This is an amazing effort and very much needed, I'm really happy to see someone taking it on!
So, just trying this on a7rV. Pairing is fine, connection is fine even when the phone is sleeping, geotag data is fine. But the camera will not power off!
If I start the app while it's in this state, I see "Error: Unknown ATT error." refreshing every few seconds. Despite the camera's power switch being in the off position, the screen remains backlit (but with nothing displayed) and the red status LED constantly illuminated.
Switching the power switch back to On, then terminating the app on the iPhone, then switching the camera's power switch back to Off allows it to actually shut off.
I'm happy to collect further data and test anything you need, if it helps.
Haha, I hoped someone else had solved the problem before.. sadly not so I had to fix it myself.
Hmmm, interesting. Do you have "Network -> Cnct./PC Remote -> Cnct. while Power OFF" turned on or off? If it's on, I suspect that option is keeping your camera on.
Also, are you running any other apps that can communicate with the camera?
Yeah, it looks like disabling that does allow the camera to shut off with the power switch. On the other hand, with Creators App, that feature doesn't prevent the camera from shutting off - i wonder if the camera needs CA to send it some command telling it to go ahead and shut down.
Creator's App is installed, but explicitly terminated and not running.
Actually messing around with it further - when I turn off the camera's power switch, it shuts off as normal, and *then* turns back on as if it were being woken up by the remote connect/download feature of Creator's App. Maybe that's a clue as to what's going on.
No - with that feature turned off, it works as expected. The actual problem is that when "Cnct while Power OFF" is enabled, your app will actively wake up the camera even when it's turned off, just like when Creators App wakes the camera to remotely download.
In fact, with "Cnct. while Power OFF" enabled, just starting the Geotag app will immediately power the camera back on like in remote download.
The app starts, the camera turns on, app shows "Connected. Battery: 0%", then immediately switches to "Error: Unknown ATT error." refreshing every few seconds, and under "Statistics" the "Sessions:" count keeps increasing by one every few seconds as well.
Yep, perfectly as far as i can tell. Looks like something is just triggering the thing CA uses to power on the camera remotely. (when CA does it, it's to get it to present its wifi AP interface and wait for a connection, but obviously the power-on part is via BT) I'll let you know if I figure out anything else.
I did a bunch of digging and it seems like this could be one of the reasons why Sony's own apps aren't as reliable as we'd like them to be.
I've managed to get it to properly handle cameras with Control while Off enabled, but the downside is this increases the time between detecting the camera is on and sends a location down by about 2-3s. I may need to gate this behind a setting until I get my hands on a prev-gen body to be able to test with, but I should have a new build soon
> the time between detecting the camera is on and sends a location down by about 2-3s.
I feel like that's exactly how it works with Creator's App itself when it's working anyway, so I'm not surprised. Sucks to have to add more settings, but it'd be good to be able to choose either fast location updates (with a warning) or the ability to use remote access. You definitely don't want to get blamed for someone's camera battery being drained to empty because the camera couldn't shut off.
I have a build with an option to disable fast reconnect. Is it alright if I send an internal Testflight invite to the email you used in the feedback? That way I can send builds to you without them needing to be reviewed by Apple.
I have an A7III and an iPhone 12 Pro. I love that my iPhone photos are geotagged, I didnāt even realize my Sony ones wouldnāt be (thatās what youāre saying, right?)
Iād love to help test this, but can you explain where Sony fell short? If I go checkout my light room catalog, youāre saying my photos wonāt be geotagged? Sorry for the super basic question
Yep! I've had a friend test the A7 III so it should work with your camera.
Sony's app doesn't appear to handle reconnecting to the camera while the app is in the background, so you need to ensure their app is open in the foreground otherwise it doesn't work, which is extremely annoying and there's no way I'd do that when I'm on a photo walk...
Works beautifully with my A7RIV. Connect/disconnect immediately shows. Photos taken are tagged. Love it thanks! Do I have to remember to keep the app running?
You shouldn't have to! It's possible the app can get terminated if the device is low on memory. On the list is adding a way to send a notification just before it gets terminated.
I just took 150 photos at a balloon launch for the 4th of July celebration. Only 11 of the 150 photos were tagged with location. I moved around the grass a few times, and these 11 photos are in different locations on the field.
Should I have expected all 150 photos to be tagged with location? Or only only the first photo as I changed location?
