Two Great DSLR Technologies: Geotagging and WiFi

by Bill Jones

In today’s world, technology is constantly changing, so it is no wonder that this technology is making its way into digital photography. Two very good examples of this would be in the form of Geotagging and Wifi. Most DSLR cameras on the market today will include one or both of these features and you will definitely want to learn how you can use both of them. You may find them quite useful in your own photography.

Understanding Geotagging

Geotagging is something that you most likely are more familiar with in the form of GPS. This type of technology is used in mapping devices that will allow you to navigate from one place to another, whether you are in the vehicle or on foot. Many people use GPS devices whenever they travel. In addition, most modern cellular phones and smart phones will include GPS. This is useful in that it can provide pertinent information about your location, like which businesses are nearby, where you are when you update social networking and even navigation as well. Just what does GPS have to do with your digital photography?

A few DSLR cameras include the same GPS technology for a very good purpose. This technology will mark each picture in order to tell you where it was located. This is referred to as Geotagging.

The History of Digital Photography Geotagging

Geotagging in digital photography is extremely new to the world. Because of this, not all DSLR cameras include the GPS technology. In fact, for the most part, the only way you will be able to integrate GPS is to include an attachment device that connects to your camera. There are consumer grade GPS cameras on the market today, but they are few and far between.

When it comes to creating Geotagging devices, it was Nikon that first made waves. Nikon released the GP-1, which is a device that connects on the hot shoe of the camera (this is where you could connect an external flash.) Then, the device will provide the GPS information to each image as the camera takes it.

Just how do you use Geotagging for your images? You will need a camera that is GPS capable. If it has GPS built in, then you will simply need to turn it on. If you need to use an external device, then you will need to connect the GPS device to the hot shoe of the camera and then the cord to the camera’s GPS connector. Finally, you will need to turn on GPS in the camera menu.

One thing that you must note is that GPS is a huge battery drain on your camera. You should always turn it off when you do not need to use it.

Why Use Geotagging?

Now that you know how Geotagging works, you must be wondering when and why you would use it for digital photography. If you are just taking pictures in your home or your studio, you will most likely not need Geotagging. However, the capability is extremely useful when you are shooting on location or when you are doing travel photography.

How many times have you found yourself at a really interesting location, so you start snapping images? Then, when you get home, you have no idea where you were at? This happens often in the world of digital photography and it can be quite a frustration. GPS is the solution to that problem. If you enable GPS and you Geotag each image when you are photographing on the road, you will be able to easily pinpoint where you were at when you took each image.

What is WiFi for Digital Photography?

Have you ever gotten frustrated trying to transfer your images to the computer? Have you ever wished that you could just beam images over to another device so that you can resume your photography without a hitch? This is just why WiFi for digital photography was created.

As you may already know, WiFi stands for wireless Internet service. You may even have WiFi in your home so that your computer can connect to the Internet without a cord. Many public places offer WiFi for convenience to customers and patrons. WiFi for digital photography works on basically the same idea.

When you purchase the right equipment, you will be able to connect to another device wirelessly and easily move images around from your camera to other devices. You will even be able to upload images directly to such social and photography websites as the following:

Facebook
Flickr
Adorama
Picasa
SmugMug
YouTube
Shutterfly

What Do You Need to Set Up WiFi?

Unless you have one of the newer DSLR cameras with built-in Wi-Fi, you will need something called an Eye-Fi card. This is actually a specific type of an SD memory card that can record images as well as connect to the Internet. When you insert this type of card, you will be able to connect to various WiFi networks available in the area.

There are different levels of these Eye-Fi cards, ranging in capacity from 2 GB to 8 GB. As far as price, these cards, of course, are more expensive. They can range in price from about $50 to over $150. However, considering you will be able to immediately back up your images to a device or Internet site, the price is well worth it.

In today’s world of digital photography, we are seeing more and more instances in which technology is being implemented into cameras. You can easily see this in very helpful tools like Geotagging and WiFi.

Top feature image Collection of photos in the shape of earth via Shutterstock