Wifi and GPS options-how important?

[chaperonemom]

A sales lady showing me the superzoom point and shoots suggested getting a camera with the wifi or GPS options. Because I have never owned a camera with these capabilities, and frankly still have a "dumb" phone, how do I rate these features? I ASK THE EXPERIENCED! How would you rate the importance of these features? Thank you!

[gsrunyan]

I have never used a WIFI option but I wouldn't need it: I just carry a bunch of SD cards. Plus, my smartphone is smarter than me!!

 

My previous camera had GPS but I rarely used it: I mostly remembered where I took the images.

 

Glenn:cool:

[Fog123]

I only bought the features because it was marginally more expensive than without, but I find those are the features I'm really enjoying right now. I love being able to download the photos to my tablet and IPod. Still playing with this maps but I see liking that, too.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[WintrHawk]

They're interesting features but in reality are not essential.

 

The WiFi is only useful if you have a WiFi network to work with. On vacation, you would have to find some place that offers the service for cheap or free to upload the pictures. And likely that place is also not the same place you would want to be taking piftures of anyways (read: coffee shops and libraries). On a cruise, the WiFi service can be somewhat costly. Do you really feel you need to have your pictures uploaded right then and there after you have taken it? For more serious photography work, instantaneous uploading means you don't have a chance to cull or edit the pictures before they go out. The real advantage for WiFi enabled cameras is actually for press and sports photographers who need to get the pictures of an event that is happening in real-time out for immediate publication. There are some niche situations in which WiFi enabled compacts and point&shoots might make sense but they are few and far between. Using WiFi also puts a drain on the battery. If you're just using it to transfer pictures to a computer or tablet then consider getting a card reader instead or just hook up the transfer cable. It will be faster and induce less battery drain. The only real practical advantage of WiFi for the average photographer is tethered shooting whereby you can use a phone or tablet or laptop to remotely control the camera.

 

GPS can be somewhat more useful and can help geo-document where the picture was taken so it provides interesting data and possibly some perspective on your photographic history. For vacations and cruises it's neat to have from a trip-journal point-of-view. But bear in mind that it requires being able to lock onto a satelite in order to obtain position data so it works best outdoors with a clear view of the sky. Also, it will drain the battery more so it will decrease your battery life... not exactly what you want for a vacation camera.

 

Given the choice between a camera with a better lens and one with WiFi and/or GPS, I would pick the camera with the better lens and optical performance. Buy the camera that is a camera first. If the camera you like just happens to have GPS or WiFi then that's fine but I personally would not place it as a must-have feature nor would I go out of my way to seek out a camera with either features.

Edited May 24, 2014 by WintrHawk

[Fog123]

I should clarify. I bought a Nikon AW120. It says it's got WiFi capability, but what it actually does is create a WiFi hotspot between the camera and the tablet, phone, or IPod. The camera itself does not connect to the Internet. I can use the tablet to take pictures with the camera, like a remote.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[CWRob]

I have an "eye fi" wireless card for my camera. It is a 16mg card . Once set up it automatically transfers photos to my Samsung tab 3. It does not need wi fi. Uses irs own direct network. Automatic transfer if both devices are on. With my Olympus tg 2, I can choose photos to transfer. With my Panasonic fz200 all the photos are transferred. Will also upload to a desktop at home on wi fi.

 

Sent from my SM-T310 using Forums mobile app

Edited May 24, 2014 by CWRob

[dforeigner]

Is the Wi-Fi feature a must have feature? Not at all. But it is cool a feature to have. We attended a graduation this morning. I was able to download a few pictures from the camera to my phone via Wi-Fi and email them to my mother right there and then. No need to wait until we got home, download the pictures into a computer, upload them into an email and send them out.

[grobma]

The other benefit of the Nikon wi-fi feature is the ability to preview the picture and exercise some control over the camera via smartphone app. Functions like a remote control with a remote viewer.

[peety3]

I have an Eye-Fi card I can use in some of our cameras. It's neat when it works, but trying to fix it on the fly is impossible - you have to put the card into a laptop to really work on it, then yank it and put it in the camera to see if it'll work right.

 

Both of the cameras I might use it in will accept two memory cards, so I usually save RAW to the other card and small JPG to the Eye-Fi card when hoping to use the Wifi features. However, the Eye-Fi card corrupted a file last year, and now I'm afraid to use it as a normal everyday card. :(

[CWRob]

My eye fi card works great. Seemed to take a bit to set up via laptop. SD cards are strange. I have a Canon t1i and it will only accept one card of many I have.