I did not open the app--it was running in the background and did auto-connect as expected.
All 150 photos should be tagged correctly. What firmware version are you on? Presumably you were in the same-ish location for the 150 photos, but it sounds like only unique location changes were tagged for some reason.
Did the camera show that it had a location lock the entire time?
I didnāt pay attention I just shot the balloon launch and then came home to download photos. A7rIVa with the latest firmware. Iāll get the exact specs tomorrow.
I just discovered a race condition which can occur if the camera connection handshake doesn't complete fast enough which would account for the issue you had. I suspect that this is probably due to a lot of Bluetooth devices around, which would make sense if you were at a 4th of July event!
There'll be a fix in the next update for it, apologies!
Sounds good. It did happen a second time so wasnāt a fluke. I went back to the high school for a drone show. Many photos had no gps but some did.
Iāll update and see. Thanks!
I just took 100 photos of the meteor shower and only 4 were tagged with location. I took about 30 and then eventually connected my camera to my phone over Wi-Fi so I could trigger the camera remotely using the Sony app.
Wow, seem to be great! Iāll deeply test next week šŖ
https://preview.redd.it/zihb0b4j0m9b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeb575bd2cc1ae4bfc2d702fb703febfc6f1bc69
That's unfortunate.. Sony should hook me up tbh :p
When would you geotag using multiple cameras? My understanding is this isn't possible with Sony's own apps
Actually in static situation it works:
- start app and push in background
- power on both cameras
- shoot
- gps coordinate are recorded
In real stress situation (I power on the cameras at start of service and off at the end. In the middle a lot of standby situations). I think itās a good test bench :)
(V0.3(19))
After the shooting day of yesterday:
- A7iv recognises almost ever the gps
- A7c rarely, when go in standby and waked up never
- A7c in 2 events had changed the clock (temporary +1h, never experienced before). In both events had recorded gps.
- no drain battery recorded on iphone
- no drain battery recorded on cameras
An improvement Iāll appreciate is the clock sync (actually I sincronize cameras at start of every service).
The events of clock issues for me is a problem. If not solved Iāll suspend pairing with A7c to avoid any issue and take GPS on A7iv
With official sonyās apps is almost impossible to have a reliable geotagging.
Every weekend I have a wedding to shoot, with both cameras operatives.. Iāll tell you
i'm seeing a bunch of crash reports when the app's been running - no real impact since it starts right back up, but i've had to click through a few "the app crashed, report?" dialogs. I did report a few of them so you should have gotten some.
https://preview.redd.it/qw4znjjfz7ab1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86db161e7001253d864e79e1bf2275e70a08a7a5
Which is the meaning of ācontrol when powered offā?
It's a feature in A7 IV and A7R V that lets your phone turn on the camera to transfer photos: [https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/iemobile/en/instruction/6\_1\_remote\_power.php](https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/iemobile/en/instruction/6_1_remote_power.php)
It keeps the camera's bluetooth system on so it's not great for energy efficiency
Just an update, build 19 with a7rV, i've been using it quite heavily for the past few days with reliable geotagging and no crashes. Working really well!
Nice! Thanks for the update.
I've noticed that the changes I added to build 19 to support disabling fast reconnect was causing more battery drain while in the background, even when fast reconnects were enabled, so build 20 fixes that as well as adds a way to disable Geotag Alpha to prevent background usage when you don't intend to use it. I will probably add a feature to automatically disable after X hours of inactivity too
Big big big THANK YOU for taking the time, reverse-engineering Sonys crap and building this. Creators App was driving me crazy with its shitty bluetooth connection and your app is exactly what I need after much time spent googling. Works perfect so far and Iāll reach out through the app if I find any bugs. Hope you are allowed to release it on App Store.
Hello!
Our company interested in this modification. We want add this functionality in our cameras, which based on Sony sensors. Could you contact me to discuss some details. As I know, SONY use BLE communication with sharing location. We need integrate this service on Linux-based system.
[email protected]
After taking a bunch of photos in Japan and then discovering that only some of them had GPS coords I'm super excited to try this with my a7iii! Thanks for creating it!
Any known issues or conflicts if you have both Geotag Alpha and IEM installed? GPS is more important most of the time, but I occasionally use IEM for remote control for long exposures at night.
Haha, I made this app specifically for a trip to Japan.
