New Ricoh Pentax GPS Unit Makes Astrophotography Easier and More Accurate

Ricoh has announced the second-gen GPS unit for its DSLRs to provide reliable, high-precision positioning data and simplifies tracing for astrophotography

The Pentax O-GPS2 is described as a versatile GPS unit for use with Pentax DSLRs and is the successor to the O-GPS1.

This second-generation model promises to provide more reliable and higher precision positiong data gathered from the GPS in the United States, QZSS in Japan, GLONASS, and Galileo.

The O-GPS2 enables the Astrotracer feature, which couples the unit with the camera’s Shake Reduction system to allow it to trace and photograph celestial objects

Astrotracer is designed to allow photographers to shoot longer exposures of stars in sharp focus and without producing “trails.”

The new GPS unit calculates the movement of stars, planets, and other bodies using the latitude obtained from the location data and the camera’s alignment data obtained from its magnetic and acceleration sensors.

“The resulting images show stars and other bodies as solid points rather than blurry streaks, even during extended exposures,” Ricoh says

Ricoh says that photographers can suppress the “flow” of the landscape on the ground and shoot both the stars and the landscape together in what it describes as “a well-balanced manner.”

The O-GPS2 records latitude, longitude, altitude, universal time, and the direction of the shooting location and bakes that information into photos

The Pentax O-GPS2 will be available in late June for $180

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