GPS-enabled/GPS-ready Cameras

[+LondonCacher]

I've been using my Garmin 550t to take tagged pictures and upload to Picasa, and I love it. The only problem is that the picture quality is far below any camera I've owned in the last 6 years. What is the state of development on consumer-level GPS-integrated and GPS-ready cameras? I've seen the Coolpix P6000, but I hear its time to fix is very poor. I'd imagine a GPS unit attached to a camera would solve this problem (you turn it on at the beginning of the day, and it holds lock throughout), and I've heard that some cameras are shipping with the ability to accept GPS input. The few GPS-ready cameras I've seen are high-end SLRs. Much as I wish I could justify buying one of these...I can't.

 

I'm aware of the after-the-fact tagging software, but I want to get highly accurate tagging, which I can't achieve manually, and requires synchronising camera/GPS and then juggling data to achieve automatically. And if the batteries on any of your units die (as mine often do on extended trips) then they lose synchronisation and you can't get accurate tags later. Ditto for where one of your party takes the camera and another takes the GPS and you separate by more than a hundred feet.

 

So, what I'm looking for is a decent consumer-level (upper end) camera which can accept GPS input (or has fast lock time on an internal receiver), and doesn't cost thousands of dollars.

 

Does this exist? Will this exist? Did it exist? Do I exist? Should Ben Affleck exist?

 

All helpful responses to receive a chocolate chip cookie.

[+baja_Traveler]

Samsung CL65 - just over $300 on Amazon has built-in Geotagging.

 

Won't come close to my Nikon D3x, but certainly more compact and cheaper.

[+JSWilson64]

Cheapest solution: use your 550t's GPS, and one of your other cameras. Use post-processing software to tag the pics from the track log.

 

Why can't you get accurate tags with post-processing if you change the batteries in one unit or the other? Seems like if you sync the clocks before you start out, and re-sync if you change the batteries, your tracks and pics will match up.

 

Just remember that wherever the camera goes, the GPS must go, too.

 

Or you could get an eTrex H, or eTrex Legend H, either is less than $150, and can record 10,000 track points. Attach the GPS lanyard to the camera strap, and remember to re-sync the clocks.

Edited February 18, 2010 by JSWilson64

[+LondonCacher]

baja - any word on what the time to lock is with that?

 

JSWilson - But...I want a cool gadget, and software just won't scratch that itch!!!!

[+JSWilson64]

No one can blame you for wanting a new gadget! (except maybe your S.O. )

[+LondonCacher]

No one can blame you for wanting a new gadget! (except maybe your S.O. )

 

And this, assembled geocachers, is one of the many reasons I have no S.O.