Geotags in every ILX-LR1 photo, written automatically.
TAG-E is a camera controller and EXIF geotagger made for the Sony ILX-LR1. It connects with one USB-C cable (no WiFi, no extra modules), takes camera commands over MAVLink and writes position and attitude into every photo. There’s nothing to initialise and no log to match up afterwards.
Built around the ILX-LR1 and nothing else.
TAG-E’s firmware was written for the ILX-LR1 alone. Because it doesn’t have to cover other cameras, it can reach every exposure and focus control, every menu and button, and every geotag field the ILX-LR1 accepts.
Automatic EXIF geotagging
Latitude, longitude, altitude and camera angles go straight into the files on the camera's SD card, in JPG, ARW raw, or both. Nothing to initialise and no log-matching.
No capture slowdown
Trigger at the camera's maximum rate — geotagging never throttles your shot interval, so overlap stays tight on long mapping missions.
One USB-C cable
A single USB-C link handles control and geotagging (plus an optional trigger-detect wire). No WiFi, no expander boxes — less weight, fewer failure points.
Full camera control
Trigger, exposure and every camera button over USB — ISO, iris, shutter, exp. comp, exposure mode, AF, even MENU navigation and image playback, all from QGC or the Mission Planner plugin.
RTK positioning & precise timestamps
Geotag precise GPS/RTK position taken from MAVLink, EMLID ERB or NMEA input. A separate PPS input tightens time synchronisation, so each capture carries a highly precise timestamp.
Auto clock sync
TAG-E sets the camera's clock and time zone from the drone's GPS time, so photos carry the correct date and time even when the camera has been sitting in storage for months.
GPS delay and jitter correction with Timesync protocol v2.
TAG-E keeps its clock synchronised with the flight controller’s. When a gimbal or a MavPorter sits between them and adds delay and jitter to the position stream, TAG-E still matches each photo to where the drone was when the photo was taken, not to whichever position message happened to arrive last.
Direct georeferencing, straight out of the camera.
TAG-E reads position, attitude and time from the flight controller and writes them into each image, so photogrammetry software can use the files as they come off the card.
- ✓Standard: GPS/RTK position, altitude and camera attitude (Roll/Pitch/Yaw from frame + gimbal), written to EXIF & XMP of every photo.
- ✓Optional: GPS date & time, relative altitude, laser rangefinder distance, GPS & IMU accuracy (fix type, XY / Z accuracy), focal length & focal-plane resolution, separate frame & gimbal angle tags, and a custom flight label.
- ✓Precision workflows: lever-arm offset correction, and a PPK TXT file for post-processed positioning.
- ✓Video too: position, attitude and rangefinder data embedded as SRT subtitles alongside the recording.
EXIF written to every image
GPSLongitude : 14.428611 E
GPSAltitude : 118.4 m
CameraYaw : 271.6°
CameraPitch : -89.4° (nadir)
CameraRoll : 0.3°
SubjectDistance : 42.7 m (laser)
GPSDateStamp : 2026:07:21
GPSTimeStamp : 09:14:02 UTC
XMP:Label : Site-A / Line-3
Standard tags are written to every photo. Optional tags can be switched on per project or workflow. Attitude includes gimbal orientation when a gimbal is used.
Label every flight, right from your controller
Before take-off, type a job name (site, line, tower number, whatever you use) into the camera settings TAG-E adds to QGroundControl. You don’t need a config file, an SD card or a laptop for it. The label goes into every image from that flight, so the photos come back already sorted by job.
Fits the setup you already fly.
TAG-E sits between the flight controller and the camera you already have: USB-C to the camera, MAVLink to the autopilot.
Where the camera was, and which way it pointed.
The ILX-LR1 can be bolted to the frame or hung on a gimbal. Either way, TAG-E records the camera’s position and pointing angle in the EXIF of each photo on the card.
Bolted to the frame
Point the camera straight down for mapping or tilt it for oblique work. Enter the mount angle once and TAG-E writes the correct camera direction into every shot from then on.
Riding a gimbal
TAG-E reads the angles from a Gremsy, BaseCam or any MAVLink gimbal, so each shot records where the camera was actually pointing rather than where the airframe was.
