I took the in-camera meter for granted when looking through the viewfinder of my Canon AE-1 and Elan IIe, and was like a fish out of water when I moved on to other cameras.

Whipping your phone out every time you want to meter something can get a little annoying and some may argue that having a dedicated meter is a far superior option.

I tend to meter for the brightest part of my subject’s face or skin when shooting portraits, this is simply to avoid the skin coming out too bright or blown out.

I began looking into more convenient solutions and soon learned that there are multiple apps out there that turn your cell phone into a functioning light meter.

Below the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO dials, you will find an exposure compensation slider which allow you to over or underexpose your scene as you like, in an easy to use way.

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Thank you, John! Simply one of the best articles I’ve read on this. I have a pricey Sekonic meter but found the UI on the MLMP so much easier, and it’s wicked accurate. I also like that I don’t have to carry another piece of equipment to a location.

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It can get tricked by heavy contrast within a scene (think streetlights on a dark street). I’ve found that it helps to get as close to what you’d like to meter for as possible, so as to avoid accidental metering of light you don’t need in your frame.

When I first began to use fully manual film cameras that didn’t have a built in light meter, I immediately realized how essential a light meter is.

myLightMeter Pro is a powerhouse of an app, and at $3.99 is a no brainer (for comparison, Minolta light meter cost me $150!).

Thank you so much, John! John is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, such as a review for the Mamiya RZ67 and a tutorial for using flash with film. You can also check out more of John’s work on his website and Instagram.

The $3.99 cost is that a one time expense or a monthly fee? If one time, it stays loaded in your phone for future use, no additional cost?

My Light Meter Pro is the easiest to use and most streamlined light meter application I have used thus far, and is extremely reliable.

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If you have questions about using a light meter app, leave them below in the comments, and you can find the myLightMeter Pro app on Apple App Store here.

If you just don’t like carrying a light meter, that’s fine, it is, after all, what works for *you*, not what works for me. But you can potentially lose anything. The trick is, not to. If you can not lose your camera, phone, keys, or wallet—respectfully, I suggest—you can, also, not lose a light meter *if* you decide not to…

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The buttons numbered one through five at the bottom of the screen are lens presets which allow you to tell the app when you’re shooting with different lenses.

John Adams III is a regular contributor for Shoot It With Film. Find his other articles here, such as 11 Amazing Film Photographers Share Their Best Tips for Shooting Film and Mamiya RZ67 Review: First Impressions (and Why I Left the 645).

I tried almost every light meter app on the play store and none of them seemed to meter correctly, at least compared to known good readings in my digital camera. The apps were very inconsistent and I fear that relying on them is less likely to provide accurate exposure than just using the sunny 16 rule. Negative film is pretty forgiving though. I don’t know if the issue is my phone (oneplus 7t) user error or just not accurate algorithms in the apps.

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You can take a photo of the most stunning landscape or a portrait of the most captivating subject you’ve ever seen, but if the image isn’t metered correctly, the end result may not turn out how you intended.

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After downloading a few apps and deleted those that just didn’t feel very user friendly, I happened upon myLightMeter Pro, or MLMP.

Say you’re shooting in a particularly unique lighting situation and you’d like to remember how to meter it in the future, meter the scene within the app, hit the save button, and you’ll now have documentation of the proper exposure for that scene.

For instance, my Pentax MX usually has a 50mm 1.4 lens on it, whereas my RZ67 typically has a 65mm f4 – it does no good if the app suggests that I shoot wider than f/4 on my Mamiya, which can only go as wide as f4, or if it thinks I can’t go wider than f/4 on my Pentax which can open up to 1.4.

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This is very useful if you want to preserve some shadow detail in a scene but don’t want to completely blow out the highlights.

For example, if you’re metering for the highlights of a scene, try and fill your camera with the highlight area and then meter. This will limit the chance you confuse the app and make sure you’re metering for exactly what you’re trying to meter for.

Beneath the exposure value window on the right side, you will see a Save button, which allows you to save the exposure readings of a particular scene to your phone, which is a really cool function.

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Hi there, thanks for the article! For iOS users I cannot recommend LightMe enough. It is a fantastic app, very well made, tons of features.

If you are shooting in a scene with heavy contrast, MLMP has an Average function which, when turned on at the top of the screen, allows you to meter for two separate areas and get an average, middle reading of the two areas.

When you first open the application, you’re greeted with the main screen, where you can input your desired shutter speed, aperture, and the speed of the film you are currently using.

The IOS versions may work well, but the android version you mentioned, as well as others, don’t work with some phones, Galaxy S10 is one. I actually bought it before I found out it doesn’t work on my phone. So still carrying around my GLP, will see how well LMP works when I get around to upgrading to a newer phone.

