Or where in the world did I take that photo ?

I’ve see a couple of gadgets at the show for tagging your images with the location from a GPS.
One that I understand, and one that I don’t.

JOBO Photo GPS
The simple one, I understand.

Designed to fit into the hot shoe on your camera, it uses the shutter release signal on the hot shoe centre pin to trigger the storing of the GPS Location then your photo is taken.
Then later you download your photos and the information from the Photo GPS to the same folder, then run an application that tags the images with the location. Here’s the clever part - it also uses an online database of cities, streets, points of interest and adds that into your image metadata, if you shoot RAW it creates XML files for each image.

ATP GPS Photo Finder
The simplest to use.

Designed to carry around with you and not connected to the camera. Put in an SD card and it tags the images.
It can’t use the shutter release, so how does it match up the GPS location to your images?
You set the UTC time from the GPS system into your camera, and then it uses the image timestamp to compare to the GPS location at that time. Simple, but it needs some clever software in the Photo Finder to cope with differences in time between your camera and the GPS.
The smart part is how simple it is, put the SD card into the slot in the Photo Finder and all the JPG files are automatically updated with a geotag compatible with Picasa 2 and Google Earth.

So to me the difference seems to be easy to understand vs easy to use. I understand the Photo GPS, it’s driven straight from the camera; takes more work in tagging the images, but I understand each step. The Photo Finder is really simple to use, put in the SD card and it all happens automatically; it might as well use magic.

But what they do is different, remember the Photo GPS puts in keywords for city, street, point of interest as well as the actual location. How they work is different too, the Photo GPS requires a hot shoe on the camera but the Photo Finder just needs a SD card. So two different products, for different kinds of camera, with different features.

Beats taking notes of which bend on the Grand Canyon south rim I was standing at when I took each picture; writing down the image number off the camera screen in a notebook, along with the lookout point I was standing at, this technology makes notebook and pen seem so old fashioned.
Also see Sony GPS >

Las Vegas Convantion Center, 10:30 am

The show opens, and the coverage begins.
After a day of travelling from the UK, with a delayed flight meaning I missed the sneak peek yesterday, for me it’s almost a relief to start walking the halls. Although the doors are open, the eager crowd is held back behind the barriers until the official opening time. I’ll be reporting back later on what I’ve found in the first day.

2008 PMA Tradeshow Gallery>

2008 opening day video

I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday for two pre-PMA press events. I attended the PMA Sneak Peek and the DigitalFocus press product intros and got to see new cameras from Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Canon, Panasonic, Kodak, and Fujifilm, as well as software, camera cases, and more. The actual PMA tradeshow opens this morning at 10:30 AM, Pacific Standard Time. But I did take a lot of photos yesterday and have had some time to set up and post a few. To check for new photos and videos, check the links to the right. In the meantime, here’s a link to the photos I have posted so far:

2008 PMA Tradeshow Gallery >>

A quick fast forward of last year’s (2007) opening day at PMA.

2008 PMA Tradeshow

January 31 to February 2 - Las Vegas

The annual Photo Marketing Association tradeshow took place on Thursday, January 31st through Saturday, February 2nd. PMA is the biggest camera and photography tradeshow in North America and takes place every spring. In 2007 there were nearly 700 exhibitors and over 20,000 attendees. It was in Las Vegas again this year so camera company execs, PR and marketing folks, as well as camera shop owners and employees had an excuse to get out of the office and party in Vegas for a few days.

Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Sony, and Samsung introduced new digital SLR cameras at PMA this year. There were also new compact digital cameras, photo printers, camera bags, lenses, and even film-related photo gear to see! Scroll down for our exclusive photos, videos, and articles on new cameras, accessories and photo trends for 2008.

More Related Content:
Camera & Photography News
2007 PMA Coverage
Official PMA Web Site