Customer Reviews

Sony GPS-CS1KASP GPS Unit for Sony Digital Cameras

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a handy little electronic "toy" that may not be a must-have, but very useful none the less. I use only Sony video and Sony still cameras so it works perfectly for me and my equipment. I don't know if I would buy it if I used other manufacturers cameras, but Sony says that it should work with others. At one time it WAS overpriced, but for around $100 it is now more competative. There are other products like this out there, but I wanted to stay with Sony due to my cameras being Sony. I have this mounted on my motorcycle and took a test ride with it. The resulting GPS-mapped route was perfect.

I was skeptical about this product and I was wrong! It comes with acessories to connect it to your bag, hang in the pocket or hold to the bike. I had to read the manual to make sure I was configuring it properly as the blinking lights do not speak by themselves.

Importing the logs could be tricky, it requires the drivers and applications and integrate only with Google Maps based technology (you may find applications to convert to Live Maps for example), but the experience is great.

I would love to see options to view more details, export the logs to other formats, etc, but you can "tag" the pictures with the GPS coordinates using the application.

I have a new Sony-T77 and it worked great. I was afraid that the GPS would only work in Europe and US but I was so wrong!

http://photosynth.net/Search.aspx?query=expertour

I purchased this device to geotag all the photos I took on my road trip across the southwest (go to Picasa and enter Teri's Big Adventure Across the Southwest, then click on View in Map on the right side of the screen under the small inset map). Although I did have to read the instructions and experiment in my backyard to figure it completely out, once I did, it was easy to use.

I was a little disappointed in the feature that tracks your route because it sometimes picks up a random, crazy location way off from where you are that distorts the route when it's mapped. I tried opening the log file in WordPad hoping to find the entry so I could delete it but it was too confusing to figure out.

Also, if you are traveling through different timezones, it is easy to forget to reset the time on your camera (which the software uses to sync up the GPS log with your photos) but I found a free app on the internet (Microsoft Pro Photo Tools) that allows you to adjust the internal timestamp info on your photos very easily (+ an hour, - an hour). This made a huge difference since it didn't require me to manual readjust the location of all the photos that were off by an hour. I liked the PMB software that came with the unit because after you associate the log info with the photos, you can click on MapView and see where they are in Google. If you didn't have the unit on when you took a photo, you can manually place the photo where you actually were and it will save the new location to your photo.

I was surprised at how accurate this unit was. Most of the time it was within 10 feet of where I was actually standing. It did well when I was in the forest of sequoias, on a trail on the side of a mountain and even on a chairlift at Sandia Peak.

Although I would highly recommend this product, there is a learning curve in both the use of the unit, the post processing of the data and posting the photos to the internet so I suggest that you be a little on the techy side or you might just get frustrated and give up.

I have now used the GPS photo tracker on several occasions, and locations around the world and find it invaluable in traking pics as well as obtaining a map of your travels for scrapbooking and general knowledge of your trip!

I bought my Sony GPS in Kyoto while visiting Japan. My wish was to both use it for tagging my photos with position, and at the same time get an overview where I went to which time. The problem I experienced was that it is a bit inaccurate, especially while walking in the city with tall buildings, in parks with trees or being in a car, train or airplane (keeping it against the windows). That means that it gave me a hard time while I was staying in Japan, because I was just in these kind of environments. My pictures got offset from where they actually were taken and there were big "jumps" in my trails. I suspect that the GPS does not have the HW it takes.
For the SW application I can't say whether it is good or not, as it was all in japanese. So in case it would be brilliant, I've rated this product as 3. Else I would not hesitate to rate it as a 2.
ChR

Compre este gadget recientemente y me ha dado ciertas dificultades poder georeferenciar las fotos. El gps es poco sensible y tarda mas de lo esperado en conectarse con los satelites aun en lugares abiertos. Viene con limitadas instrucciones para poder hacer lo que vemos en la propaganda, falta mejorar los manuales y esperararia que SONY lo haga en linea. Puede ser practico para quienes deseen posicionar geograficamente sus fotos, de lo contrario UD desperdiciaria su dinero, hoy tan escazo. Para poder usarlo se lo di a uno de mis alumnos con tiempo para jugar con el y luego de 3 dias de probarlo pudo linkiar adecuadamente las fotos.