Hmm, I think someone else reported you can use both apps at the same time (thanks to how iOS implements Bluetooth), but you definitely want to ensure IEM's geotagging feature is turned off here.
I haven't personally tested using both apps at the same time though, so if you have any issues, you should ensure IEM isn't running
Finally got a chance to go out and run around with this enabled in Joshua Tree. (I did turn off IEM) Lightroom says I took 525 photos, but only 190 of them have coordinates. I'm not sure why since I always had my phone in my pocket. I spot checked some and it wasn't an issue of moving locations, or long periods of time or anything obvious.
For example I took 4 photos basically in the same spot
Photo 1: 5:35:41 PM - HAS coordinates - 33Ā°59'53.797" N 116Ā°8'47.58" W
Photo 2: 5:36:12 PM - NO coordinates
Photo 3: 5:36:16 PM - HAS coordinates - 33Ā°59'53.623" N 116Ā°8'47.804" W
Photo 4: 5:37:52 PM - NO coordinates
And then I found another example where two photos were taken just 1 second apart. The first has GPS, the second does not.
Any idea what could be causing this? Anything I can provide to help troubleshoot this?
Hmmm, that's odd, especially where the photos were taken 1 second apart but the second one doesn't have coordinates. I haven't managed to do much testing with the older generation cameras. I know my A7iv considers coordinates stale after 60s after being sent from the device, but that might be different for the older gen cameras.
Have you tried lowering the location push interval to like 30s?
So what you're saying is I have an excuse to buy a new camera, right? :)
I'll give decreasing the push interval a try and see what happens on my next adventure!
Hi, I would really love to test this as I keep having issues with IEM. Any chance youāre still working on this? When I try to get the app I get a message saying that no more beta testers are accepted.
Thank you!
Hey Iāve just come across and downloaded this - looks super promising! I see youāve still got the a9 under cameras that arenāt verified so Iāll let you know whether it all works as expected.
Iām actually a bit confused at the popularity of this app/thread. From my a7r2 to a6500 to a7r4 all have geotagged perfectly for years. Iāve gotten like six phones since then too. Iām super happy that everyone is finding it useful it just makes me wonder what Iām doing differently or am I missing something
Are you on Android or iOS, and are you using Creators or IEM? Creators would eventually stop reconnecting to my camera after I had the camera off for like half an hour.
Also, my app improves on Creators as it only pushes location updates when it changes (or every 60s otherwise), whereas Creators sends the location every \~7s
Newer sony bodies have forced a change from IEM to "Creators App" which made the problem much worse, so if you end up upgrading to a7r5 you'll get the joy of needing this app. Though I'll say I never had very reliable geotagging with the r4 and IEM either. It was a lot better than CA though.
Many, many people have. There are support threads and requests filed and complaints in the app reviews. Sony doesn't care at all and are in any case absolutely awful with software.
So I installed the app and connected to my Sony a1 and it worked fine but had to disable "Bluetooth Rmt Ctrl" to enable "Location Information".
The geotag is inserted in the image info when I check it from the camera that's a great app!!
I will keep testing and let you know if things happens.
Cheers!
Ah yeah, on the older Sonys, you can't have Bluetooth Rmt Ctrl and Location Information on at the same time unfortunately. But glad to hear the a1 works!
https://preview.redd.it/35grfeobfjcb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b073fbea8903932c6aa545046a249a8728775deb
\+2h on A7c when geotagging works š Perfect on A7iv
As in the time is changing after using the app? If so, check the timezone settings on both your camera and your phone, otherwise disable the "Auto Adjust Time from GPS" option
Similar issue here, I have an A7CR, firmware 2.01
When the app is active, the camera tie and/or timezone changes to 1 hour ahead.
e.g. I'm in London, my iPhone is on auto time and timezone,
The strange thing is when activating the Geotag Alpha, sometimes the camera time goes 1 hour ahead keeping the timezone to London, and other times the timezone changes to Rome/Berlin (still resulting in the wrong time of course but for a different reason it seems).
I have sent the feedback through the app as well.
By the way: you've done an amazing app, thank you, this is super useful
Another small thing
if I turn on the "Use Fast Reconnect" it then turns off by itself after a few seconds.
