SpotMeter: Film Light Meter

A spot meter for film and digital: Zone System placement, RAW sensor readings, tuned to your camera and film. Free to download, one-time Pro unlock, no subscription ever.

The roll comes back from the lab three weeks later and the photo you cared about is ruined. Too dark, too washed out, gone. Film does not give second chances.

It usually is not even your fault. Most light meter apps read the whole scene at once, so a bright sky or a dark doorway drags the reading off, and you find out weeks later. SpotMeter works the way classic handheld spot meters work: point it at the one thing that matters, a face, a shadow, a patch of sky, and it reads just that. Read the shadow you want detail in. Read the highlight you refuse to lose. Set your camera, press the shutter, and know.

FREE FOREVER • A real spot meter: point at one small part of the scene and read exactly that, not an average • Save up to 5 readings and let the app balance them • Choose how bright or dark each part of the photo comes out. Film shooters call this the Zone System; the app does the math • Set aperture, shutter, and ISO yourself. Lock one and the app adjusts the others • A confidence signal that tells you when a reading is trustworthy, plus a live brightness graph • 34 films built in. Long exposures need extra time on film, and the app adds it for you automatically • A logbook for every roll, so each frame's settings come home with the negatives • Ready the moment you open it, no setup required

SPOTMETER PRO: PAY ONCE, KEEP IT FOREVER • The most accurate reading your iPhone can give: Pro reads the camera's raw, untouched sensor data before the iPhone prettifies the image, so hard light does not fool it • Per-camera calibration, in beta: a guided setup that fine-tunes readings for your exact camera. It works today; we call it beta while we keep tuning it • Nearly 90 classic film and digital cameras and over 140 lenses, ready to add as your kit • Six calculators for the fiddly parts: dark ND filters, long exposures, close-up bellows work, and sharpness planning (depth of field, hyperfocal, focus stacking), all pre-filled from your gear • Put filters on your lens and every reading adjusts for them automatically • Golden hour planning, with an AR view that draws the sun's path across your actual scene and a timer that tells you when to leave so you arrive before the light goes • Your last reading and a golden hour countdown, right on your lock screen • Export any roll as a CSV or PDF for your records or your lab • Backup and sync through your own private iCloud

Nearly every Pro feature has a small free trial, so you can prove it on a real roll before you pay once.

To our knowledge, SpotMeter is the only iPhone spot meter that reads a raw sensor frame with per-camera calibration.

WHO IT IS FOR Anyone who shoots film: 35mm, medium format, large format, or the thrift-store camera you just brought home. If you have ever waited weeks for a roll and wished you had trusted a better number, this is for you.

THE QUIET PARTS No subscription. No ads. No account, no sign-in, no server of ours. Your readings live on your phone and in your own iCloud, nowhere else. Anonymous usage stats help us improve the app, and you can switch them off in Settings.

REQUIREMENTS iOS 16 or later, iPhone only. Pro's raw metering needs an iPhone that can capture raw photos; the app checks and tells you up front.

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