Nikon - On Camera GPS
Some people call me nuts, but I like having geotags on every shot I take, and so far, I have tried multiple on-camera GPS units with varying levels of success. The one that so far has lasted the longest is the Nikon GP-1A, and even that has been driving me nuts.
Talking of driving me nuts, the issues I have had with the GP-1A have been interesting, with the most common being not being able to lock on to the GPS satellites, and that's while being outside with nothing to block the signal.
Then comes the really annoying issue, where it would lock on, but the coordinates returned would be way off; for example, on one trip to Singapore, the geotag on a photo was >20km out. Yuk comes to mind.
The way forward is a no-brainer: replace it, but with what?
Nikon no longer makes an on-camera GPS, seeming to prefer to use the GPS on your phone via the SnapBridge application used for remote camera control, image downloads etc.
Yes, I have tried this, and while it does work, for me anyway, it is flakey, and yes, that's with my high-end Samsung phone.
For me, it seems to lock on to the GPS system most of the time, er, well, outside anyway. Inside forget about it, not that I am expecting much when inside, but outside in the open air without anything to block the satellite signal, I expect things to work.
To me, I could use it and live with the times I get no usable geotags, but there are other options for on-camera GPS devices. So, it's time to look at these.
As I said before, Nikon does not make anything anymore, so they are of no use. After some extensive googling and reading way too many reviews, it seems there are two options.
Solmeta makes a unit that is fairly similar to the Nikon one and runs on the camera hot shoe. Which from reading many reviews, seems to work well. The downside of this option is the cost and maybe, as some of the reviews claim, the battery life.
Then comes the di-gps, which has a very different design, not being a hot shoe device but rather a very small device that attaches to the camera 10 pin port and even passes it through.
From the reviews, it seems the only real issue with this thing is how the lock nut works, making it hard to lock into the camera's 10-pin connector. Other than that, it seems it works as advertised, and even the battery life is not an issue.
Ok, given it was cheaper than the Solmeta offerings, I made the decision to get one of these, which is where the problems started.
I live in Sydney, and the di-gps website did not have any deals on who sells these things outside of Europe.
Oh well, they do have an email address, so I dropped them an email asking for the resellers, etc.
Another problem, the email bounced back with the error being "high probability of being spam". It's not a good sign, and as someone who has been in IT for decades, it's more than a little scary.
After some googling, it seems that there is one reseller in Europe who was out of stock, and other than that, no one sold these things, yes, not even Amazon....
The only place to actually buy these things is from the dawntech.co.uk website, which, given the state of it, did not fill me with confidence. But I still wanted one of these, so I decided, after more googling and considering the downside of putting my credit card into a site on the other side of the planet, I ended up doing the deed and placing the order.
The experience dealing with this site on the other side of the planet was actually way better than expected. I got shipping confirmation emails with tracking, and the shipping was actually quicker than some of the orders I have made to Australian companies.
Anyhow, before this turns into a review, the device has arrived and was installed on my D850, and yes, the review that talked about issues with the lock nut on the 10-pin connection was dead right. It took much bad language and fiddling to get it locked onto the camera.
And yes, I have sent another email to the dawntech.co.uk site persons with feedback on the issues with the site, products that do not seem to exist, broken links, etc. Let's see if I ever get any response, never know, and at least my email did not bounce with "suspected spam".
This coming weekend, I am going to head out and see how the di-gps works on my D850; depending on how this goes, I may write a full review.
Watch this space for updates.
2025 Update top
Well, I did say there would be updates, and how's this for an update :-)
While I was in Penang wandering around a shopping centre with the camera shouldered, I heard a small bang, looking around I saw my Di-GPS unit on the floor. Checking the camera, there were pins sticking out of the 10-pin connector on the body.
Looks like the connector on the GPS has broken, no big deal, right?
Examining the damage, I managed to get the half of the connector out of the body of the camera, and with the help of some superglue, put the connector back together making sure to get the orientation correct.
That was the good news; the bad news is that it seems to have done some damage to the connector on the camera body, such that the socket on the camera was loose. Ouch, not a good sign, but thinking about it, not unexpected as I have noticed the GPS was always a little odd in the connector.
From time to time, I have noticed the GPS seems to be a little loose in the 10-pin connector, and I remember having to straighten it a few times. On reflection, I should have seen this as a warning of things to come.
Anyhow, for the rest of my time in Penang, the GPS more or less worked, although it was loose in the connector, and, checking closer, the socket in the camera was loose. I added duct tape, which seemed to make it more secure in the connector on the camera.
A few days into my next stop on the way home, the GPS just stopped working. Not a good sign, and I had to use the snapbridge option to get GeoTags.
Back home in Sydney, I tried the GPS on my old D700 body, and it worked without any issues. Oh crap, this is going to be expensive, the D850 needed repair.
Nikon Australia's service centre told me what I already knew: the 10-pin connector needed to be replaced, and the cost was a little under AUD$600. Not good, but still cheaper than replacing the body, and yes, I did look at the Z series, just no way I can justify that sort of expense. One day, maybe, but not today.
That's the body sorted, but there is no way I can use the Di-GPS again and risk another large service bill from Nikon. From my initial GPS research, the only realistic option remaining was the Solmeta GMAX
So I bit the bullet and ordered one from Nikon on Broadway, a very local to me, reseller. Expect more updates when I get the D850 back from the service centre.
2026 Update top
Yes, it took me a while to test out the Solmeta GPS, with health issues taking priority. Anyhow, after the very expensive repair to my D850 body and improving health, it's time to see how it works.
The installation on the camera hot shoe was about as simple as it gets; simply slide it in, and use the lock lever on the GPS to fix it. It's a very solid connection, way better than the Nikon one.
What's not so good is the connection to the camera 10-pin port, which is via a short extending cable, with the same 10-pin on both ends. Why, why would anyone use these for both ends? Sure, the camera gives you no choice for one end, but why on the GPS?
These connectors are basically impossible to buy anywhere, and yes, that includes the likes of AliExpress and even the electronics stores in Shenzhen.
What this means is you have zero choice but to get cables from Solmeta, whom I did contact to see about spare cables, but they ignored me. Not a good sign.
OK, I can live with the connection to the camera being with those impossible connectors, but to charge the GPS, you need to use a USB-A to 10-pin connector. This is the WTF moment, why not put a USB-C on the GPS, as those 10-pin things are easy to break.
Anyhow, that's the bad out of the way, so how does the GPS work?
Put simply, it's the best I have ever used, and that includes both standalone and phone receivers. You power it on, and even indoors, there is a good chance of getting a lock. Outdoors, I have never seen it not get the lock.
When it comes to the battery life, the doco claims 18 hours of use, well to me that's very conservative as I have had it last way longer than that.
My final thoughts are, it's about as good as it gets for the D850, it just works, it's solidly built and mounted. The only downsides are the use of the 10-pin connector on the GPS.
Being very experienced with electronics, I am thinking of adding a USB-C port for charging and 3D printing a new top for the enclosure. And yes, I know the warranty will be voided, and I do this at my own risk.