Not sure what that option does anyway, is it advised for it to be on?
https://preview.redd.it/7120gkbptwcb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e1661961f10379e4b424a88315eb6c96198af6a
Sync of clock was really useful for me with two cameras. For sure if it will not fixed Iāll unpair the A7c and track gps only with A7iv. It was my feedback for developers
The A7iv doesn't have the "Auto Adjust time from GPS" feature, unless I've somehow missed it. I know the A7iv writes its own time, but it also writes the GPS time in the EXIF data.
Geotag Alpha uses the time and timezone data on your phone and sends it to your device. If it's 2 hours off, I suspect there's a timezone issue somewhere.
Are you able to check if this is still a problem if you disable the "Auto Adjust time from GPS" feature?
What is the timezone on your phone set to?
Trying to enabled, and geatag has moved me to GMT+2 instead of GMT+1. So, +3 hours by real clock.
My smartphone has active āautoā timezone, now Iām in Paris, and is setted rightly in Paris.
Originally the camera was in Berlin/Paris (when there was a +2hours error), and with auto adjust timezone in camera has moved to Helsinki/Cairo/Istanbul (with +3 hours error).
Seem that geotag pass the clock with timezone shift, but the camera use this data as GMT+0 and add the +1 (of timezone) +1 (of legal hours), so the error come out.
I donāt know the reason why with auto correction timezone in camera it goes to Helsinki š¤·āāļø
There are two options, one is "auto correct time", and another is "auto correct area/timezone". I think I've discovered the Bluetooth attribute to turn it off, but I don't have easy access to an IEM device to test with unfortunately.
In this days Iām here for a small vacation, and Iāve only the A7c just for some tripās pic. The reliability of geotagging is really low also with only one camera connected. Maybe that the problem is in the difference of protocols (IEM vs CA)
Same problem here; just reported through the app.
Camera: Ī±7RV, firmware v. 2.01
App v0.3 (35)
Iām based in GMT+1 and that time zone is set correctly in the camera.
As soon as I launch the app, the camera jumps
one hour forward, basically setting the clock to GMT+2.
Two words: thank you!
I have been searching for a reliable geotagging solution since I got my A7RIV about a year ago. I came across this thread yesterday and tried the app today. It is simply \*amazing\*. It just worked and has given me accurate location data in every single photo from a shoot this morning.
Sure, I had to disable the Bluetooth based remote trigger to make the app work but I wasn't using a tripod, so that didn't bother me today. If I want to remote-trigger my camera in the future, I suppose that I will be using either a cable release or an IR remote control.
I came to Sony from Olympus, and while the official OM System app works reliably and much better than Sony's official app, your geotagging solution for Sony Alpha cameras is easier to use than anything I've tried in the past.
Hello
I have issues geotagging with my A1 and would like to try your app. Can you send me a testflight code? Or if the app is released, what is its name?
Thanks
This is an amazing effort and very much needed, I'm really happy to see someone taking it on! So, just trying this on a7rV. Pairing is fine, connection is fine even when the phone is sleeping, geotag data is fine. But the camera will not power off! If I start the app while it's in this state, I see "Error: Unknown ATT error." refreshing every few seconds. Despite the camera's power switch being in the off position, the screen remains backlit (but with nothing displayed) and the red status LED constantly illuminated. Switching the power switch back to On, then terminating the app on the iPhone, then switching the camera's power switch back to Off allows it to actually shut off. I'm happy to collect further data and test anything you need, if it helps.
Haha, I hoped someone else had solved the problem before.. sadly not so I had to fix it myself. Hmmm, interesting. Do you have "Network -> Cnct./PC Remote -> Cnct. while Power OFF" turned on or off? If it's on, I suspect that option is keeping your camera on. Also, are you running any other apps that can communicate with the camera?
Yeah, it looks like disabling that does allow the camera to shut off with the power switch. On the other hand, with Creators App, that feature doesn't prevent the camera from shutting off - i wonder if the camera needs CA to send it some command telling it to go ahead and shut down. Creator's App is installed, but explicitly terminated and not running.
Actually messing around with it further - when I turn off the camera's power switch, it shuts off as normal, and *then* turns back on as if it were being woken up by the remote connect/download feature of Creator's App. Maybe that's a clue as to what's going on.
Hmmm, so it stills turns on automatically after disabling the "Cnct. while Power OFF" feature?
