Geotagging: Finally!

It's about time! Finally one of the major camera manufacturers is making available a mainstream camera with built-in GPSR for Geotagging! About six hours ago Nikon announced the P6000 – a point and shoot style camera with many advanced features including:

• 13.5MP sensor
  
• RAW files
  
• Optical Image Stabilization
• Program, Aperture, Shutter, and Manual Exposure Modes
• Hot shoe for external speedlight (flash)
• Wired ethernet connection
• GPSR for Geotagging

all for a suggested retail price of about $500USD. Not bad at all, especially when you consider that the new Garmin GPSRs cost about that. While I'm very happy to see the functions for the more experienced photographer, that internal geotagging is the long-awaited function making the camera appealing. No external GPS connected to the camera (as I've done with my D2X, D200, and D300), and no external logging device which requires the camera date to match, then to run all the photos through software to match the location based on the time. It's about time!

I won't be running out to buy one just yet though. Though I think this might be a compact camera I could use thanks to the advanced exposure controls, the small, low sensitivity CCD is worrisome. At 64 ISO base, that means you'll need bright conditions to take ambient light photos, even with the stabilization built into the unit. And with the sensor being only 1/1.7 inch, cranking the sensitivity up toward its maximum 6400 ISO will certainly degrade the image quality. We'll have to see how the images look from the P6000 at 100 or 200 ISO before I place my order, and I will be keeping my eye on this one.

Images courtesy of Nikon, Inc.