 

As for gps. It is handy to see on a map the locations of pics. Mine has a compass which shows points of interest (olympus TG 2) The new Olympus TG 3 has wi fi .

 

Sent from my SM-T310 using Forums mobile app

[pierces]

Wi-fi is fun on a trip if you want to transfer a few pics to a tablet to share. There are inexpensive devices that allow the same functionality if your camera doesn't have it.

 

GPS is is good to help you remember where a pic was taken but you sometimes need to wait a couple of minutes after turning the camera on for it to acquire position. If it doesn't connect by the time you shoot the picture, most cameras use the last recorded position. Also be cautious about having GPS turned on when taking pictures at home. Photos of your children or collectibles that you post really shouldn't have a map embedded in them.

 

Bottom line. Both are nice-to-haves but neither is a have-to-have.

 

Dave

[chaperonemom]

Thank you for the opinions! I did purchase a camera w/o the GPS and WIFI. I saved over $100, and Sadly still have a dumb-phone, so I will wait until I get home to post pictures. Not a problem! Oh...I bought the Lumix FZ70...and love it so far!

[donaldsc]

GPS uses battery power so I think it is a negative. There is a low tech GPS option that is on 100% of cameras. Take a picture of a sign so you know where you took the next set of pictures. Write the date and location on a piece of paper and make your 1st picture of the day. If there are no signs, write the location on a piece of paper and take a picture of it.

 

Works 100% of the time and does not use battery power.

 

DON

[zackiedawg]

Just remember to go into the camera's menus, and disable wifi if you're not going to be needing or using it - same goes for GPS. Both of these functions do use battery power, so if you are using them, wonderful, but if they're not being used, might as well lengthen the life of your battery.

 

My current mirrorless camera has wifi, but I generally shoot it in 'airplane mode', which turns the wifi off. If and when I want to use it, I go in the menu and turn it on. So far, I haven't needed or used it - I may occasionally use it to order new camera apps that can be downloaded to the camera via wifi, but there's no other real reason I'd want to use it. My camera has NFC (near field communication) so it can link with my tablet for transferring photos or using smart remote control just by touching the two together for a few seconds...so I generally don't need to go to wifi unless accessing the apps store or transferring to web (which I don't do).

[rhkennerly]

We've found GPS extremely useful. I have the add-on device for my Canon 70D and my wife has it on her Olympus P&S. There are lots of programs, including Flickr's online archive, that will place pix on a map automatically, allowing you to recreate tours or figure out what you took a pix of.

 

Both not only record your location but also the direction you were pointing the camera as well.

 

The Olympus system even encodes the name of the site itself, if it's in a database.

 

If I had to choose between wifi and GPS, I'd choose GPS hands down.

 

I even helped a fellow cruiser recover her camera after a med cruise. She posted on CC that she'd lost it and she knew she left it in that restaurant stop in Sicily. Popped the lat/lon into google maps, found the name of the restaurant, called and arranged to have the camera shipped back to the states.

[peety3]

I even helped a fellow cruiser recover her camera after a med cruise. She posted on CC that she'd lost it and she knew she left it in that restaurant stop in Sicily. Popped the lat/lon into google maps, found the name of the restaurant, called and arranged to have the camera shipped back to the states.

Unless I'm missing something, this had nothing to do with a GPS unit on the camera, and probably nothing to do with 'GPS' whatsoever, right?

[chaperonemom]

GPS uses battery power so I think it is a negative. There is a low tech GPS option that is on 100% of cameras. Take a picture of a sign so you know where you took the next set of pictures. Write the date and location on a piece of paper and make your 1st picture of the day. If there are no signs, write the location on a piece of paper and take a picture of it.

 

Works 100% of the time and does not use battery power.

 

DON

 

Don...LOVE THIS IDEA! Thank you for this tidbit of help!

 

Becky

[rhkennerly]

Unless I'm missing something, this had nothing to do with a GPS unit on the camera, and probably nothing to do with 'GPS' whatsoever, right?

 

probably didn't explain it very well. I recognized she was on our ship, so I flipped around my pix of Sicily, got the lat/lan of the place we had stopped on the ship's shore excursion, put that into google earth, and the name of the restaurant popped up on the corner.

 

After that, it was easy to get an email address. the woman who lost the camera sent a money order for the postage and handling and got her camera back.

 

EZPZ