Coordinates that point at the camera, not the antenna
The GPS antenna and the camera sit in different places on the airframe. TAG-E combines the flight controller’s IMU attitude (roll, pitch and yaw of the airframe) with the live gimbal angles to work out where the camera is relative to the antenna, and it redoes that calculation for every frame. The tagged position is the camera’s, not the antenna’s, even in a banked turn. You only measure and enter the offsets once.
This animation is a simplified demonstration. It shows only the antenna-to-camera lever arm. When the camera is on a gimbal, TAG-E also accounts for the gimbal’s own rotation, which is a second lever-arm calculation on top of this one.
The whole camera, from the ground.
The USB-C cable that carries the geotagging also controls the ILX-LR1. Exposure, focus, triggering and the camera menu are all reachable from your ground station.
Exposure, your way
Switch between automatic, manual and the modes in between. Set ISO, aperture and shutter one by one, or leave them to the camera.
Where it helps: lock manual exposure on a survey block so brightness matches from frame to frame and the orthomosaic comes out even. Switch back to auto for inspection flights where the light keeps changing.
Trigger it from your mission
Start stills or video from your flight plan or GCS. TAG-E takes the standard MAVLink camera commands (distance and interval triggers, photo and video start/stop) and passes them to the camera over USB-C.
DO_SET_CAM_TRIGG_DIST
DO_SET_CAM_TRIGG_INTERVAL
IMAGE_START_CAPTURE
IMAGE_STOP_CAPTURE
VIDEO_START_CAPTURE
VIDEO_STOP_CAPTURE
Every button, remotely
Open the MENU, move through it with the arrow keys, press Fn and play back images and clips, all from the ground. A setting buried deep in the menu can still be changed mid-flight.
And more
Format the SD card remotely, put each flight in its own folder automatically, and set the HDMI output resolution.
Control works on current Sony cameras too.
Camera control isn’t limited to the ILX-LR1. Triggering and exposure control also work on current Sony cameras, over the same USB link and with the same MAVLink commands.
EXIF & XMP geotagging works on the ILX-LR1 only.
Focus modes and focus point.
Pick continuous AF-C, single AF-S or manual focus to suit the job, and move the focus point where you need it.
- ✓Mapping: lock focus with AF-S, or set MF to infinity, so the lens doesn’t hunt between frames.
- ✓Inspection: AF-C keeps refocusing as the distance to the subject changes.
- ✓Point & area control: move the focus point left/right, or place it at a 0–100% position across the width and height of the frame.
- ✓Tap to focus: build it into your own app. Tap the live view and TAG-E focuses on that spot.
QGroundControl, Mission Planner and MavCam don’t offer tap-to-focus yet. TAG-E exposes it for integrators to add to their own application.
Video that knows where it’s looking.
When the ILX-LR1 records video, TAG-E writes a matching SRT subtitle track with position, altitude, camera attitude and laser distance. Scrub to any point in the clip and you can read where the camera was and where it was pointing.
Correct date & time, automatically.
TAG-E reads GPS time from the drone and sets the camera’s clock and time zone. You won’t be fixing timestamps after the battery has been out, and the clock doesn’t drift between flights.
Jobs TAG-E is suited to
Each card names the TAG-E feature that makes the job possible.
Crack & defect sizing on turbines & concrete
TAG-E writes the laser rangefinder distance into every shot, so software can turn pixels into millimetres. Measure crack widths, spalling and corrosion on wind-turbine blades, bridges, dams, chimneys and cooling towers without a physical scale bar in the frame.
Vertical & facade structure inspection
Fly oblique against buildings, towers and cell masts. Roll/Pitch/Yaw from the gimbal plus rangefinder distance mean every frame records its viewing angle and range, so a finding can be traced back to a spot on the structure.
Per-asset tagging for inspection databases
Write a custom label (tower ID, line, span, pole number) into the metadata of every image as you fly. Photos arrive sorted and traceable, ready to import into an asset-management system without renaming.
Precision survey & stockpile volumetrics
With RTK positioning and lever-arm correction, TAG-E writes centimetre-level positions into the images and produces a PPK TXT file. You still fly ground control; the tags give the processing software an accurate starting point. Suits cadastral survey, stockpile volumes in mining and aggregates, and earthworks.
