GPS tracking in cameras.

[Björn Benckert]

I`d say zero manufacturers doing it is an argument. Imagine how small the demand is - YOU may want it, but if nobody is supplying it, it means the demand is not there OR the tech is not there. And I have two tile "pro" and a GPS vehicle tracker, I wouldn`t use them to secure anything I care about. GPS, unreliable. Easily blocked. Tile pro is a toy. Would not secure anything of value with it.

Insurance is the ONLY real protection.

The car thing is correct - almost zero manufacturers bother to add it. Cars cost the same as monstros, AND many many times more. Yes, exotics. Lambos dont come with gps. I fitted a gps tracker to mine. Good model but unreliable. Good for entertainment/journey logging ONLY. If my car was stolen I would NOT high five the cop and tell them I have GPS installed. Do not rely on it. If you want reliable you pay big bucks, and reliability is not small in size/will not fit cameras.

If you want false peace of mind, use tile or something similar. GPS will also offer that fabulous false sense of security too. I guess that is part of the problem, do manufactures want to deal with THAT type of problem? My camera is stolen, but your tracking tech failed. Imagine the complaints!

Hmm, A few things. If car manufacturers added tracking as a standard the thives would know how to remove it. So not so usefull.

But there is a whole industry revolving gps alarm / tracking and you can easily retrofit an old iphone to do the job. Thats what lot of the firms does, they fit an old used iphone behind the dashboard feed it with power and a prepaid card that last 5 years or so. That is reliable / car will be found if stolen. You just need to talk to nearest custom shop and they will likly tell you they done a few.

 

[Nick Gardner]

99.5% of stolen cameras are stolen because somebody did something stupid. Rented to unknown person without vetting, left it in a car, left it in an unsecure location overnight etc.

The .5% of people who are stealing cameras know what they are, where to sell them, and are almost certainly taking them out of the country. All it takes to defeat a gps tracker is a faraday cage.

Just not worth it in my opinion.

Nick

 

[Björn Benckert]

99.5% of stolen cameras are stolen because somebody did something stupid. Rented to unknown person without vetting, left it in a car, left it in an unsecure location overnight etc.

The .5% of people who are stealing cameras know what they are, where to sell them, and are almost certainly taking them out of the country. All it takes to defeat a gps tracker is a faraday cage.

Just not worth it in my opinion.

Nick

Im sure more rental houses then you think actually use trackers in the foam of cases etc.

Around here we seen quite elaborate thieves get in trough vent systems and concrete walls, sort of mission impossible style. Police do nothing and insurance take time, private investigators gets hired. Then trackers goes a long way, and again an old iPhone is possibly the best device you can get and it does not cost much and is easily hidden. Put it inside you V - lock charger or where ever and when its needed with power it can ping home.

 

[DC Chavez]

Before we get crazy with adding GPS, lets work on getting our internal camera battery to function properly... It kills me that it dies and needs to be on with AC power for 35 hours to "recharge" battery to hold clock between power downs.. LOL

 

[Donald MJ Anderson]

Before we get crazy with adding GPS, lets work on getting our internal camera battery to function properly... It kills me that it dies and needs to be on with AC power for 35 hours to "recharge" battery to hold clock between power downs.. LOL

Exactly.

Realistic priorities.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

(and by that accepting other's problems as their own, problems which involve criminal matters and back and forth legal issues)

That's not an argument. It's just a possibility, one which you could ascribe to any product ever made.

Thats what lot of the firms does, they fit an old used iphone behind the dashboard feed it with power and a prepaid card that last 5 years or so.

Good thinking. Makes sense to me.

Before we get crazy with adding GPS, lets work on getting our internal camera battery to function properly... It kills me that it dies and needs to be on with AC power for 35 hours to "recharge" battery to hold clock between power downs.. LOL

I think you have a point there. ;-)

 

[Jason beaumont]

Whats sad is I just got a job for a feature film, and the director left his sony in the car after a shoot. He didn't even go inside a building, he bought food from an outdoor food spot, his car was still in eyesight and they drove up smashed his windows grabbed his stuff and drove off before he could really do anything. They followed him from the location he was shooting at.


GPS definitely can help recover your equipment, and for those who say "insurance" you sound stupid. You will go months without equipment waiting on insurance to reimburse you while they try and find reasons to NOT reimburse you. Not to mention they only give you the USED value of your equipment, not the actual value.


The only thing I agree with is there doesn't seem to be enough demand for them to care enough to do it, believe me, if it was a selling point to buyers , they would have this technology implemented in no time. GPS is not a sophisticated device, they have gps in tons of things. A single double A battery can power my GPS for a month. It doesn't need to send signal every 5 seconds, it can send it once an hour, and you can update it to real time in the event of a theft.
Ive used a 3rd party gps for $30/ month since I got my camera, I just always wondered why one isn't built it.

 

[Scott Welsch]

That is a splendid idea and the people who are actually engineering these cameras really should be thinking about these problems. No, there are no guarantees, but even an improvement of 10% on recovery is better than nothing.

I remember once I suggested that cameras should have encrypted image output that the owner can decrypt later. I posted this idea on a photographic forum and, typically, the idea was rejected because you could just claim insurance. Which misses the point, of course. I don't want thieves taking my stuff and keeping it.

Like drm per user?

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Like drm per user?

Something like that, yes.

Also, note that dashcams like this one have built-in GPS:

https://www.navman.com.au/products/dashcams/mivue745

It's almost like... like... GPS can be fitted into small devices.