With many higher end cameras, you can now connect a GPS directly to the camera if you have the right equipment. With Nikon cameras like the D200, D300, or D2X, or D3 – a 10-pin port allows you to connect a GPS directly to the unit (provided you have the right cables). The problem is that this can be unwieldy, and it typically requires a high end SLR that not all of us have.

There are two slightly better solutions around this, which we’ll discuss.

Though extra gear is not always the answer, sometimes I like new gadgets. This one was recommended to me by a wildlife photographer I talked to a few weeks ago. It’s a wireless adapter from Red Hen Systems called the BLUE2CAN device, which plugs into most high end Nikon cameras and will pull the GPS data via Bluetooth. I’m not sure if something like this exists for other camera manufacturers, but if it does, let me know in the comments.

The second method, which I like, is through the use of software. It requires no extra gear, because it means only having to record waypoint at a regular interval on your GPS while you take pictures normally. All the legwork of matching those waypoints to your images is done after the fact, by a program.

Mac:

Although Mac users won’t have as many options as PC users for geocoding software, they ultimately have the single best choice with GPSPhotoLinker, which is simple to use, supports most RAW formats, can batch photos easily, and gives you a nice view of the best matching track point as well as the one preceding and following that point.

Windows:

For those who use Windows, the choices are more abundant than for Mac, but they are all slightly less stellar. The best, free solution that I’ve found so far is GPicSync, which is fairly easy to use and will insert all your geocode information into your pictures EXIF header by matching the tracklog date and time with the picture date and time. GPicSync will also support elevation and will create a KML file for Google Earth. It also supports popular RAW files like those from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Pentax.

Now, get lost…

Just remember to take lots of pictures.

Click here to download.

For Nikon owners (and I understand this also works for Sigma and Fuji), there’s a handy tool out there called IExif from Opanda. While Opanda specializes in retail EXIF reading/editing software, the basic IExif application is freeware, and you can download it from here. IExif will let you open a JPG and read it’s metadata – which in and of itself is not terribly impressive (most image editing applications will let you do that), but it will show you the stuff that most other applications will not, including all the non-documented EXIF values.

Lots of this stuff is encrypted and won’t mean anything to you, unless you happen to know what 00A8 is referring to on a Nikon D200. However, it will let you see the shutter count for that image. It will only do this for JPG files unless you pay for IExifPro which can open Raw files.

Opanda also has a plugin for Firefox that will let you right click on an online photograph and view its EXIF data, assuming it still has any. You can download the free Firefox plugin here.

For Canon owners, it seems that Opanda doesn’t really decrypt the EXIF tag for shutter count, so you’ll need to look elsewhere. CanCount is an application from a German software maker which will show you the count on 1-series cameras. I also understand that Photomechanic will read some lower end Canon shutter count information, but if you know of something more concrete, let us know.