Light meter application on your iPhone?

[tj01]

I have been using Lightroom since it came out, and it's quite accurate relative to my trusty M6, however it bottoms out at EV+3, so for indoor/night shots, use extra common sense. It's a nice App, but I wished it was together with the Field Tool app by the same company because of those hyperfocal values. I recommend both

 

[BigLebowski]

Have you seen Colorbug?

ColorBUG is an ingenious, handheld wireless sensor that measures CIE color values and illuminance for use in a wide variety of applications. In concert with free software downloaded from the iTunes App Store, it allows users to wirelessly share data with their iPhone or iPod touch, making color analysis simple and convenient. Smaller than a typical mobile phone, colorBUG is completely portable and features a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, 802.11g wireless connectivity and a sleek, rugged design. The colorBUG can be mounted on walls and other fixtures to assist in taking measurements remotely or hands-free.

 

[MUEvans]

iPhone as Light Meter

iPhone as Light Meter

I have started to use my iPhone to snap a picture to see how the generic exposure meter records the scene. Then I know what kind of exposure compensation, if any, to set on my xPan.

Mike Evans

 

[dng88]

Have you seen Colorbug?

But it costs $950?!!!

Also it is incidence not very typical for us I think

 

[TWoK]

There are already several light meter apps for the iPhone. I haven't looked at the SDK, but I think they all are solving the right issue the wrong way. You need to use the iPhone's built in light sensor, not it's camera. I also have no idea how sensitive the sensor is, but it will lighten and darken the screen based off of the abmient light.

 

[maggieo]

I use the Light Meter app on my 3Gs iPhone and it works very well and is quite accurate.

 

[kshapero]

I would get that M3 I am lusting.

 

[Finder]

There is one problem with the idea--who would want to go shooting with the phone on?

 

[maggieo]

There is one problem with the idea--who would want to go shooting with the phone on?

Me. Actually, I would imagine anyone who reports to an editor or art director would be fine with it, too.

 

[Finder]

Me. Actually, I would imagine anyone who reports to an editor or art director would be fine with it, too.

But then I would not be trusting my exposures to an iPhone.

 

[maggieo]

But then I would not be trusting my exposures to an iPhone.

Why not? The app, if used properly, works quite well. Have you used it?

 

[denmark.yuzon]

I tried the app. It works well. well, I tested it indoors, under restaurant lighting, which is around 1/15th - 1/30th (depends on how strong the light) at f/1.8 with 400 ISO film, i mean that's me. and then I used the app and it gave me the same setting.

I havent tried it outdoors, Im always working, maybe in the weekend Ill try it.

I got it for $2.99.

 

[Hamel]

I've been using it as well. It gives a pretty close exposure to what my 5D was reading. I used it outside and it was just faster than the sunny 16, which when shot with the 5D it came out accurate. For work with black and white it seems to be close enough that it won't make a noticeable difference, especially if you wet print and can do minor adjustments there.

I have a friend that relies on it solely for indoor photos with his Mamiya and his photos turn out fine. Overall it is a bargain at $2.99, especially if you are a broke college student like me who cannot afford a real meter.

 

[maggieo]

It works as well as my Gossen Lunasix 3 or any of my metered camera's.

 

[ryan26]

works fine... use it with half a brain and it works even better. Nice to have when the light gets beautifully ragged at the end of the day and sunny 16 gets tricky.

 

[TheHub]

I just DLed LightMeter and will try it out. I could have used it yesterday when I was out shooting at a botanical garden - shooting macro, inside with ISO 100 film was difficult and some of my photos were overexposed 🙁

 

[jan normandale]

this may have already been posted in the preceeding four pages but can't an iPhone show the ISO, f stop, and speed for the exposure. If it can it seems there's already a function present to give a photographer his 'metered' information on the shot using the iPhone first.

Interpolation or changing EV's can be done using a calculator function or in your head.

 

[smillie]

can't an iPhone show the ISO, f stop, and speed for the exposure

Nope. Doesn't show it. There's also no way for an application to access it directly from the camera.

The existing lightmeter apps I've tried seem to do the same thing: the 3GS embeds EXIF data, so they have the user take a photo, then they access it & check that data. The original and 3G don't embed the right EXIF (all the 3G says is "f/2.8").

iOS4 does apparently offer some better direct access to the camera for application developers, but I haven't looked at the SDK yet, so who knows if aperture/shutter/ISO is going to be part of that.

 

[soelin]

How to look at iPhone EXIF data

How to look at iPhone EXIF data

can't an iPhone show the ISO, f stop, and speed for the exposure

Send the picture via email or save it on your PC via iPhoto/ or Windows explorer.
Open an iPhone image in Photoshop, select FILE, and FILE INFO. Then look at "Camera Data 1." It will show shutter speed, Exposure Program, F stop, ISO Speed, Focal length, metering Mode info among other info.

 

[coelacanth]

LightMeter app was acting up on iPhone 4 so I started using this "Light Meter" app. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fancy-light-meter/id367216839?mt=8

The controls are on the live-view screen so you don't have to go back and forth between dial screen and camera view. It's not a crazy fantastic execution, but it works fine when I need it. And I've jailbroken my iPhone 4 so I can pull up this app by a long-hold of sleep button (or whatever you like). 😉