Comment by walrus01
4 days ago
I understand it's probably because the GPS functionality is integrated into the same RF chipset that's handling wifi/bluetooth, but it would be possible to make a "no transmit capability" camera that still has GPS metadata functionality, with GPS receiver chip and an antenna tuned for 1400-1600 MHz, since ordinary consumer grade GPS is a receive-only technology.
But that would still possibly present a problem for serious government use where it can't have an antenna of any form in it.
The camera (even the regular model) does not have its own GPS receiver at all. It relies on a smartphone to transmit GPS coordinates over Bluetooth.
This is pretty common in modern cameras, presumably because most photographers expect to be able to turn their cameras on and off very rapidly, and it would be difficult to maintain a GPS fix with that usage pattern.
Well Nikon has a GPS module (Nikon GP-1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_GP-1) for the hotshoe that does work, so I dont think that is the issue. Also at least on my D850, turning off the camera does not turn off the bluetooth automatically, and it can sync photos to the smartphone while the camera is off, so depending on how much power GPS would use, it could be possible to have it run in the background. And turning it off keeps some things running anyway, like showing the number of photos still available, so coordinates could be saved for a little while after turning off.
I had a GP-1 at one point. It would take several seconds to get a GPS lock, so about a third of the time my images had no GPS or I had to wait for the light to indicate it was working. Not very practical in my case. Also it connected via an awkward cable.
I don't think it's impossible. We aren't talking RTK here, you should be able to get a usable fix quickly. You also have some other advantages. For starters, the GPS coordinate doesn't need to be taken at the exact instant the photo is taken. If it takes a second to get the coordinate, that can be done in the background while the photographer continues to do their thing. Another advantage is that people never hold their cameras upside down, so the antenna can be pretty directional.
> people never hold their cameras upside down
I'm not to sure about that. I rarely keep my camera (close to) fully horizontal.
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Getting a GPS fix from the satellites alone with no internet connection or stored data takes a few hours, not seconds. First you have to listen to the very slow data channel that tells you where the satellites are that takes a few hours to transmit the complete set before repeating.
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Even if it only had RX-only RF capabilities, that means that is a vector for an inbound wireless attack. At the very least, the kind of places that restrict wireless devices probably do not want any pictures or other artifacts to exist tagged with precise location metadata.
>Can't have an antenna of any form in it.
All wires are antennas...
But the short wires in a Nikon camera are not long enough to be a useful antenna. In fact, I doubt there's really anything one would consider a wire in a camera body. Everything is probably just traces on a PCB.
> But the short wires in a Nikon camera are not long enough to be a useful antenna. […] Everything is probably just traces on a PCB.
Anyone who's had to get newly developed hardware through EMI certification in recent times can tell you that it's quite easy to accidentally make PCB trace work as an antenna. Not necessarily a great antenna but enough to emit some random signal and fail certification. 3 GHz is 100mm in wavelength, and a quarter wavelength makes one of the simplest antennas… that's only 25mm. The whole story is much more complicated but the thing is that the scales are in range.
At >= 2.4ghz, you measure antenna length in mm.
Bluetooth antennas that are just traces on a PCB board are very common. Think about how small a bluetooth earbud can be and still get pretty incredible range.
Am I missing something? Most IoT devices use trace antennae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstrip_antenna
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There's enough space for one.
Traces can be antennas
I think you wrote this comment with the compiler’s pedantic warnings turned on.
If we're being pedantic, all conductors are antennas.
What is the point? As long as your camera has a decent clock, you just need to record a gpx during your shooting session with an external device and you can add geolocation after you download your pictures. IIRC Darktable can do that.