Light meter app

john t

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Hi Guys
I'm just starting out on portrait/studio photography, so don't have experience of light metering.
Has anyone tried the light meter apps. Will it do a reasonable job
 
I don't think any of them are suitable for flash. So not really suitable for studio.
 
Tried, tested, they failed.

Seconic 308's go for less than £80 and will give you the correct exposure that you want. Although the apps are not too bad for natural light, they still result in 1/3rd of a stop out so that could completely ruin the shot all for the sake of relying on the camera of a phone, plus as Phil has already mentioned, I've yet to see an app that does flash metering (unless it records until you fire a test shot and records the spike in light) but why go to all that bother?

There's currently 2 professional versions for the iPhone but for the price of those you may aswell buy a genuine unit!
 
I tried one for iphone, not happy with it, so deleted it. Saving for a meter.
 
Guys
Thanks for the feedback. I'll take your advice and get a proper metre.
 
They don't work with flash, but tbh.... They're actually surprisingly accurate! Which pains me to say....


Know a snapper who'd meter for his 5x4s with it....
 
They don't work with flash, but tbh.... They're actually surprisingly accurate! Which pains me to say....


Know a snapper who'd meter for his 5x4s with it....

Tis true, if I forget my spot meter I use an iphone app with my 5x4, medium format and 35mm cameras that don't have an inbuilt meter. I've compared it with my spot meter and my old D700 and the iphone app compares very well.
 
same
I tried a few out, ditched them a bought a 2nd hand (probs 3rd hand) meter from here
tbh a lot of people don't use them anymore

I went to one studio and used it and the local old-pro was over joyed that I was actually using one
another not quite so old pro, doesn't even bother with them anymore...although his use of lighting (i think) is really creative anyway and doesn't follow any 'rules' anyway!
 
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I use an app quite a lot. Often I'll arrive early for a shoot and just like to get a general idea of the light without getting the camera out. I also do the same with my light meter once the session gets going, but the phone is unobtrusive and I don't have to flash my kit.

Or I'll play with calculating exposure whilst commuting. Natural light of course, but still valid if you want a base exposure for manual or fill flash :)
 
I find the app 'Long Exposure Toolkit' very useful. Its lightmeter (spot meter) is very accurate. it also has a very handy ND calculator.

No good for the studio though !!
 
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