I was very curious about the ability of the new Z system to use GPS recording. Medium-high end Nikons, with very few exceptions, have catered for this feature since the early 2000's. Being a botanist the capability to record geo-coordinates automatically and embedded in the file eXIF has been indispensable and all my Nikons (plus the Fuji S5Pro) have GPS devices attached to them. However, at the European Z launch in London, UK earlier this year, none of the Nikon reps apparently were aware of any such feature. I examined the ports of the Z cameras and found the similar USB port as on my Df. After pestering higher-ranked reps afterwards I received an evasive statement to the effect, 'yes, we believe Z7 supports GPS" (but we don't know)'.
Later, at Photokina in September this year I spoke to Mr. Oliver Perialis, the CEO of Foolography, a Berlin-based company specialising in GPS devices for Nikons (and, more recently, Canon), and he told me they had tried their device briefly on a Z camera and it worked. Great news. I immediately ordered a module for my pre-ordered Z6/Z7.
Reading through the entire Reference manual (pdf downloaded from Nikon), I think now I understand why Nikon has been so evasive. Their camera indeed has GPS support, as always, but their own GPS module has been discontinued!
Under Technical Notes in the Reference Manual p. 412, I found the following
When connected to the camera
accessory terminal, existing GP-1/GP-1A units can be
used to record the current latitude, longitude, altitude,
and UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) with pictures
taken with the camera. Note that production of GP-1/
GP-1A units has ended
How very Nikonesque.
For the record: the Foolography module (Dx000'09) plugged directly into the USB port of my Z7 and delivered GPS data to the EXIF seamlessly. No need for any special configuration.
