Hi all! Happy Wednesday!
On February the 4th, I ordered a GPS unit for my camera from Dawn di-GPS and a week later it arrived. I ordered the ECO Professional for my D800. I was not expecting such a fast delivery. Credits go to Dawn, the Hong Kong Post and Canada Post.
The packaging of this unit was minimal. Asides from the main unit there is a small neoprene case and an extra strap. There are no instruction manuals, but it’s pretty intuitive. However, the manuals for whichever model you have can be downloaded here: http://di-gps.com/shop/di-GPS-download
The unit itself is unassuming. It has a rubber cover for the ten pin terminal and it has a metal screw ring to secure to the camera along with a strap for further security. The rest of the unit is made of plastic. The inclusion of the screw ring is a huge step up from the previous design which was just plugged into the terminal. It ensures proper connectivity and prevents accidentally knocking it off the camera. The strap, although meant to provide another level of security, isn’t really much.
Once I installed the unit onto my camera, I turned on the camera and left it along by a window for about 5 minutes to allow it to gather whatever initial information it needed.
In the manual it explicitly states that “At the initial stage, ECO PF1 GPS needs all these data for the position fixed. It usually takes a minute to few minutes to receive all data. An open sky outdoor environment will enable faster acquisition process. It will take a longer time at a weak signal environment. Once ECO PF1 GPS locks to the satellites, it will take a few seconds for reacquisition even at weak signal environment. “
It also goes on to say “ECO PF1 GPS has a memory backup capacitor inside. The capacitor can provide about two minutes power to the internal memory after disconnect from the camera of changing battery. To avoid the lost of ephemeris data in the internal memory, ECO PF1 GPS should be connected to the camera all the time.”
While the unit tries to find its location I find it best to turn off the Auto Meter-off function. On the D800 that’s located in Menu > Setup Menu > GPS > Auto Meter-off > Off.
That’s it for now! I’ll need some time to play around with it before I can give a better conclusion.
remixboy 