Lume vs Second View
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lume
Control multiple portable LED lights simultaneously and individually from your iPhone. Achieve professional-quality lighting for photos and videos, enhancing your creative output for social media or portfolios.
- Simultaneous sync of multiple lights
- Individual light control
- Professional lighting for photos/videos
- Enhance creative output
- Social media content creation
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Lume Cube - Staff pick on Kickstarter, named USA Today’s Best of CES and VideoMaker Editor's CES Choice Award winner. With this intuitive companion iPhone app, you can simultaneously sync and individually control Lume Cubes and Lume Cube AIRs to create dynamic, dramatic, professional quality images and video to add to your portfolio or upload directly to social media. Photography is the study of light, the right light is critical to the creation of any masterpiece. Lume Cubes and Lume Cube AIRs are controlled by this iPhone app, opening new creative possibilities for photographers of any skill level. The ability to simultaneously sync and individually control multiple Lume Cubes and Lume Cube AIRs through the app makes Lume-X the ultimate tool for capturing content on the fly or setting up an entire scene. These rugged little lights are the perfect solution for the novice iPhonographer looking to take their images to the next level or for the seasoned vet needing to add the perfect light to get their desired result.
Second View
This tool assists photographers in planning shots by simulating their actual camera's field of view and aspect ratio. It includes a light meter, filter logging, and reciprocity correction for film stocks. Features like LiDAR distance measurement and composition guides help refine framing and exposure before taking the shot.
- Precise field-of-view matching
- Real-time light meter with spot metering
- ND, polarizer, and color filter logging
- Reciprocity failure correction for 60 film stocks
- LiDAR distance measurement
- Composition and grid tools
- Panorama simulation
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PLEASE READ FIRST Second View is not a camera app and does not take photos for you. It helps you frame, meter, and plan shots before you press the shutter on your own camera. The photos it saves are framing aids, not final images. --- Second View turns your iPhone into a precision field toolkit for analog photographers. Set your lens and format, and it crops the iPhone camera to match what your film camera will capture: same field of view, aspect ratio, and framing. Supports 35mm, medium format (6x4.5 through 6x17), large format (4x5, 5x7, 8x10), digital sensors, and custom sizes. VIEWFINDER Precise field-of-view matching for any focal length and format. Portrait or landscape, control side of your choice, preview rotation per kit. AUTOMATIC LENS SELECTION Frames through the sharpest back camera that holds your crop (ultra-wide, wide or tele), so long lenses look crisp. Calibrate each lens with a sheet of paper. FRAMES MODE Rangefinder-style bright lines for every lens in your kit at once. WORKSPACES Design your own control panel and switch layouts with a swipe. FREEZE MODE Hold a full-resolution still to compose rise and shift, spot-meter, and measure distance without the scene moving. LIGHT METER Pick your aperture and get the shutter speed. EV compensation, hyperfocal distance, auto/manual modes, and whole/half/third stops. SPOT METERING Meter the whole frame or a spot down to 1° through the telephoto. METER CALIBRATION Calibrate against your reference meter at several light levels, per lens. BELLOWS COMPENSATION Folds close-focus light loss into the reading, set manually or by LiDAR. LENS FILTERS Log ND, polarizer, and color filters. The meter compensates and every capture records them. RECIPROCITY CORRECTION 60 film stocks with accurate reciprocity curves, plus your own: Portra, CineStill, Tri-X, Velvia, ECN-2 and more. Exposures over one second are corrected automatically. FILM PREVIEW Simulate B&W film with color filters, and preview color-film white balance from the loaded stock. LONG EXPOSURE TIMER Countdown with a full-screen progress ring, on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with an optional end alert. HARDWARE BUTTONS Map the volume buttons, Camera Control, the Action button or a Bluetooth remote to shutter, timer, freeze, lens steps and more. LIDAR DISTANCE AND PARALLAX Measure subject distance with LiDAR (iPhone 12 Pro and later) or enter it manually. Parallax between the iPhone and your lens is corrected automatically. RISE, FALL AND SHIFT Simulate view camera movements