RAW file compatibility

[oli4]

not sure I got it right, you say that GPSPhotoLinker and the Canon RAW file are NOT compatible?
Is there anything else that can be done, except renaming the files? Is there any GPS geotagging device that you know that would be compatible?

thanks for your help
Olivier

[Jeffrey_Early]

Canon ".crw" files do not have any standardized way to write latitude and longitude tags. Short of writing to a sidecar file, no geotagging program can actually write latitude and longitude tags. GPSPhotoLinker does all of its reading and writing of Metadata using Phil Harvey's exiftool. Check out Phil Harvey's response to that exact question here, http://www.cpanforum.com/threads/9461.

Another alternative to using sidecar files to to use Adobe's DNG converter and convert all the images to DNG format. DNG stands for "digital negative" and is supposed be a sort of standardized raw format. Wikipedia entry here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Negative_(file_format)

On the other hand, Canon ".cr2" files are tiff based and therefore use the standard exif headers. GPSPhotoLinker can read and write to cr2 files with no problem.

Jeffrey

[oli4]

thank you very much. I checked, my Canon EOS40 does write CR2 files so I should be OK then. I suppose that my small Lumix that makes JPEG files should be OK too.

While we are at that subject of Geotaging, is there anything in particular I should be looking for one of those small devices? like water tight, battery life, are there large differences in how good they get a signal? Do they all need to be outside of a bad or do they work inside. Not sure this is the right place to ask, but I know no-one that has such a GPS taging device yet that I could ask.

thanks for all the help
Olivier

[Brian_Curtis]

Yes, you'll be good to go with jpgs.

You are asking exactly the right questions about data loggers. To your list I would add their interface with the computer because sometimes they can be difficult to get tracks off of.

GPS receivers do not work well in buildings. Some of the more sensitive modern GPSrs will do OK if they are near enough to a window and the satellites are in the right place. Devices like the iPhone can use WiFi networks and cell towers to establish a position so in certain situations they can give you a position when a GPSr will fail. But they have disadvantages of battery life and poor ability to multi-task.

The first question you need to ask is if you want a full fledged GPSr or a simple data logger. A fully featured GPSr can have built in maps, compass, barometric altimeter, etc. You can enter waypoints and routes, use it for Geocaching, etc.

A datalogger is a small device that does one thing: record tracks. That is all you need if the only thing you want to do with your GPSr is geotag photos.

The perfect data logger would be small and waterproof It would have a sensitive receiver, long battery life, and mount on the desktop like a thumb drive. I haven't seen the perfect unit yet, but there are several that come close. If you pursue some of the other threads on this board you can see some units that other people have been using.

[oli4]

cool, thanks very much.

I will search around and see what I can eventually come up with. Ideally I guess I want a simple device that does just keep track. Ideally I would simply have it in my backpack, my trousers or anywere I can simply "forget about it". Then of course I would love to have a battery life of minimum 1 day, more would be appreciated.

...will look around, I let you know if I find such a thing.

Olivier