Communication between GP-E2 GPS receiver and EOS 2000D

[Keith_Beef]

Good day to you all.

I have two GP-E2 GPS receivers, one that I use with my Canon EOS 5Ds and the other with my older EOS 100D with communication through the hot shoe.

I recently bought another second hand APS-C body, the EOS 2000D.

I was somewhat disappointed to find that the 2000D, despite being more recent than the 100D, cannot communicate through the hot shoe with the GP-E2 and from what I have read since then it seems that the 2000D needs to be linked to the GP-E2 through the hard-to-find USB cable (type mini B to mini A) ...

Well, I tracked down and bought two suitable USB cables and tried them out on the 100D and 2000D bodies and to pile disappointment on disappointment the 2000D does not seem to detect the GP-E2.

I've tried each of the GP-E2 GPS receivers with each of the USB cable and both work correctly on the 100D, but not on the 2000D.

I've just tried three different USB type A to mini B cables to connect to my computer and the computer never detects the presence of the camera. Firmware installed in version 1.0.0, which seems to be the version dating back to the body's release in 2018.

So I'm beginning to think that the problem might be either a damaged USB connector on the camera body or a problem with the firmware. Has anybody had similar problems with this body and its USB connector?

[Waddizzle]

The EIS 1500D/2000D is/was known as the Rebel T7 in the US. The GPS receiver GP-E2 should connect to the hot shoe.  I suggest mounting the GP-E2 and turning it on, connect to a satellite, before you turn on the camera. 

What was the difference between the 1500D and 2000D?  Apparently, it seems to be the lens included in the basic camera kit. Otherwise, the cameras were almost identical worldwide.

 

[kvbarkley]

Waddizzle did you read note 2?  It requires the usb cable

[Waddizzle]

“ Waddizzle did you read note 2?  It requires the usb cable “

Good catch. This diagram is from the T7 User Guide. 

[p4pictures]

Do you have the WiFi / NFC function switched on or active?

On the EOS 2000D if the WiFi function is enabled then the USB port is disabled. You need to disable the WiFi/NFC from the menu to activate the USB port. With WiFi enabled the GPS receiver will not work. 

[kvbarkley]

Wow p4pictures! Where have you been? haven't seen you for a while.

[shadowsports]

@p4pictures 

+1

Brian...  Good to see you.  

[p4pictures]

It is many months since my last visit indeed. Today I thought I'd drop in and see if I might be helpful here again.

[Waddizzle]

No experience using it. It seems like it sits on the hot shoe, but communicates through USB. Do you have to tell the port what type of device you want to use or connect to?

[Keith_Beef]

Thanks for pointing that out, after disabling WiFi and NFC in the last set of options, the "GPS device settings" option became available.

The camera and GPS receiver still didn't want to play nicely together, though. Suspecting a damaged USB socket on the camera I took a USB A to mini USB B cable and connected it to my computer.

$ lsusb -t > /tmp/before_2000D.txt

Switch on camera

$ lsusb -t > /tmp/after_2000D.txt
$ diff /tmp/before_2000D.txt /tmp/after_2000D.txt
29a30
> |__ Port 2: Dev 50, If 0, Class=Imaging, Driver=usbfs, 480M
$ ls -al /run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:host=Canon_Inc._Canon_Digital_Camera/DCIM/100CANON
total 279939
drwx------ 1 keith keith 0 Jan 1 1970 .
drwx------ 1 keith keith 0 Jan 1 1970 ..
-rw------- 1 keith keith 30979913 May 1 11:37 IMG_4915.CR2
-rw------- 1 keith keith 6857244 May 1 11:37 IMG_4915.JPG
-rw------- 1 keith keith 31651953 May 1 11:37 IMG_4916.CR2
-rw------- 1 keith keith 7392429 May 1 11:37 IMG_4916.JPG
-rw------- 1 keith keith 31713488 May 1 11:38 IMG_4917.CR2
-rw------- 1 keith keith 7355237 May 1 11:38 IMG_4917.JPG
-rw------- 1 keith keith 27785384 May 2 14:12 IMG_4918.CR2
-rw------- 1 keith keith 5556429 May 2 14:12 IMG_4918.JPG
-rw------- 1 keith keith 28955767 May 2 14:12 IMG_4919.CR2
-rw------- 1 keith keith 5709949 May 2 14:12 IMG_4919.JPG
-rw------- 1 keith keith 102695824 May 1 11:04 MVI_4914.MOV

So the filesystem on the SD card in the camera is seen and correctly mounted, which to me confirms that the USB socket on the body is working as expected.

This makes failure between body and GPS receiver very confusing; I've now ruled out any obvious defects in the GPS receiver (it works with other Canon bodies), the cable and this 2000D body.