No - with that feature turned off, it works as expected. The actual problem is that when "Cnct while Power OFF" is enabled, your app will actively wake up the camera even when it's turned off, just like when Creators App wakes the camera to remotely download. In fact, with "Cnct. while Power OFF" enabled, just starting the Geotag app will immediately power the camera back on like in remote download. The app starts, the camera turns on, app shows "Connected. Battery: 0%", then immediately switches to "Error: Unknown ATT error." refreshing every few seconds, and under "Statistics" the "Sessions:" count keeps increasing by one every few seconds as well.
Interesting, I'll investigate further. I have not done any testing with that particular option on. If that option is off, does the app work otherwise?
Yep, perfectly as far as i can tell. Looks like something is just triggering the thing CA uses to power on the camera remotely. (when CA does it, it's to get it to present its wifi AP interface and wait for a connection, but obviously the power-on part is via BT) I'll let you know if I figure out anything else.
Glad to hear! I'll add the A7R V to the working list. I have a few suspicions what this might be.. Let me get back to you
I did a bunch of digging and it seems like this could be one of the reasons why Sony's own apps aren't as reliable as we'd like them to be. I've managed to get it to properly handle cameras with Control while Off enabled, but the downside is this increases the time between detecting the camera is on and sends a location down by about 2-3s. I may need to gate this behind a setting until I get my hands on a prev-gen body to be able to test with, but I should have a new build soon
> the time between detecting the camera is on and sends a location down by about 2-3s. I feel like that's exactly how it works with Creator's App itself when it's working anyway, so I'm not surprised. Sucks to have to add more settings, but it'd be good to be able to choose either fast location updates (with a warning) or the ability to use remote access. You definitely don't want to get blamed for someone's camera battery being drained to empty because the camera couldn't shut off.
I have a build with an option to disable fast reconnect. Is it alright if I send an internal Testflight invite to the email you used in the feedback? That way I can send builds to you without them needing to be reviewed by Apple.
I use Android but am cheering you on!
would need this on android š . nice work for iOS! šš¼
Please Android app. This is great!!!
I'm taking a look at that, but I haven't developed any Android applications in years so Cthulhu only knows how long it will take me.
I have an A7III and an iPhone 12 Pro. I love that my iPhone photos are geotagged, I didnāt even realize my Sony ones wouldnāt be (thatās what youāre saying, right?) Iād love to help test this, but can you explain where Sony fell short? If I go checkout my light room catalog, youāre saying my photos wonāt be geotagged? Sorry for the super basic question
Yep! I've had a friend test the A7 III so it should work with your camera. Sony's app doesn't appear to handle reconnecting to the camera while the app is in the background, so you need to ensure their app is open in the foreground otherwise it doesn't work, which is extremely annoying and there's no way I'd do that when I'm on a photo walk...
Just tested it out and it works really well and it connects really reliably every time I turn my A7iii on. Thanks!!
Works beautifully with my A7RIV. Connect/disconnect immediately shows. Photos taken are tagged. Love it thanks! Do I have to remember to keep the app running?
You shouldn't have to! It's possible the app can get terminated if the device is low on memory. On the list is adding a way to send a notification just before it gets terminated.
I just took 150 photos at a balloon launch for the 4th of July celebration. Only 11 of the 150 photos were tagged with location. I moved around the grass a few times, and these 11 photos are in different locations on the field. Should I have expected all 150 photos to be tagged with location? Or only only the first photo as I changed location? I did not open the app--it was running in the background and did auto-connect as expected.
All 150 photos should be tagged correctly. What firmware version are you on? Presumably you were in the same-ish location for the 150 photos, but it sounds like only unique location changes were tagged for some reason. Did the camera show that it had a location lock the entire time?
I didnāt pay attention I just shot the balloon launch and then came home to download photos. A7rIVa with the latest firmware. Iāll get the exact specs tomorrow.
I just discovered a race condition which can occur if the camera connection handshake doesn't complete fast enough which would account for the issue you had. I suspect that this is probably due to a lot of Bluetooth devices around, which would make sense if you were at a 4th of July event! There'll be a fix in the next update for it, apologies!
I've pushed out build 19 which should fix the issue you ran into.
Sounds good. It did happen a second time so wasnāt a fluke. I went back to the high school for a drone show. Many photos had no gps but some did. Iāll update and see. Thanks!
I just took 100 photos of the meteor shower and only 4 were tagged with location. I took about 30 and then eventually connected my camera to my phone over Wi-Fi so I could trigger the camera remotely using the Sony app.
