WARNING: iOS Canon Camera Connect 3.0.1x puts same location in every photo.

[allenhuffman]

5/6/2023 Update: I did more testing today. The location stored in every photo is the location where the phone was when you "Start recording." Every photo taken that day will have that GPS coordinate, and though the photos have the correct time, the GPS timestamp will be the same as well. (3.0.11.24 build 1341 was used today, same issue.)

I tried the updated Camera Connect last week. I was running the 3.0.10 (or it might have updated to 3.0.11 by then) on an iPhone 14 Pro with 1TB storage. When I used the version available in October 2022 (probably 2.9.22), it still had the issues where it would often just stop logging during the day. I had days on that trip where I forgot to keep checking it, and lost half a day or more of GPS data.

The new version looked like it was working better, since it was always still logging each night when I went to shut it off and upload GPS data in to my Canon G5X.

Unfortunately, tonight I found out it only put in SEVEN (7) GPS locations in the 4300 photos I took over the five days. They ALL have GPS data, but it's one of the seven locations repeated through thousands of photos.

4/12 UPDATE: Using ‘exiftool’ it now appears that the SAME GPS date/time and lat/lon is embedded in every image taken the same day, so my 7 locations were from the 7 days I used the camera, it seems.

I confirmed this using the 'exiftool' command line, and a script I had ChatGPT help me write (https://github.com/allenhuffman/EXIFPhotoScripts/)

This is a huge failure. Fortunately, due to all the problems I've had with Camera Connect over the past five years, this trip I ran a "Geotag Photos 2" app as well, though I did not have it logging as frequently as I would have liked. I hope to be able to use it's data to at least get my photos in the general area they were taken.

This is a big disappointment, since I recently created a script that lets me draw out regions in a Google Map, export it out as a KML file, then let the script sort photos in to subfolders based on the areas drawn on the map. This turned a sorting process of photos from Knott's Berry Farm in to a half hour process instead of spending a week or more working on it by hand.

Anyone had this problem? It shows 3.0.1 came out 5 months ago (no note on GPS changes), then 3.0.10 1 month ago (new camera support) and then 3.0.11 a week ago.

[jrhoffman75]

I have tried that in the past, so I don't think you will see the results you want.

Canon describes the app as:

"CAMERA CONNECT v3.0

Connect, Control, and Create, all in a single app

Connect and control your camera from a compatible smartphone or tablet with an app that delivers features, functions and essential information to enhance your creative vision.  From latest firmware releases to downloading photos, shooting remotely and more, make the new Canon Camera Connect v3 app part of your creative workflow!"

It is not a GPS tracker to be used with direct actuation (via shutter button) of the camera.

If you use it as a remote release device the current date, time and GPS coordinates are recorded with the image (I have verified this).

[allenhuffman]

Like many others, I gave up on this app and moved on. Support was useless when it came to the app, though at least they tried to help a number of times over the past few years when it stopped working. Tested on three phones, all with the same failures. If they have since fixed it, that would be good to know, but since I sometimes had it shut off  when it was logging (back when it worked) losing my data, I doubt I’d go back to using it. I have had zero failures with the third party app I have been using the past few years, plus the process is much faster than uploading and tagging the GPS in the phone.

[pedz]

Which 3rd party app do you use?  I've found three so far:

1. Geotag Photos 2
2. Gaia GPS
3. Open GPX Tracker  -- which is open source

[shadowsports]

I haven't used a GPS location feature for quite a while.  Also curious to hear what others are using. 

When traveling I offen visit multiple countries, but I backup and catalog my photos daily so it's easy for me to know where I was.  I do miss the built-in GPS function I had in previous bodys, but recognize it requires additional battery power.

[pedz]

My current belief is that the Settings => Privacy & Security => Location Services => Camera Connect needs to be set to "Always".  I have two reasons for this.

1. I used the open source Open GPX Tracker today and had it set to "While Using the App" and it suffered much the same problem.  It had only five data points all around where my car was which was when I started the app and then later saved the data file.  I will try it again tomorrow with the setting of "Always".
2. Likewise, I changed the setting for Canon's Camera Connect to "Always" and the 120 photos I took where placed in  eight different locations roughly correlating to where I had taken the photos.  I think it still could be a little more precise but it is better than yesterday's data.

I think I'm going to probably go with the Open GPX Tracker if it works with the Always setting but we'll see.  Both have advantages and disadvantages.