If you want a hassle free way of geotagging your photos, plugging in a GPS
module into your camera is the best way to go. Coordinates are stored in the
photo's meta information as soon as you take it, no additional post-processing
required. However, Nikon's original GPS module, the GP1, is quite expensive with
a price tag of about 260$. That's why I've decided to build a low-cost DIY
version which performs exactly the same but uses much cheaper components. The
full building instructions including schematics and PCB layout for the DIY
module can be found in my nikon-gp1-diy repository on
GitHub. The assembled module is
extremely small and fits perfectly onto the camera body thanks to a hot-shoe
mount. Just plug it in, wait for a GPS fix and start shooting photos, it
couldn't be easier than that! The total cost for the DIY module is roughly 40$,
much cheaper than any commercially available alternative that I'm aware of.
During this summer, I have improved the firmware of my GPS-Logger more than ever. Most important, the firmware as well as the RawRead-tool is now completely available on GitHub. By that, everyone can participate in making them even better. Here's what I have changed during the past weeks.
During a moment of boredom I decided to build an IR remote for my Nikon camera. Turned out it is a very simple and cheap project, perfect for a day with nothing else to do. The remote operates easily on distances of about 15 - 20 meters. It may be even more, but I haven't tested it yet.
Basically the remote contains a microcontroller which is powered by pressing the button. The controller then toggles an infrared LED at a frequency of about 38kHz and by that transmits the correct pattern to the camera. The remote is equivalent to Nikon's ML-L3 remote and works with a wide range of their cameras.
The self-adjusting solar cell is a device that follows the sun automatically. By that it is able to gain a high amount of energy throughout the day. With this construction I have won the first prize in the "Stawag Solarfreaks" competiton 2008.
My first complex project in the field of micro-controller and electornics was the construction of a GPS logging device. I started the project in 2008 on occasion of a competition on mikrocontroller.net (embdev.net). The device is capable of storing a path that you drive or walk onto a SD memory card. By that, you can easily view the path on you personal computer afterwards.
News: I'm really glad to announce that my article on how to build the device has been published in the 9th issue of the embedded projects journal.