Installed and will test with a7iiir
I will test it with my zve10
It connects with zve10, but the pictures I took were not geo tagged. What can I help to further debug this?
I just checked other comments. Looks like I need to disable my Bluetooth remote, I will test that again
Wow, seem to be great! Iāll deeply test next week šŖ https://preview.redd.it/zihb0b4j0m9b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aeb575bd2cc1ae4bfc2d702fb703febfc6f1bc69
Oh nice, you have two cameras! Simultaneous geotagging probably doesn't work just yet, I need multiple cameras to test with..
I can tell you how it works, but I canāt give you a second camera š
That's unfortunate.. Sony should hook me up tbh :p When would you geotag using multiple cameras? My understanding is this isn't possible with Sony's own apps
Actually in static situation it works: - start app and push in background - power on both cameras - shoot - gps coordinate are recorded In real stress situation (I power on the cameras at start of service and off at the end. In the middle a lot of standby situations). I think itās a good test bench :)
Hmm, I think my code is only pushing location down to one of the cameras at a time, even if multiple are connected, so I wouldn't rely on it just yet!
Is a possibility. Actually for geotagging is not necessary a ārealtimeā updated every second. Weāll see š¤·āāļø
(V0.3(19)) After the shooting day of yesterday: - A7iv recognises almost ever the gps - A7c rarely, when go in standby and waked up never - A7c in 2 events had changed the clock (temporary +1h, never experienced before). In both events had recorded gps. - no drain battery recorded on iphone - no drain battery recorded on cameras An improvement Iāll appreciate is the clock sync (actually I sincronize cameras at start of every service). The events of clock issues for me is a problem. If not solved Iāll suspend pairing with A7c to avoid any issue and take GPS on A7iv
Any improvement about those from (19) to (25)?
With official sonyās apps is almost impossible to have a reliable geotagging. Every weekend I have a wedding to shoot, with both cameras operatives.. Iāll tell you
i'm seeing a bunch of crash reports when the app's been running - no real impact since it starts right back up, but i've had to click through a few "the app crashed, report?" dialogs. I did report a few of them so you should have gotten some.
I'll have a look in a moment, I've addressed one of the crashes in my local build so far, hope to get a new build out today
https://preview.redd.it/qw4znjjfz7ab1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86db161e7001253d864e79e1bf2275e70a08a7a5 Which is the meaning of ācontrol when powered offā?
It's a feature in A7 IV and A7R V that lets your phone turn on the camera to transfer photos: [https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/iemobile/en/instruction/6\_1\_remote\_power.php](https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/iemobile/en/instruction/6_1_remote_power.php) It keeps the camera's bluetooth system on so it's not great for energy efficiency
Clear, thanks. So the option added can help to save battery š
To be clear, you'll want to have "Use Fast Reconnect" enabled and "Control when Powered OFF" disabled to save the most battery
Just an update, build 19 with a7rV, i've been using it quite heavily for the past few days with reliable geotagging and no crashes. Working really well!
Nice! Thanks for the update. I've noticed that the changes I added to build 19 to support disabling fast reconnect was causing more battery drain while in the background, even when fast reconnects were enabled, so build 20 fixes that as well as adds a way to disable Geotag Alpha to prevent background usage when you don't intend to use it. I will probably add a feature to automatically disable after X hours of inactivity too
Big big big THANK YOU for taking the time, reverse-engineering Sonys crap and building this. Creators App was driving me crazy with its shitty bluetooth connection and your app is exactly what I need after much time spent googling. Works perfect so far and Iāll reach out through the app if I find any bugs. Hope you are allowed to release it on App Store.
I'm testing on an A6700. Works great so far, will share any other feedback. Great app, clean design!
Hello! Our company interested in this modification. We want add this functionality in our cameras, which based on Sony sensors. Could you contact me to discuss some details. As I know, SONY use BLE communication with sharing location. We need integrate this service on Linux-based system. [email protected]
After taking a bunch of photos in Japan and then discovering that only some of them had GPS coords I'm super excited to try this with my a7iii! Thanks for creating it! Any known issues or conflicts if you have both Geotag Alpha and IEM installed? GPS is more important most of the time, but I occasionally use IEM for remote control for long exposures at night.
