s a lot of fun.
If you’re interested in having GPS support, you can check out the Nikon D300 at your photo store or you can ask which other cameras offer the same feature. Alas, I’m pretty sure my Canon Rebel XT doesn’t feature GPS at all, so I’ll just have to try to remember where everything was taken!
(Product photo nikon.com)
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POSTED IN: GPS, photography
1 opinion for Nikon D300 integrates GPS support
bryan
Jul 30, 2008 at 2:03 am
Yes, Nikon adds a 10 pin port which can connect with GPS devices such as Solmeta N1 and N2. They can record gps information directly into the exif when you are taking the photos.
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