in 1mm steps, up to your kit's maximum travel. COMPOSITION TOOLS Rule of thirds, phi grid, golden triangle, square, and custom grids up to 12x12. Bubble level with roll and pitch. PANORAMA SIMULATION Preview a stitched multi-frame panorama and save it as a plan. SHOT CHECKLIST Run a per-kit checklist in the viewfinder. One step can fire the shutter automatically. CAMERA KITS Save complete setups and switch instantly: lenses, format, stocks, workspace, parallax, and checklist. Pick a body and the format picker shows only the masks it can shoot. FILM ROLL TRACKING Know which roll is loaded and when every frame was exposed. CAPTURE AND GALLERY Save a reference photo with the exact framing and full metadata: lens, format, stock, filters, exposure, rise/shift, GPS, and time. Export with a data overlay, add notes, group into rolls, and export a CSV log. --- Terms of Use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy : https://secondview.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Second View at 4.0 against Lume's 2.8. Second View also leads on review sentiment (56% vs 23%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months). Lume's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). On price and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Second View sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per year. Lume asks for nothing beyond the download.
Second View holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lume has 90 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Lume's written reviews are positive against 56% of Second View's.
Lume ships an update every 3 months, Second View weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lume | Second View |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (90 ratings) | 4.0 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 23.2% of reviews | 55.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 90 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lume Cube, LLC | Benoit Linard |
Customer experience
Lume
Second View
Bugs and requests
Lume
Reported bugs
41 issues- Bluetooth connection is lost frequently
- App crashes frequently
- UI is janky, cluttered, and parts are off-screen
- Labels and toggles don't always function correctly
- Sliders used as buttons are confusing
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- Battery meter is inaccurate when ON
- App doesn't optimize for iPad lenses
- Cube light is harsh on edges
- App doesn't support RAW
- Camera interface needs update
- App requires full phone access (camera, mic, photos)
- Doesn't utilize volume buttons as shutter release
- Dive mode doesn't work
- No support for iPhone 11 (Pro) cameras
- Camera angles don't match iPhone X/11
- Dragging left on intensity sliders triggers delete bar
- Email required to pair Bluetooth
- Light settings are funky and get stuck
- Brightness slider is off by a power of 10 (e.g., 5% is 50%)
- iPhone gets hot when app is running
- App drains phone battery significantly
- Dark mode text fields are unreadable
- App defaults to camera app, not light controls
- Only one light can be connected
- UI is broken, portions don't show up
- App doesn't work with Cube 2.0 for brightness control
- Difficult to navigate
- Hard to read (battery percentage)
- App is stuck on photo/video mode with blinking logo
- Cannot register product
- Bluetooth cannot find light
- App is ugly and starts with camera app
- Lights won't connect after new update on iPhone
- Dive Mode not explained
- Optical trigger not working consistently
- Not compatible with iPhone SE, 5s, 5
- Subject needs to wait a second for light
- No controls or options in the app
- No menu or 'how to connect'
- Previous version had more flash options
- Strobe option not useful for night photography
Requested features
15 requests- Support for newer GoPro models
- Update app for iPhone 13 Pro Max camera features (4K, RAW, manual controls)
- Control individual cubes or groups of cubes
- Shoot in RAW format
- Add manual camera functions (WB, Shutter Speed)
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- Improve camera interface and lens optimization
- Dark mode support
- Use volume buttons as shutter release
- Add timer option for group shots
- Support for Bluetooth remote shutter remotes
- Add grouping option for multiple lights
- More flash options (flash length)
- Integration with established camera apps
- Improve UI/UX design
- Add instructions and walkthroughs
Second View
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Lume
No in-app purchases
Second View
- Second View Basic Yearly7 Days trial$7.991 Year
- Second View Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year