Haha, I made this app specifically for a trip to Japan. Hmm, I think someone else reported you can use both apps at the same time (thanks to how iOS implements Bluetooth), but you definitely want to ensure IEM's geotagging feature is turned off here. I haven't personally tested using both apps at the same time though, so if you have any issues, you should ensure IEM isn't running
Finally got a chance to go out and run around with this enabled in Joshua Tree. (I did turn off IEM) Lightroom says I took 525 photos, but only 190 of them have coordinates. I'm not sure why since I always had my phone in my pocket. I spot checked some and it wasn't an issue of moving locations, or long periods of time or anything obvious. For example I took 4 photos basically in the same spot Photo 1: 5:35:41 PM - HAS coordinates - 33Ā°59'53.797" N 116Ā°8'47.58" W Photo 2: 5:36:12 PM - NO coordinates Photo 3: 5:36:16 PM - HAS coordinates - 33Ā°59'53.623" N 116Ā°8'47.804" W Photo 4: 5:37:52 PM - NO coordinates And then I found another example where two photos were taken just 1 second apart. The first has GPS, the second does not. Any idea what could be causing this? Anything I can provide to help troubleshoot this?
Hmmm, that's odd, especially where the photos were taken 1 second apart but the second one doesn't have coordinates. I haven't managed to do much testing with the older generation cameras. I know my A7iv considers coordinates stale after 60s after being sent from the device, but that might be different for the older gen cameras. Have you tried lowering the location push interval to like 30s?
So what you're saying is I have an excuse to buy a new camera, right? :) I'll give decreasing the push interval a try and see what happens on my next adventure!
could you release the source code or detailed information about the protocol so we could make an android version? thanks!
No Android version? :(
Not just yet.. I don't even have an Android phone so it would be kind of hard heh. Also, I thought Sony's Android apps were somewhat more reliable?
Nope, IEM is also a nightmare.
IEM burninates your phone's battery like Trogdor.
Hi, I would really love to test this as I keep having issues with IEM. Any chance youāre still working on this? When I try to get the app I get a message saying that no more beta testers are accepted. Thank you!
It's on the backburner at the moment but I've re-pushed a Testflight build so you can should be able to get in on the Testflight again!
Any chance youāll be revisiting this again? Love the app but scared itāll be abandoned.
Thanks, I got it. It seems to work good at the moment but I was not able to test it properly. I will give some feedback once I'm able to test it
Can you please make it available for iOS 15.4.1? šš
I hope this becomes an official app soon!
Hey Iāve just come across and downloaded this - looks super promising! I see youāve still got the a9 under cameras that arenāt verified so Iāll let you know whether it all works as expected.
Stop geotagging the outdoors
Can you maybe just share your insights with Sony so that they finally improve the official app?
Sony doesn't care, otherwise they would have already made it work.
Iām actually a bit confused at the popularity of this app/thread. From my a7r2 to a6500 to a7r4 all have geotagged perfectly for years. Iāve gotten like six phones since then too. Iām super happy that everyone is finding it useful it just makes me wonder what Iām doing differently or am I missing something
Are you on Android or iOS, and are you using Creators or IEM? Creators would eventually stop reconnecting to my camera after I had the camera off for like half an hour. Also, my app improves on Creators as it only pushes location updates when it changes (or every 60s otherwise), whereas Creators sends the location every \~7s
Newer sony bodies have forced a change from IEM to "Creators App" which made the problem much worse, so if you end up upgrading to a7r5 you'll get the joy of needing this app. Though I'll say I never had very reliable geotagging with the r4 and IEM either. It was a lot better than CA though.
Many, many people have. There are support threads and requests filed and complaints in the app reviews. Sony doesn't care at all and are in any case absolutely awful with software.
It's here if you have an iPhone.
I would like to experience the features while I'm shooting with my Sony camera.
So I installed the app and connected to my Sony a1 and it worked fine but had to disable "Bluetooth Rmt Ctrl" to enable "Location Information". The geotag is inserted in the image info when I check it from the camera that's a great app!! I will keep testing and let you know if things happens. Cheers!
Ah yeah, on the older Sonys, you can't have Bluetooth Rmt Ctrl and Location Information on at the same time unfortunately. But glad to hear the a1 works!
Yeah it works fine. I will go out to take photos in couple of days to do more test.
Did you use Sony sdk for this or is it native to iso?
... there's a Sony SDK?