Between packing my camera, the lenses, the film, a spare battery (and making sure I had the transportation trifecta: phone-wallet-keys), I didn’t like having to keep up with another piece of equipment.

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The functionality is the exact same as the regular Pro layout. However, I tend to like the Pro version better as I find it a bit more user friendly.

I like everything about it. I’ll give it a try tomorrow. My digital Nikons already have great meters, but my Leica M3 has nothing, and my Nikon F4 has a very basic one – great for 25 years ago.

Now, I was very skeptical at first. Hand held light meters by the likes of Minolta (find on eBay) and Sekonic (find on Amazon) are tried and true technology that have been used for decades. How well could my phone actually perform as a light meter?

I have been using this light meter on my phone or the Sunny 16 rule . I haven’t developed the film as of yet with the Light Meter app . It is so simple and convenient I hope my results are good . What a great article and explanation of the use of the app thanks so much Tro

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I know this thread is a few years old now, but I think John meant ‘incident meter’. I carry my trusty Gossen Profisix everywhere and regularly take an incident reading and several reflective measurements before shooting, but this article has prompted me to check out the light meter app mentioned. Note the app indicates readings for hyperlocal distance (lens set to infinity), so some adjustment is needed if the lens is racked out to a closer focal distance – particularly so in the case of LF cameras. I wonder if the iOS app can be set to measure off the ground glass screen of a LF camera? That would be particularly handy as it would give actual light intensity readings no matter how far the LF lens is racked out for short focal distances! If the app could also measure for flash exposures I could just about dispense with my Gossen Profisix (Lunasix in USA). Great article! ‘There’s always more to learn about photography’.

I opened the link to the app expecting to quickly get bored and move on. Instead, you made exactly the app that I would have liked to have bought. $4 is too little for the app – maybe $10 would be more appropriate.

The results this app delivers speak for itself, as does its convenience, being in your pocket at all times. It’s the best light meter app I’ve found for my film photography

All very well but I think you’ve fallen for a logical fallacy. If you can lose your meter, you can lose your phone (or your camera, for that matter).

Excellent article, supported by well exposed, nicely composed and visually interesting images. MLMP is DLing as I type. I hope you are getting more than nice words and pats on the back for your efforts.

I really think that, being something that’s already in your pocket, the reliability and functionality of myLightMeter Pro is worth the small annoyances it may bring.

This app has been my companion on every shoot I’ve done for the last year or so and has been the best light meter app to use for my film photography.

I believe it does have functionality as a reflective meter, but I haven’t tried it out yet. (You can access that function by selecting Mode on the top right hand side of the main screen though.)

Your hand held Minolta offers the ability to read incident light. The amount of light falling on the subject. It requires a translucent dome that picks up not only light shining down, but also what might be reflecting from the ground. This is the metering that cinema photographers use, for very good reasons.

This is so helpful, John! I don’t have a handheld meter. I have an app, but don’t love it. I just downloaded this app and I’m excited to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

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The next time you find yourself in need of a light meter for your photography, I highly recommend giving this app a try – you may be surprised at your results!

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Between packing my camera, the lenses, the film, a spare battery (and making sure I had the transportation trifecta: phone-wallet-keys), I didn’t like having to keep up with another piece of equipment.”

To that point, I’ve owned two Minolta light meters in the past because I lost one while shooting and had to purchase a replacement.

My first handheld light meter was the Minolta Auto Meter IV. Super compact and easy to use, the Auto Meter did not have many bells and whistles and did exactly what it was intended to do in a straightforward way – meter light.

Hi Orlando! Yes, the cost for MyLightMeter Pro is a one-time payment of $3.99, and then the app will stay on your phone for future use.

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In practice, you can tap the screen, point your phone’s camera toward the subject you want to properly expose, hit measure, and MLMP will do the work for you showing an accurate exposure value.

This mode is also the layout for the non-“Pro” version of the app. You can switch back to the Pro mode by selecting Pro at the top of the screen.

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The Classic button on the top right side of the application switches the layout of the light meter to a classic Sekonic dial-style meter.

myLightMeter Pro is available in the iOS App Store for $3.99, and the developer also made a similar app for Android, but it is not quite as feature rich as the iOS version.

I’m not one who normally endorses products, but MyLightMeter works great. I’ve been using it for a couple years since my beloved Zone VI modified Gossen Luna Pro died. It has proven unerringly accurate and is good enough to check other meters, including built in ones, against it

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Great article. I worked my way through a couple of smartphone apps when I finally landed on MLMP. I’ve almost entirely stopped using my Seconic. It’s a hand app, affordable and always with you (have phone will measure light).

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I know that many suggest you meter for the darkest part of the scene, which I sometimes do, but this metering technique has been reliable for me in the past.

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Metering matters! There’s a million and one ways an image can come out simply based on where you metered in a scene (Please check out Amy Berge’s awesome article on metering.)