MC-35 GPS Adapter Cord

[boskoe]

For those of you who have been looking I just reveived a email from B&H Photo stating that the Nikon MC-35 GPS Adapter Cord is in stock. Got mine ordered.

 

[bpetterson]

Thank you.
I just placed my order for it and a spare battery for the Epson P-2000.

Birger

 

[boskoe]

Your welceom Birger. How do you like your P-2000? An extra battery is a must! I bought one also. I'm still trying to get Nikon Transfer to play nice with mine.

 

[bpetterson]

I do not use Nikon Transfer.
I find Windows Explorer a bit better for me.

Yes I do like the Epson P-2000 very much.
There was a write up in the New York Times which rated it the best.
Nikon did not supply them with their version.

Birger

 

[boskoe]

Good morning Birger,

I wish I could find something else a bit more friendly to various storage methods than Nikon Transfer. My workflow is that I copy and rename files based on EXIF date & time and Nikon Transfer does this quite well. I just haven't found anything better yet.

Wouldn't it have been fantastic if Nikon had build Bluetooth into the DX2!

Well I'm off to the horse track today to see what I can capture. No pun intended.

Have a great day.

 

[Chase Browder]

GPS with D2X

i have the MC-35 and i got the whole wet up to work once when i first got it and was testing it but since then i haven't been able to get it to work. i have a magellan meridian color. any advice or has any one else got theres to work


Chase

 

[bpetterson]

I have a Garmin etrex from a few years back.
So today I decided to hook it up to the D2X.
You need to select the interface on the GPS unit to 4800 baud
and NMEA out.
Works like a champ.

You can read the instructions that came with the Nikon MC-35 and in
the Nikon D2X manual pg 132.

I have no experience with the Magellan.
Hope that you have gotten it to work..

Birger

 

[Chase Browder]

Working

I got mine to work. i just had to reset my GPS unit.

 

[Steve S]

Pardon my ignorance,

I got mine to work. i just had to reset my GPS unit.

but what does this GPS unit do on your camera, and why do you have to attach a regular GPS device (locator) to it?

 

[bpetterson]

When you click the shutter the data of where you are [ latitude & longitude] becomes part of your photo file. [exif]
Well your camera and GPS unit.

Birger

 

[Steve S]

ok, thanks Birger, I get it now

You would use it in case you wanted to return to the exact same spot another time?

 

[bpetterson]

For me it's just a toy.

I guess if you wish to document where that fossil you spotted in the
desert was it would come in handy.

Birger

 

[boskoe]

I'm trying to modify mine to work with a smaller GPS receiver. In this day and age serial port GPS receivers are rare!

 

[bpetterson]

Garmin does sell an adapter. ser to usb.
Or your computer store.

Birger

 

[Chase Browder]

no usb reciever's

you need a gps receiver with a serial connection. using a newer receiver with usb and an adapter wont work, it wont even plugin because of the way the adapter is made. yea i wish i could use a usb receiver. i bought i receiver specifically for using with my D2X other wise i would have bought one with usb

Chase

 

[mattmak]

for all of you...

for all of you who are using a GPS hooked up to a D2X or D2Hs, what kind of accuracy are you seeing in the resulting recorded co-ordinates. I've read that there aren't enough recorded digits to give more than 50 or 70 meter accuracy..?

 

[bpetterson]

Let's get the facts.

Who said that????
Where did it come from???
Is it a rumor or fact??

My Garmin Vista Etrex gives me an accuracy of 11 to 12 feet for this picture.

If you download this file and read it in Nikon View you will see the
location to a finer detail in the exif info.
I guess Photoshop also gives you the detail.

If you just look at the GPS unit or the read out on the LCD of the camera,
you will not read all of the data. The screen has a limit on how many
figures can be shown.

http://photos.imageevent.com/gwen/nikond2x/firstshots/AAA_1544.jpg


Birger

 

[PGB]

Neat!!! I have a ton of GPS units laying around. Would it be possible for someone to give me the dimensions of this interface to the cam.

I wonder how much room there is in this little box. I would. Its hard to get perspective of its size on the picture.

It would be super cool to have an OEM gps module with no display inside the MC-35 box with its serial interface connected on the inside. You could shorten the cable and mount it under the cam and have your gps there too. If you can get 5 volts off that interface to the camera you could get the power for the gps there. I wouldn't want to test it on my d2x but Frank's d2h might be a canidate for some testing.

Thanks,

 

[bpetterson]

Pat;
Sorry you and Frank are in luck.

No--- only the D1X and D2X have the interface

The D1X was entered into the camera with a stereo male plug
and then a kludge to the Garmin.

The D2X GPS data is fed thru the ten pin remote control.
The end of which cable the connects to the GPS unit==== Also on the MC-35 cable end there is a 10 pin connector so you can connect a remote control.

Just a point of interest ---there is a China made model of the MC-35 but the connection of the 10 pin connector goes toward the lens and not outboard.

It was {GPS} included on the D2X at the request of the military.

The D1X did have space for the Pocket Wizard to be included.
But Pocket Wizard had to install it. Then if your camera needed repair
you would need to send to Pocket Wizard to remove it and then they would send to Nikon for camera repair. Then reverse before you got it back.

I understand there is no room in the D2X for even the Pocket Wizard.

So you are safe until Frank gets a D2X.

Birger

 

[mattmak]

Birger,
basically I remember seeing a thread on another forum that talked about the # of digits recorded in the Lat/Long being too few to give you full GPS accuracy.

your file has 1/10th's of seconds. do you know what 1/10th of a second is in longitudinal distance at your latitude?

Actually, I just found this post which does the math for us:
http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/trails/SAR/291/1.html

looks like 5ft at 60 degrees north, and 9 feet at 30 degrees north. that's good enough for me! thanks for posting that file!!!

do you know if it can record UTM from the GPS or is NMEA 0183 limited to Lat/Long?

Matt