Emergency mapping without a geotagging step
There’s no log to match and nothing to initialise, so one operator can land and hand over images that are already geotagged. That saves time on search & rescue, disaster assessment and other time-critical BVLOS jobs.
Geotagged video inspection & reporting
TAG-E generates SRT subtitles carrying position, attitude and laser distance alongside recorded video. Reviewers can see where the drone was when a defect shows up in the footage, and put that location in the report.
Repeat & time-series monitoring
Label each campaign and compare flights over time: construction progress, coastal erosion, subsidence, tailings dams, crop cycles. Every image is already positioned and dated from GPS, with the same metadata layout each time.
Survey-grade photogrammetry payload
Fly corridors and large blocks with the 61 MP ILX-LR1 and land with position and attitude already in EXIF & XMP. Pix4D and Metashape read the tags on import, which gives the alignment a head start.
Drop-in module & easy ENTIRE upgrade
At 27×46×9 mm with a single USB-C link and no WiFi to certify, TAG-E is easy to design into a production airframe. It works with MavCam and accepts ENTIRE R3 commands, so moving an existing ENTIRE fleet over to TAG-E needs few changes on the ground side.
Add the ILX-LR1 to your own ArduPilot / PX4 rig
On your own drone: wire one cable, load the plugin, and you have geotagging and camera control, remote MENU navigation included. No companion computer or scripting needed.
Production lines and one-off builds.
Drone manufacturers
A small module to design into a production payload. Because it uses standard MAVLink, your customers control the camera from QGroundControl or Mission Planner, which they already know. Wiring is simple, there’s no WiFi to certify, and every unit writes the same EXIF layout.
Custom & DIY builders
The same geotagging OEMs ship, on a self-built ArduPilot or PX4 drone, with no companion computer or custom code. Connect one cable, install the plugin, and the photos come off the card geotagged.
Which AirPixel geotagger fits your build?
For the ILX-LR1, TAG-E is the simpler option. ENTIRE drives many camera brands, and covering all of them means it doesn’t support every ILX-LR1 feature that TAG-E does. The table shows where they differ.
| Feature | TAG-E | ENTIRE R3 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera support | Purpose-built for Sony ILX-LR1 | Universal: Sony, PhaseOne Industrial, Workswell Wiris & more |
| Connection | Single USB-C, no WiFi | USB for geotagging + WiFi (or wired expander) |
| Setup complexity | Minimal, a few options | More configuration (universal by design) |
| Geotagging accuracy | Same high accuracy | Same high accuracy |
| EXIF & XMP geotagging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lever-arm offset calculation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rangefinder geotagging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom flight label | ✓ | ✗ |
| Movie SRT video geotagging | ✓ | ✗ |
| PPS GPS time synchronisation | ✓ | ✗ |
| PPK TXT output | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automatic camera clock from GPS | ✓ | ✗ |
| Camera control protocol v2 | ✓ | ✗ |
| Full MAVLink parameter config | ✓ | ✗ |
| Remote SD-card format | ✓ | ✗ |
| SBUS / Jeti / PWM / Link control input | ✗ | ✓ |
| Best fit | Standardising on the ILX-LR1 | Mixed fleets & other camera brands |
Not sure which fits your airframe? The AirPixel team can advise based on your camera and flight controller.
Specifications & compatibility
Control & integration
- ✓QGroundControl auto-detected exposure, trigger & timelapse controls (Android / PC / Mac)
- ✓Mission Planner camera & geotagging plugin
- ✓MAVLink Camera Protocol v2 · MavCam & ENTIRE R3 command compatible
- ✓ArduPilot & PX4 flight stacks
Geotagging & data
- ✓Automatic EXIF & XMP: position, altitude, camera Roll/Pitch/Yaw
- ✓GPS/RTK input via MAVLink, EMLID ERB or NMEA · PPS timestamp precision
- ✓Optional: GPS time, rangefinder, GPS/IMU accuracy, custom label · lever-arm correction · PPK TXT output
- ✓Video geotagging via SRT subtitles
Geotagging and control for your ILX-LR1.
TAG-E costs €299. If you’re integrating it into a drone platform, talk to us first. It works with MavCam, so moving over from ENTIRE R3 is straightforward.