I am currently testing an iPhone App that automatically provides GPS coordinates to Sony cameras once they have been paired with the App and as long as the app is left running in the background on the iPhone. Cameras obviously must have bluetooth turned on.
Once paired with the app the camera will automatically reconnect when it is turned on and be send the current gps coordinates. You can see this on the back screen which will show a little GPS icon. The camera expects to get a value very minute and if it fails to receive a value the icon will show a circle with a line through it indicating that no location data has been obtained.
The app will update the coordinates when it detects movement of more than 25 meters from the last position.
If anyone is interested trying it out see the link below - it is on the App Store in TestFlight so I can provide a link for you to install and test. I have done limited testing with my A1ii and A9iii and have someone who should be able to test with an A1 and A7r5 shortly.
Sony doesn't seem to publish their camera bluetooth protocol so there is no guarantee a future camera firmware update won't break it. I have a request pending with them to see if they will provide official support for these APIs - so we will see what they say. Their current SDK doesn't include any of their bluetooth protocols unfortunately and their Creative cloud app doesn't support connection to multiple cameras at the same time nor does it work quietly in the background.
I am still waiting for a few approvals from Apple to be able to use the user-assigned iPhone names when pairing. You have to prove you are not using this information for nefarious purposes! Once this is approved your phones name will show in the camera, rather than just a generic 'iPhone' name. Might be useful if you have more than one user of your camera.
So far it's taken a couple of hours to put together a working app - a bit rough around the edges still but I will be testing it over the next few days to make sure it works reliably. I am hoping that as long as I have the phone in my pocket or bag nearby the cameras will automatically get updated gps coordinates with no further input from myself.
Here is a public link to App Store TestFlight if you would like to test it. Let me know if it doesn't work with your particular model - I have not idea which ones support this but if it works with Sony's Creators App it should work but their do appear to be some variations in the bluetooth protocol. Currently the app supports only one of them.
EDIT: forgot to mention this link won't be active until Apple approve the test build.
Nice to see your creative efforts, as options are always good to have. I've been using Geotag Alpha since it was released over a year ago with all my Sony cameras and it has performed perfectly - connects automatically and I don't even need to think about it.
If I recall correctly, you needed to upgrade to the paid Pro license of Geotag Alpha if you wanted support for multiple cameras.
swldstn wrote:
Maybe I’m missing something since I have Geotag Alpha but never really used it. Doesn’t seem like it cost me any money. What am I missing?
InFocus2014 wrote:
Nice to see your creative efforts, as options are always good to have. I've been using Geotag Alpha since it was released over a year ago with all my Sony cameras and it has performed perfectly - connects automatically and I don't even need to think about it.
Do you need to keep it running in the background? I’m still using imaging edge, haven’t had a need to update the firmware in my a7Rv that would break this.
Yes you need to keep the app running in the background so that it can automatically connect to the camera when the camera is turned on.
I don't think it should affect your existing Imaging Edge connection - you won't be able to run Imaging Edge at the same time as Alpha GPS. If you camera is already paired via bluetooth you probably don't need to pair it again - but that is an automatic prompt managed by iOS not by the app.
Looks like my friends at Apple have just approved the App despite some queries about intellectual property - referring to Sony authorisation to use the API.
Sony of course won't commit to publishing the bluetooth protocol or updating their own app.
In any event the next version 1.1 which has yet to be approved will automatically update the cameras time, timezone and daylight saving setting to match those on you iPhone.
I discovered during testing that my cameras were still running on Sri Lankan time !!
