I am using the AMOD AGL3080 and the one question that I could not find an answer for was how do I sync the my camera time to the geo logger’s time. I thought it would be a good idea to shed come light on this subject since I am sure it is a question that comes up with just about any GPS data logger.

GPS data loggers generally have no screen that shows any information. They generally just have lights to let you know if the device has a GPS fix and if the unit is powered on. All GPS units get their time from satellites. So you can’t set the time on the geo logger. You have to set the time on your camera to the geo logger’s time. You can’t see what the time is on the data logger, no screen, so how do you know what time to sync you camera with?

The answer is simple really. You need to use a time that is as accurate as possible and set your camera to that. Using the time on your car radio, your microwave, or you computer is not the best option. My wife still sets her car radio time 15 minutes fast so she is not late.

GPS time is ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by 14 seconds. GPS time has no time zones and is a fixed world-wide time. But with most cameras they don’t get that accurate to worry about the 14 seconds. I am not sure but I think the 14 second difference has to do with GPS time not recognizing leap time.

The best option you can use to set your camera time accurately will be http://www.time.gov/ or http://time5.nrc.ca/webclock_e.shtml. Both of those websites are JAVA based and show the time as accurately as you can hope for. But what if you are out in the field and your camera needs to have the time again again? I can’t jump on my iPhone and fire up either of these websites because there is no JAVA support on the iPhone. Other smart phones might have the same issue. There is an alternative at http://time5.nrc.ca/webclock_static_e.shtml. This shows the static time that should be all you to see the time fairly accurate.

So there you have it. No need to sync your camera to the data logger. Just sync your camera to the most accurate time you can find and you will do just fine. If your data logger has the ability to drop markers a good idea is to drop your marker right when you take your first photo. Use that marker as a reference point to check if you are off on your time when you get back to your computer and start processing your images. Almost all the geo tagging software out there allows you to offset the timestamps when you tag your photos against the track your data logger collected.

I hope this saves someone a few head scratches when they try sync their data logger with their camera.

Tags: data, gps, logger, satellite, time, tracks

This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.