My ASEAN Free GPS Map Project

Hi

Just bought my new Samsung ST1000 GPS camera.

Drove to KL today just to play around with it to see what is good about it.... Took some pictures of sign boards to test out if it can:

Take a nice picture of the road sign
Record the GPS coordinates correctly
And how good is the picture.

Had to drive and take pictures with the Samsung and frankly, the big touch screen thingee is too small for my hands because I have to hold it and it is very easy to accidentally touch an icon on the screen. The grip is not good for taking pictures while driving. By the time I reached the Sg Besi toll, the camera hanged, could not switch it off so had to remove the battery to get it to start up again. From switching on the camera, the GPS logging on to the satellites was slow in comparison to the NUVI 265TW but since I moved position, I think from start-up, a log on time of 30 secs to 2 mins is quite possible (but to me very - slow lah!)

If there are a lot of pictures to take for submission to JV mappers, then a sort of tripod is a must! And unfortunately, the cameras nowadays do not have a screw on socket for a shutter cable..... The battery at full charge lasted about 1-1/2 hours - had to leave the camera on all the time or else you have to wait for the GPS a long time to log on again!

Here are some pictures edited on Picasa which can show the Google map on the right and properties with the coordinates listed on the left of the picture....

Have fun!

Some more...

How long does it take to aquired sat signals when power on ?

Thanks

michaeleu wrote:How long does it take to aquired sat signals when power on ?

Already mentioned above in his first post.

Hi

After having the Samsung ST1000 for a few months with the main intent of using the camera with emphasize on the GPS feature, it has disappointed me in few aspects:

1. The log on time - As we are moving on to new positions very regularly taking pictures on the move in a car, the best is to leave the camera with the GPS on all the time. Log on times has been as much as 1-5 minutes (at times more depending on the cloud/building presence). If one were to switch off the camera and switch it on every time a picture is desired, then it can be a very frustrating wait and a lot of missed pictures!

The disadvantage of having it on all the time is that the battery goes off rather quite quickly (about 1.5 hours, liao liao) so may have to have it connected to the car cigar lighter. If you are stationary, the GPS will take about 30 secs to a minute to log on from switch on after the previous shot in the same area.

There is no options given in the GPS section e.g. the co-ordinates are fixed at Deg, min, secs - if you are used to deg, xx.xxx min in decimals, sorry lah, you have to get it converted one-by-one yourself!

2. The picture clarity is not of very a high standard. If you are looking at taking very high quality photos, forget it. For a camera with 12 Mega pixel capability, my old Nikon 880 (3.3 mega pixels) and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7 (5 mega pixels) take much better pictures! But if you are only looking at only taking tourist picture quality as what I have shown in my previous posts and this post, it is OK.... (Notice the lack of clearness of the road signs in the previous pictures?)

Overall, I gather the GPS has been added in as a gimmick feature in the ST1000 and not as a serious GPS/Camera for GPS freaks like you and me - a better signal receiver is required to improve the log-on-to-satellite times. But if you are looking at taking road signs to contribute to MFM to create Junction views, or to play-play with geotagging, boleh lah... (That's because you do not have much choice else - I am told the Ricoh and Nikon P6000 with GPS have been discontinued).

Here are some pictures

....and more...

I was contemplating of getting this camera,, due to its GPS features,, however with much debate with a member here also same as my superbike club I decided to scrap the idea. I see his point.

1. For the same price you could get Canon G11 which is far more superior in picture quality and controls.
2. A cheap GPS data logger or a Hacked Nuvi and Geosetter or Photo Tagger program will do same job.
3. This camera small lens will reduce details of captured image.

With all the above I feel my current Canon Ixus V3 can do a better job,, so I differ in buying a new camera but decided to upgrade my Ixus to max CF supportable which is 1 GB and wait for a better Canon camera then a G11, I am not into SLR they are too bulky for my liking.

This is my opinion on ST1000,, thank god I see the light..

NoX