crazypaladin
New Member
A quick review after I got it for $99 from SGCameraStore. I got the AK-G1 model which was meant for the D800/E.
Ergonomics
It was really small and quite non-intrusive when attached to the camera. It fits in rather tightly and there was no worries that it would become detached due to normal use of the camera. It also does not interfere with the AF button or the button to detach lens from the camera body. I can comfortably adjust the focusing ring on my 50mm lens without any issues. However, it blocks access to the flash mode button on the D800/E. You need to detach the AK-G1 before you can depress the flash mode button to make adjustment to the flash. However, this was a small price to pay for me as out in the market, you either have GPS module sitting on the hot shoe (hence you cannot attach external flash unit or either affect the pop up flash) or accept this small inconvenience.
It was so small, I left it on all the time and it goes well into my camera bag without the need to remove it. This, to me, was a plus in term of convenience.
Battery Consumption
It does not drain battery a lot. I left it running for the whole night and the EN-EL15 drained about 8% throughout a 12 hours period. This battery drain is acceptable to me as most of the time, I do not end up depleting 20 - 30% of the battery for a day's continuous shoot. Moreover, with a battery grip, one should not be too overly concerned about battery life.
It comes with a On/Off button and hence you can switch it off if you do not need the GPS feature.
GPS Performance
The most importance feature is the GPS performance. I like to benchmark this against my iPhone 4/5. When using iPhone GPS, it locks on almost immediately. I owed an AW100 and Fuji F550EXR and their GPS performance was bad. It almost takes forever for the GPS to lock on. For the AW100, it typically takes 30s on average for lock-on. The F550EXR was almost a few minutes. From excellent to bad, this is how I rank this GPS module.
Excellent: iPhone 4 or iPhone 5.
Good: AW100
So-So: Aokatec AK-G1
Lousy: F550EXR
A bit more on the GPS. The first time I tried to get it to lock on under a clear night sky, it took around 2 minutes. I do not have the patience for the GPS to lock on and miss any shots. However, once it locks on, and you turn off the camera and turn it on later, it locks on immediately. The first lock on after a long pause was the most painful. It seems like forever but still fair better than my F550EXR.
I tried it a second time at Bugis Junction and this was under a clear blue sky. It took a few minutes to lock on and once it did lock it, it works perfectly. The module would blink red when trying to establish a connection and would turn yellow or orange once a lock on was establish. Not much hassle to set up on the camera and in the D800/E, you can go to the GPS menu and see all the pertinent informations like longitude, latitude, altitude etc.
I would rate the accurate as very good. Out of 10 pictures, 9 of them was accurate and 1 of them was not because I turned off the camera and took a picture before the GPS module was able to re-establish a lock-on.
However, for the price of $99, the poor lock-on can be acceptable to some but definitely not all. I wondered how come camera makers cannot make a GPS module for their camera that works like what the iPhone 4 or 5 had on board the phone? It would be a good GPS module if this comes true.
Final Comment
For the price of $99, this GPS is recommended as a toy for most people looking to venture into having GPS for their DSLR. I have not tried other GPS module yet for the DSLR but this was how I felt after trying this out as a toy. I used to carry my iPhone with me and geotag when I shoot and then when I reviewed my pictures, I use a program to geotag them again to my photos. I do not like this method as it changed the time stamp of my photos but the iPhone was definitely fast in geotagging. This Aokatec seems to the solution if one is not in a hurry to have instant GPS lock-on and the accuracy was actually quite good. Overall, recommended for people looking for a cheap and good GPS solution for their geotagging needs.
Ergonomics
It was really small and quite non-intrusive when attached to the camera. It fits in rather tightly and there was no worries that it would become detached due to normal use of the camera. It also does not interfere with the AF button or the button to detach lens from the camera body. I can comfortably adjust the focusing ring on my 50mm lens without any issues. However, it blocks access to the flash mode button on the D800/E. You need to detach the AK-G1 before you can depress the flash mode button to make adjustment to the flash. However, this was a small price to pay for me as out in the market, you either have GPS module sitting on the hot shoe (hence you cannot attach external flash unit or either affect the pop up flash) or accept this small inconvenience.
It was so small, I left it on all the time and it goes well into my camera bag without the need to remove it. This, to me, was a plus in term of convenience.
Battery Consumption
It does not drain battery a lot. I left it running for the whole night and the EN-EL15 drained about 8% throughout a 12 hours period. This battery drain is acceptable to me as most of the time, I do not end up depleting 20 - 30% of the battery for a day's continuous shoot. Moreover, with a battery grip, one should not be too overly concerned about battery life.
It comes with a On/Off button and hence you can switch it off if you do not need the GPS feature.
GPS Performance
The most importance feature is the GPS performance. I like to benchmark this against my iPhone 4/5. When using iPhone GPS, it locks on almost immediately. I owed an AW100 and Fuji F550EXR and their GPS performance was bad. It almost takes forever for the GPS to lock on. For the AW100, it typically takes 30s on average for lock-on. The F550EXR was almost a few minutes. From excellent to bad, this is how I rank this GPS module.
Excellent: iPhone 4 or iPhone 5.
Good: AW100
So-So: Aokatec AK-G1
Lousy: F550EXR
A bit more on the GPS. The first time I tried to get it to lock on under a clear night sky, it took around 2 minutes. I do not have the patience for the GPS to lock on and miss any shots. However, once it locks on, and you turn off the camera and turn it on later, it locks on immediately. The first lock on after a long pause was the most painful. It seems like forever but still fair better than my F550EXR.
I tried it a second time at Bugis Junction and this was under a clear blue sky. It took a few minutes to lock on and once it did lock it, it works perfectly. The module would blink red when trying to establish a connection and would turn yellow or orange once a lock on was establish. Not much hassle to set up on the camera and in the D800/E, you can go to the GPS menu and see all the pertinent informations like longitude, latitude, altitude etc.
I would rate the accurate as very good. Out of 10 pictures, 9 of them was accurate and 1 of them was not because I turned off the camera and took a picture before the GPS module was able to re-establish a lock-on.
However, for the price of $99, the poor lock-on can be acceptable to some but definitely not all. I wondered how come camera makers cannot make a GPS module for their camera that works like what the iPhone 4 or 5 had on board the phone? It would be a good GPS module if this comes true.
Final Comment
For the price of $99, this GPS is recommended as a toy for most people looking to venture into having GPS for their DSLR. I have not tried other GPS module yet for the DSLR but this was how I felt after trying this out as a toy. I used to carry my iPhone with me and geotag when I shoot and then when I reviewed my pictures, I use a program to geotag them again to my photos. I do not like this method as it changed the time stamp of my photos but the iPhone was definitely fast in geotagging. This Aokatec seems to the solution if one is not in a hurry to have instant GPS lock-on and the accuracy was actually quite good. Overall, recommended for people looking for a cheap and good GPS solution for their geotagging needs.
