Pocket Light Meter app: suitable for pinhole photography

TheToadMen · May 20, 2013

Normally I calculate my exposure times for pinhole photography by guesstimation, especially when I use my converted Gevabox or Agfa Clack. But sometimes I want to measure the light more securely. When I didn't bring my real light meter, I use the Pocket Light Meter app on my iPhone (also available for android). This app has a minimal ISO setting as low as 0.8 and maximum aperture as high as f/512. This makes this app very usefull for pinhole photography and for using photo paper as a negative. And it is very accurate too. I compared it with my digital camera.

The app is free (with a small add in the top of screen) or only $1.00 for the add free version.
See for more info:http://www.pocketlightmeter.com.

The app has some nice features. It shows also the EV values, if desired. And you can "HOLD" the screen - holding your last reading. You can also take a small snapshot to log the used settings - and add some notes.
This is an example of the snapshot (jpg, 150 KB):

The app can also sync with Dropbox to save the snapshots for later. Coming back home you can check the snapshots to see what settings you used when & where: the file name contains a date & time stamp. Here you'll find a small test of this app:http://thephotobrigade.com/2012/06/p...-by-c-s-muncy/

A nice app for pinhole photography!

"Have fun and catch that lightbeam"
Bert from Holland
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl .
http://tinyurl.com/pinholegroup

cliveh · May 20, 2013

Is there an app that suggests I switch off the phone and think about how I may creatively and independently research an area of interest and possible solutions to a given problem? If so it would be a welcome addition to communication technology.

TheToadMen · May 20, 2013

cliveh said:
Is there an app that suggests I switch off the phone and think about how I may creatively and independently research an area of interest and possible solutions to a given problem? If so it would be a welcome addition to communication technology.

Is this what you meant?

cliveh · May 20, 2013

Poisson Du Jour · May 20, 2013

Sekonic L308. No bells and whistles. No wings and things.
A pinhole camera does not require nail-biting accuracy; it's a bit of fun and the at times unexpected results are part of it.

Ken Nadvornick · May 21, 2013

cliveh said:
Is there an app that suggests I switch off the phone and think about how I may creatively and independently research an area of interest and possible solutions to a given problem? If so it would be a welcome addition to communication technology.

Outsourced thinking. The scourge of the digital gadget generation.

Ken

Newt_on_Swings · May 21, 2013

TheToadMen said:
Is this what you meant?

View attachment 69084

I'm partial to the one where Calvin's dad explains why pictures were black and white. If you haven't read it look it up!

vyshemirsky · May 21, 2013

Using a Sekonic meter is also cheating - it uses a phototransistor and then a digital microcontroller to calculate the exposure. Thus, it is a digital device. The only kosher way is to guess your exposure. REAL photographers never produce a well exposed negative.

Wink wink.

Chan Tran · May 21, 2013

Poisson Du Jour said:
Sekonic L308. No bells and whistles. No wings and things.
A pinhole camera does not require nail-biting accuracy; it's a bit of fun and the at times unexpected results are part of it.

You think the iphone app is more accurate than the L308? I don't think so. It has lots more features more calculations but no more accurate. All the calculations you can do even with pencil and paper but the difficult thing is to measure the light accurately and I doubt that any phone app is more accurate than a decent light meter like the L308.

Whiteymorange · May 21, 2013

I don't know about accuracy, but I do know that the app was very useful on my long drive last fall (9000 mile by myself). I am useless at taking notes and the Pocket Light Meter allowed me to take a meter reading (always matched up with my other meters, by the way), snap a quick shot of the scene and later have all the information I needed for the negative file. I was often shooting a Speed Graphic and I had boxes of negatives once I got home. Now I can look at a single photograph and go to the file on my computer that has a location stamp and exposure info recorded for that scene.

Many of us like shooting with "outdated" equipment, often utilizing our own sense of the scene, avoiding extra technological screens that can distract as much as aid us, whether they are alkali-battery operated, selenium cell or smart phone. Let's not become so technophobic as to miss an opportunity when one presents itself, even if it's on an iPhone.

TheToadMen · May 21, 2013

How B&W pictures turned into color images in the 1930's

Newt_on_Swings said:
I'm partial to the one where Calvin's dad explains why pictures were black and white. If you haven't read it look it up!

Here it is special for you - with some interesting comments IMHO - on my previous post on APUG:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

You can also find it on my blog with all the educational hints as well:
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl/2013/04/how-b-pictures-turned-into-color-images.html

Ken Nadvornick · May 21, 2013

Whiteymorange said:
Let's not become so technophobic as to miss an opportunity when one presents itself, even if it's on an iPhone.

It's not the technology itself, per se. It's the effect that technology has on the critical thinking capabilities of those who first use, then come to mindlessly rely on it. When it becomes easier and more convenient to do so, one happily ends up driving into the lake because the digital gadget told them it was the right way to go. I've seen real-world variations of this over and over and over...

Ken

Richard S. (rich815) · May 21, 2013

I use the app called PinholeMeter.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinholemeter/id501893760?mt=8

TheToadMen · May 21, 2013

Ken Nadvornick said:
It's not the technology itself, per se. It's the effect that technology has on the critical thinking capabilities of those who first use, then come to mindlessly rely on it. When it becomes easier and more convenient to do so, one happily ends up driving into the lake because the digital gadget told them it was the right way to go. I've seen real-world variations of this over and over and over...
Ken

I think I know what you mean and in essence I agree. I also think it is a good idea to learn photography the analogue way (at first) with an all manual camera (focus, aperture, shutter time) and the limitations of only 36 shots on a roll - and off course pinhole photography with only a simple box & photo paper - before one goes to digital photography.

In an other discussion I said:
"My motto is a saying of Ansel Adams: " ... avoiding the common illusion that photography depends on equipment alone ... " (quote from his book: The Camera). Sometimes I think the digital world hasn't grasped that yet. A simple manual focus camera with only 12 to 36 shots makes me think more about what I really want to shoot and how: instead of shooting hundreds of images, sifting it out later on a computer. I want to see the image in my mind before I press the shutter, instead of afterwards on a LCD on the back of the camera. Just my way of getting away of a hectic world."

Chan Tran · May 21, 2013

Whiteymorange said:
Many of us like shooting with "outdated" equipment, often utilizing our own sense of the scene, avoiding extra technological screens that can distract as much as aid us, whether they are alkali-battery operated, selenium cell or smart phone. Let's not become so technophobic as to miss an opportunity when one presents itself, even if it's on an iPhone.

We in this forum use film camera so in a sense we all use outdated equipment. I have to problem with technology but I have serious doubt about the accuracy of such things because any instrument isn't any better then its accuracy. The ability to do a lots of calculation is of no use unless the basic measurement is accurate.

Pocket Light Meter app: suitable for pinhole photography

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency