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Jun 03

Pentax GPS Unit Sees Stars — Literally

The O-GPS1 will follow the stars, just like a reader of a trashy gossip magazine

Pentax has announced a new GPS geo-tagging turret for its SLRs. Called the O-GPS1, it connects to the camera and also communicates via the hotshoe. The unit does the usual satellite tracking thing to record your latitude, longitude, altitude as metadata in the image file, but then it gets fancy.

Pentax has added a digital compass to the box, so the camera not only knows where it is, but in what direction it is pointing. This could be useful in future applications which could use this data to build 3-D models automatically, just using this metadata.

That’s fine for the future, but if you have a Pentax K5 or Kr body, you get to use the science-fictionesque Astrotracer function right now. The O-GPS1 can calculate the positions of starts, planets and other celestial bodies. Stick it on a tripod and snap some long-exposure photos of the sky and the camera will actually move its sensor (using the shake reduction motors) in time with the movements of the heavens. This gives you pin-sharp stars instead of blurred trails.

Sure, it’s an ultra-specialist feature, but its pretty awesome too, right?

I have mixed feelings about GPS. It’s great to be able to view your photos on a map, but its also a drain on battery life. Still, if you want GPS, it seems that Pentax’s new dongle is one of the best out there. It’s not cheap, though: You’ll need to drop $250 when it goes on sale later this month.

Pentax O-GPS1 press release [DP Review]

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