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Thread: Lightmeter APP

  1. #1
    John cox's Avatar
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    Lightmeter APP

    I'm considering ditching my l-398 to help reduce the amount of camera stuff I have, but I still need a meter. Does anyone know of a good light meter app for the android OS? Currently I have "Bee Cam light meter" and it's like rolling the dice. I would be willing to pay for a meter app if I knew I was getting something worth the money, but would prefer free to at least try it out and see what the meter is telling me in each scene.

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    I have heard a lot about meter apps for the iphone and others. I wonder how does it work? It use the imaging sensor in the camera to measure light?

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    Yes exactly. The iPhone apps are a lot better since each version of the phone has the same camera (all iPhone 5's have the same camera for example). There's like 20 different Android phones out there each with a different camera so making a good App is harder.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John cox View Post
    Yes exactly. The iPhone apps are a lot better since each version of the phone has the same camera (all iPhone 5's have the same camera for example). There's like 20 different Android phones out there each with a different camera so making a good App is harder.
    Though I am not an Android developer, I can think of a way around this... Provide a special "calibration" mode. The user could enter the calibration mode, point the camera at a gray card under sunny-16 (or sunny-11) conditions and hit a button. This could then be stored as a setting for the app on the phone. Presto... Calibration complete - at least in the linear response range for the camera.
    ME Super

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    There should be a lot of ways to improve phone meters. I've been told they actually don't use the camera but the display brightness sensor, if this is the case using the camera and your calibration idea would be huge improvements. I'm considering writing a script if I can't find a good cheap meter.

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    After trying a few android lightmeter apps, I'll be sticking with my Weston Master VI.

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    Quote Originally Posted by John cox View Post
    I'm considering ditching my l-398...
    You would ditch a magnificent purpose-built Sekonic L-398 Studio Deluxe incident light meter for a free toy phone app?

    Really??

    Ken
    "The richness of the experience that occurs when one is exposed tangibly to a subject, material, or process is unmatchable in the abstract... Thus, when 'touch it,' 'taste it,' smell it' become the watchwords, the results are most often extraordinary. Equally extraordinary are the lengths to which people will go to avoid [that] experience."

    — Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., In Search of Excellence, 1982

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    I've downloaded 3 different apps for my Android (Motorola) phone - they all work to a degree, but all are a pain to use..

    I gather there are a couple of good ones for iphones though...

    And to be honest I would be more inclined to trust a lightmeter app than a 50 year old Weston meter....once I had used it a few times (and compared the readings to my Minolta Flash V meter..)
    A camera is only a black box with a hole in it....

    my blog...some film, some digital http://andrewk1965.wordpress.com/

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    dpn
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    Lightmeter APP

    So, what's the definitive iPhone light meter app? Not that it'll replace my L-208 in incident mode ...



 

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