Originally posted by Smeggypants photodana said
"I am disappointed att Pentax did not build a GPS unit til deres top DSLR cameras."
An add on unit costing a lot money isn't a solution to satisfy the r3equest for Pentax building GPS into the camera.
And I agree with the poster "photodana"
Many mobile phones have GPS built in. Why on earth can't a £1k camera have it built in? £250 extra for GPS is a rip off.
Because that would add $50-100 to the cost of the camera.
Mobile phones can do it cheaply because it's OK for them to band-aid around a cheap horrible-performing correlator chipset using SUPL and ephemeride preloads.
Try using a mobile phone GPS in a no-service area (no SUPL) and no ephemeride preloads - enjoy your 10 minute+ lock times.
(I am reasonably familiar with the capabilities of some mobile phone GPS units, as at one point I tried to add SUPL and ephemeride preload support to the GPS driver for xdandroid, an Android port for phones originally intended to run Windows Mobile.)
There's also the fact that it ties the upgrade cycle of your camera and GPS together.
GPS L2C goes live? Ooops, gotta buy a new camera too!
Awesome new sensor in the latest body? Gotta pay for the GPS again.
Let's not forget that if the GPS is built into the camera, the antenna will only be optimally oriented in portrait or landscape orientation - not both, while with a standalone logger you can have it ALWAYS pointing upwards.
The only case where integrating a GPS directly with the camera makes sense is for the new astrophotography features of Pentax's new offering, or for the epically lazy who can't even be bothered to spend 30 seconds per photo album loading a tracklog.