Overall its great and surprisingly accurate
It is useful but not easy to use
Response from developer
You're right, I don't have a How-to for that. In a nutshell: measure one light; hit EXP LOCK, turn DIFFERENCE MEASUREMENT on, then tap the screen to lock the reading. While the lock is on, you'll see the difference between the locked reading and the current reading for both exposure and color. I hope to make some tutorial videos later this summer, but that'll depend on my work schedule, so I can't promise anything.
Handy to have..
Response from developer
Thanks for taking the time to post a positive review. I appreciate it!
A gimmick
After I purchased I finally read the fine print in the manual that says “tint correction values shown are appropriate for full spectrum sources with fluorescent LED’s and other “discontinuous spectrum sources” you typically need 1/2 to 2/3 of the tint correction shown.
Response from developer
Yes, a $25 app running on the $15 camera module built into a phone needs calibration for best results! For color, you can get a spot-on incandescent source (a light bulb) for about $2. For exposure, use any other light meter or camera that has an exposure readout. You can also calibrate by taking a reading, shooting a gray card using that reading, and measuring the resulting gray level in the image; if you're shooting film, a bracketing test can give you your needed correction in one go, even using a fully manual camera without its own exposure meter. As the instructions say, lux/fc won't change as you adjust compensation, but once you set calibration they *will* change. And no, they probably will not perfectly match your other meter, as Cine Meter II can only be adjusted to 1/10 stop accuracy, not to +/- 1 lux or fc (none of my four calibrated pro meters perfectly match each other in lux/fc mode either, even though they match to within 1/10 stop in aperture reading). Tint corrections are as accurate as with any other tristimulus meter (e.g. Sekonic C-500) but spiky spectra can fool all such devices. You need a spectrometer ($1200+) for more accurate readings; that's just the nature of the technology. See https://www.dvinfo.net/article/production/lighting/on-the-color-of-light-and-the-measurement-thereof.html for a discussion of the problem; see https://cinematography.net/LED-Camera/LED-Camera-Index.html for some real-world measurements.
Very useful
Not for professional use
Response from developer
That's not "poor UX design", that was a bug! It's been fixed: no more system pop-up when you enter settings and iOS thinks you don't have any email accounts available. Sadly, Mr. Wack never contacted me, so we weren't able to find out why his iDevice reports no email accounts when he claims he had several set up. That's not normal behavior and I wasn't able to replicate it on my own iDevices.
The best $25 I have spent in recent memory
Finally a colour temp meter for ios.
At this price its a dream come true.
Thanks Dev.
Great tool!
It is an accurate spot meter (matches my venerable Pentax and my newer Sekonic perfectly after one calibration) and with a Luxi sphere works as an incident meter also (matches my Sekonic too, after calibration). Even better, it is a color meter, and seems *more* accurate than my old Minolta, matching my Kinos to cheap fluorescents.
While this won't replace my meters (but it probably could) I don't bother carrying my older ones any more...
The developer is super responsive too!
Most recent upgrade is broken
Only thing, the app received an update a few days ago, and now it won't open. At all. I deleted it and downloaded it again, in case I had a rare corrupted copy — but nope. The fresh download is busted, too. There was a catastrophic bug that shipped in the last package.
I hope you are on it, Adam Wilt. I won't give you one star for a bug that will hopefully get fixed immediately (since low stars are forever). But, well, it's a zero star app at the moment, because it's working zero percent. Please fix soon.
Response from developer
I've downloaded the store copy on several iPhones, iPads, and iPods touch, and it's working normally on all of 'em; I can't make it crash for trying, whether they're updates or fresh installs, on my account or on others. PLEASE contact me directly (cinemeter@adamwilt.com) so we can fix this! (Also, did you try the other troubleshooting steps at https://www.adamwilt.com/cinemeterii/support.html ?)
Lumu Power Support in future?
Great product!
Response from developer
Lumu Power support requires an updated SDK that communicated with the Power. So far, Lumu hasn't published it; once they do, I'll integrate it.
Photographers DON'T PURCHASE
Response from developer
I'm sorry, the App Store description specifically states, “Cine Meter II is NOT a flash meter; it can't measure strobes”. You can simply assume 2700 K for household tungsten lamps and calibrate that way if you don't have another meter or camera with color temperature readout—it's all described in the in-app help and on the Cine Meter II website. If you require strobe metering, please contact the App Store for a refund (https://reportaproblem.apple.com), and check out Lumu Power instead: https://lu.mu. I’m always available to answer questions and provide support, before or after purchase (even if it's steering you away from my app and towards something that better meets your needs!); just email me.
So accurate
Adam, you're a genius!!! Thank you :)
Best light meter app, hands down
1. You always have this with you, if you have your phone
2. You can actually CALIBRATE this, and change calibration when needed. Can't do that with a traditional light meter, you would have to send it in to the company to do that.
3. This one has color temp and tint readings, which is huge. Most apps are just about exposure. This one goes way deeper. Even tells you exactly what correction gels you need to use to hit a target color temp. Takes all the guesswork out and speeds up the process of lighting significantly.
4. The maker of this app isn't some faceless corporation, it's a REAL GUY, named Adam Wilt, that you can actually email (he is quite fast to respond too) if you have a question.
I have too much good to say about this app and zero bad to say. I could go on forever, but that would make for a very long review. Just buy it. It's awesome. You won't regret it. Period. :)
Finally!
Love this thing.
Crazy Great...
Excellent Meter!
Amazing! Save you lots of $$$$!
Just sayin'....
