[scorman1]

first time poster here, but frequent looker
Just received the O-GPS1 for astrotracer function and went through the setup w/o problem.
My K-5 had a firmware update way back when, so the O-GPS1 was recognized.
Don't know why others had problem doing the calibration, only regret was that Bogen tripod head does not allow 180 degree movements,
requiring manual rotation...worked fine,
Tried it with 55-300 zoom and the times did change with direction and FL.

IHMO, here is my observation which I think is an obvious oversight in the design ...there is a navigation setting that tells your site location and horizontal direction (azimuth) that the camera is pointing.
If I wanted to find a particular star, etc, I can get an exact azimuthal and elevation setpoint from any star tracking phone ap...., but the azimuth setting is the only one shown on the navigation screen.
In order to track, this unit obviously has that information but does not display it. This is an unfortunate feature that should be trivial to implement , unless I am missing something basic here.and it exists elsewhere.
Any comments appreciated.

Stew Corman

[Adam]

AFAIK all you get is an electronic compass...I don't think it's intended for locating stars (though this could probably be added if they wanted to). That said, there are lots of other tools out there that do a great job at this.

[jbinpg]

The O-GPS1 compass detects the local magnetic field. This will never be accurate enough to use it as an astronomical go-to device due to local fluctuations in the field.

[scorman1]

Adam,
I think you went around my point ...if I want to find M42 with a 300mm lens, having another app doesn't point the camera in the right direction.
However even with " local fluctuations in the field" remark from jbinpg, it would get me a lot closer than just pointing somewhere in the sky.
Telescope mounts have vernier scales for the elevation, while a heavy Bogen camera tripod just has rough 45 degree markings...a little help from the navigation screen would have been appreciated.
Stew

[Stone G.]

Scorman1 is right: The camera has to detect Altitude and not just Azimuth in order to track properly. Further: The Alt. value is indeed embedded in the Exif-data, and it shoul be easy to display. (In ExifTool, look for "Pitch angle".

My solution is to use an inclinometr app on my smart phone.

[scorman1]

Scorman1 is right: The camera has to detect Altitude and not just Azimuth in order to track properly. Further: The Alt. value is indeed embedded in the Exif-data, and it should be easy to display. (In ExifTool, look for "Pitch angle").

Stone,
Altitude is the height above sea level, but I don't see "pitch angle" in my Exif data using Pentax utility software ...couldn't get Exiftool to work?
could you post a screen grab of what Exiftool displays?
thx,
Stew

[Stone G.]

@scoman1
In the Horizonthal Alt-Azimuth coordinate system, Altitude is the angular elevation above the horizon, while Azimuth is the compass bearing.


So, here's a screen dump of (a small portion of) the output from Phil Harvey's ExifTool (executable version) where the camera lens was pointing 24.5 degrees above the horizon at a compass bearing of 212 degrees.

Attached Images

 

[scorman1]

Thx Stone for your response
I am a bit thick but finally understood Phil Harvey's instructions ..been a long while since I did anything with command line instructions and don't even know where to find it in Win10, but finally got it to work and was able to see what you posted as a text output.

Confirms my suspicions that the info is there but the geniuses at Pentax didn't give enough thought to the astro users it was being designed for, to show it on navigation screen ...too bad.
May look at tethering but don't want a laptop in the field, but a WIFI module like Nikon WU-1a would make life easier porting to an Android from the K5. Their Flu SD card is NOT really a solution! Just need a sender, not interactive control of the camera.

Stew