EOS R5 Mark II - GPS with iPhone Unreliable

[FSchleyhahn]

Hello.  I just returned from Ethiopia where I used my new R5 Mark II for the first time.  Unfortunately, even though I kept my iPhone in my pocket the entire time whenever I was shooting, half of my images don't have GPS tagging information.  What do I need to do to ensure that all of my images will get geotagged for my next trip?  I would occasionally open the Canon CameraConnect app on my iPhone and I could import images from my camera, but other than that, I made the assumption that every time I would pick up my camera and take a picture, the camera would connect to the iPhone to get the GPS tagging information.  All of the videos I took with my iPhone were geotagged but the still images I took at the same location with my camera aren't.  I really wish Canon wouldn't have removed the built in GPS feature that was on the Canon 5D Mark IV which I upgraded from.

[Hazel_T]

Hi FSchleyhahn,

I'm sorry to hear some of your photos did not the GPS tag information from your phone. As long as the phone and camera were connected and the phone was getting GPS data from cell towers the photos should have been tagged. If connection dropped either between the phone and camera or the phone and towers it would cause some of the photos to not get the GPS data. 

A different option would be to use the AD-E1 adapter and our GP-E2 GPS accessory to get that information. The GP-E2 uses satellite information to get the GPS data, so as long as the GP-E2 has line of sight to the positioning satellites it will save that data to your photos and videos. We do not sell the GP-E2 directly through Canon, so if you want to purchase one we would recommend checking with our authorized dealers. If you would like to see a list of our authorized dealers that is available HERE.

[vantage]

Try this:

The Canon Connect app gets its location from IOS. If the Iphone auto-locks or you manually lock it, IOS stops determining the phone's location and Canon Connect always uses the last location of the phone when the phone locked. To keep IOS updating the phone's location, go to 

Settings->Display & Brightness->Auto-Lock and set it to "Never." 

After this do *NOT* manually lock the phone. This keeps IOS updating the phone's location which will keep the location that Camera Connect is using current.

If you turn off the camera, the connection between CameraConnect app and the camera is shutdown. You have to have CameraConnect and the camera running and the connection between the two up to get the image geotagged.

[nelsonho]

Not sure whether this help, I tried on my iPhone and it seems okay to keep GPS syncing even when my iPhone locked:

Setting > App > Camera Connect > Location

During normal installation, this should be "While Using the App"

I changed it to "Always" and then my R5 Mark II keeps getting geo info from the iphone even when it is locked or running in background.

[vantage]

@nelsonho Good find. 

I want to verify: Did you try this with the phone locked and walking around to see that the GPS location changed in the image metadata?

[jrhoffman75]

---

@FSchleyhahn wrote:

Hello.  I just returned from Ethiopia where I used my new R5 Mark II for the first time.  Unfortunately, even though I kept my iPhone in my pocket the entire time whenever I was shooting, half of my images don't have GPS tagging information.  What do I need to do to ensure that all of my images will get geotagged for my next trip?  I would occasionally open the Canon CameraConnect app on my iPhone and I could import images from my camera, but other than that, I made the assumption that every time I would pick up my camera and take a picture, the camera would connect to the iPhone to get the GPS tagging information.  All of the videos I took with my iPhone were geotagged but the still images I took at the same location with my camera aren't.  I really wish Canon wouldn't have removed the built in GPS feature that was on the Canon 5D Mark IV which I upgraded from.

---

I have found that when I use the CC app for GPS it will capture and append GPS data to the first image but subsequent images will have the same initial GPS data; doesn't update. If I shut down and restart CC new data is captured but still won't update.

This has been reported by a number of folks here on the forum and a friend has experienced the same behavior.

This is with all other apps closed and location set to Always.

[vantage]

"@nelsonho Good find. 

I want to verify: Did you try this with the phone locked and walking around to see that the GPS location changed in the image metadata?"

I went out today and verified this for myself. With the phone locked and the app running in the background I walked around, shot pics at different locations and the metadata showed a different location for each image.

[nelsonho]

I haven't had time to test it in different places yet. Because the geoinfo on my iPhone often has a slight offset, I can only test that the coordinates can still be obtained when it's locked. May verify it later when I get a chance to take photo in another location.

[Tintype_18 · Accepted solution]

Interesting. What is the advantage of having GPS on the photo?

[FSchleyhahn]

For travel photography, it's nice to know where the picture was taken so that a proper caption can be applied to it