Drone Data
EXIF Viewer
View camera, exposure and GPS metadata from a photo — processed locally in your browser.
Planning aid only — not certified flight-planning software or airspace clearance. Always verify results against your own aircraft's manual and check current regulations before flying. Full disclaimer.
What you can check with it
Every photo a drone takes carries a block of metadata (EXIF) written by the camera at the moment of capture. The viewer reads it from the file in your browser and shows:
- Camera and lens: make, model and lens description.
- Capture time: when the photo was taken.
- Exposure: shutter speed, aperture (f-number), ISO and focal length.
- Location: latitude, longitude and GPS altitude, if the photo was geotagged.
- Image size in pixels.
Nothing is uploaded. The file is read by a script running on your own device, so you can check photos from client sites or private locations without sending them anywhere.
Useful checks for drone pilots
Before processing a mapping job. Photogrammetry software needs geotags to place images quickly and to scale the model. Open a few photos from the start, middle and end of the mission. If the location is missing, check that geotagging was enabled in your camera settings before you spend hours processing.
When a set of photos looks soft. Check the shutter speed. At mapping speeds, anything slower than about 1/500 s can blur by more than a pixel at low height. The Photo Interval Calculator tells you how much the drone moved during the exposure for your speed and height.
When filling in a GSD or FOV calculation. EXIF gives the lens's real focal length, such as 6.7 mm or 12.3 mm, not the 24 mm "equivalent" in the marketing. The real value, together with the sensor size, is what the GSD Calculator and FOV Calculator need.
Before sharing a photo publicly. A geotagged photo taken from your garden reveals where you live. Check the location before posting, and remove it with your photo editor or phone's share settings if you don't want it published.
Reading the numbers correctly
GPS altitude is not your flying height. The altitude in standard EXIF is normally height above sea level, estimated by the drone. It is not the height above takeoff you saw on your controller, and it can be off by tens of metres. Many drones, including DJI models, store the height relative to takeoff, gimbal angle and heading in a separate XMP metadata block, which this viewer does not display.
Capture time has no time zone. EXIF time is the camera clock's local time, and the drone usually sets its clock from the phone or controller it was paired with. If you travelled or the clock was never synced, the time may be hours off.
Coordinates are the drone's position, not the subject's. They mark where the drone was when the photo was taken. For an oblique shot of a building 200 m away, the point on the map is 200 m from the building.
Why a photo might show little or nothing
- It has been through a messaging app or social network. Most of them remove metadata, especially location, when a photo is sent or uploaded. Use the original file from the drone's card or your editing software.
- It is a screenshot, PNG or HEIC file. Screenshots and PNGs usually have no camera EXIF. The viewer reads JPEG and TIFF files.
- Geotagging was switched off in the drone or phone app when the photo was taken.
- It is a video frame. Frames exported from video don't carry per-photo EXIF.
For RAW files (DNG), open the JPEG saved alongside it, or export a JPEG from your editor with metadata included.