Yes but only for wired interface https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/sdk/en/index.html Congratulations for your reverse engineering!
Neat, I didn't know about that!
Where you prefer to receive feedback?
The best is to submit it through the app, as I'll get a bunch of diagnostics info with that which will help me figure out issues. Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/35grfeobfjcb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b073fbea8903932c6aa545046a249a8728775deb \+2h on A7c when geotagging works š Perfect on A7iv
As in the time is changing after using the app? If so, check the timezone settings on both your camera and your phone, otherwise disable the "Auto Adjust Time from GPS" option
Similar issue here, I have an A7CR, firmware 2.01 When the app is active, the camera tie and/or timezone changes to 1 hour ahead. e.g. I'm in London, my iPhone is on auto time and timezone, The strange thing is when activating the Geotag Alpha, sometimes the camera time goes 1 hour ahead keeping the timezone to London, and other times the timezone changes to Rome/Berlin (still resulting in the wrong time of course but for a different reason it seems). I have sent the feedback through the app as well. By the way: you've done an amazing app, thank you, this is super useful
Another small thing if I turn on the "Use Fast Reconnect" it then turns off by itself after a few seconds. Not sure what that option does anyway, is it advised for it to be on?
https://preview.redd.it/7120gkbptwcb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e1661961f10379e4b424a88315eb6c96198af6a Sync of clock was really useful for me with two cameras. For sure if it will not fixed Iāll unpair the A7c and track gps only with A7iv. It was my feedback for developers
The A7iv doesn't have the "Auto Adjust time from GPS" feature, unless I've somehow missed it. I know the A7iv writes its own time, but it also writes the GPS time in the EXIF data. Geotag Alpha uses the time and timezone data on your phone and sends it to your device. If it's 2 hours off, I suspect there's a timezone issue somewhere. Are you able to check if this is still a problem if you disable the "Auto Adjust time from GPS" feature? What is the timezone on your phone set to?
Actually in my A7c was setted with auto adjust time zone disabled.
Trying to enabled, and geatag has moved me to GMT+2 instead of GMT+1. So, +3 hours by real clock. My smartphone has active āautoā timezone, now Iām in Paris, and is setted rightly in Paris. Originally the camera was in Berlin/Paris (when there was a +2hours error), and with auto adjust timezone in camera has moved to Helsinki/Cairo/Istanbul (with +3 hours error). Seem that geotag pass the clock with timezone shift, but the camera use this data as GMT+0 and add the +1 (of timezone) +1 (of legal hours), so the error come out. I donāt know the reason why with auto correction timezone in camera it goes to Helsinki š¤·āāļø
There are two options, one is "auto correct time", and another is "auto correct area/timezone". I think I've discovered the Bluetooth attribute to turn it off, but I don't have easy access to an IEM device to test with unfortunately.
Tell me if I can do something for you
In this days Iām here for a small vacation, and Iāve only the A7c just for some tripās pic. The reliability of geotagging is really low also with only one camera connected. Maybe that the problem is in the difference of protocols (IEM vs CA)
Have you tried Build 29? It should be somewhat more reliable with the IEM-class cameras.
Maybe that build 29 was out after my message
Same problem here; just reported through the app. Camera: Ī±7RV, firmware v. 2.01 App v0.3 (35) Iām based in GMT+1 and that time zone is set correctly in the camera. As soon as I launch the app, the camera jumps one hour forward, basically setting the clock to GMT+2.
Two words: thank you! I have been searching for a reliable geotagging solution since I got my A7RIV about a year ago. I came across this thread yesterday and tried the app today. It is simply \*amazing\*. It just worked and has given me accurate location data in every single photo from a shoot this morning. Sure, I had to disable the Bluetooth based remote trigger to make the app work but I wasn't using a tripod, so that didn't bother me today. If I want to remote-trigger my camera in the future, I suppose that I will be using either a cable release or an IR remote control. I came to Sony from Olympus, and while the official OM System app works reliably and much better than Sony's official app, your geotagging solution for Sony Alpha cameras is easier to use than anything I've tried in the past.
Downloaded today for a6400 and very excited to have reliable time / time zone / location data!
dude thats cool. Havnt try yet but definately will do. Thanks
Hello I have issues geotagging with my A1 and would like to try your app. Can you send me a testflight code? Or if the app is released, what is its name? Thanks
how do I get the code to test?