Comparison

Long Exposure Buddy vs Sunrise

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Long Exposure Buddy

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Long Exposure Calculator is the essential companion for photographers who shoot silky waterfalls, creamy oceans, light trails, star trails, and everything in between. Calculate in seconds. Set your base shutter speed, choose your ND filter stops, and instantly see the corrected long exposure time. Exposure triangle mode lets you factor in aperture and ISO for complete creative control. 8 scene presets, ready to shoot. Whether it's a misty ocean at golden hour or spinning steel wool at midnight โ€” tap a preset to load proven settings with expert tips for that specific scenario. Built-in countdown timer. When your calculation is ready, tap Start. A full-screen timer counts down your exposure with Dynamic Island Live Activity support so you can track progress without unlocking your phone. Film reciprocity failure correction. Shooting on film? Choose from 21 classic film stocks โ€” Kodak Portra, Fujifilm Velvia, Ilford HP5, Tri-X, and more โ€” and the app automatically calculates the extra exposure time needed to compensate for reciprocity failure. Golden hour, always on. A location-aware banner on the main screen shows your next golden hour or blue hour countdown, updated in real time. A home screen widget keeps the timing front and center when you're planning a shoot. Shot Log. Every calculated exposure is saved automatically. Search, browse, and export your shots as CSV for post-processing notes or location planning. Filter Collection. Catalog your physical ND filters so the right stops are always one tap away. Learn while you shoot. The built-in Education Mode covers ND filters, the exposure triangle, reciprocity failure, and scene-by-scene technique guides โ€” no internet required. Siri Shortcuts. Ask Siri to open a long exposure calculation and jump straight into the app. Designed for: Landscape photographers, architecture and cityscape shooters, astrophotographers, film photographers, and anyone learning long exposure technique.

About

Sunrise

Features
Read full description

Choose a place. Explore the light. Save a plan you can return to. Plan Sunlight helps you understand where the sun will be and how daylight changes across dates. Prepare an outdoor photo, compare a seasonal visit, or understand the sun's direction around a place that matters to you. EXPLORE A PLACE Search for a city, address or landmark, use your current location when you choose, or enter coordinates manually. Every plan keeps its own time zone, so local sunrise and sunset times stay tied to the selected place. MOVE THROUGH THE DAY Scrub the local day to see the calculated sun direction and elevation. A north-up map shows the bearing toward the sun, alongside sunrise, sunset, civil twilight and daylight duration. COMPARE TWO DATES See how sunrise, sunset and daylight differ at the same place. Polar day, polar night and dates without a horizon crossing are described explicitly. KEEP AND SHARE YOUR PLANS Save a named plan, reopen it offline and make changes. Share a PDF report, image card or text summary. Export a portable backup, review import conflicts, and recover deleted plans from Trash. YOUR PLANS STAY YOURS No account or app-operated cloud sync. Solar calculations run on your device. Map content, online place search and purchases need a connection. Reopen, edit, compare and share your saved plans. Additional saved plans require a one-time lifetime upgrade, available from Settings. Restore Purchases is available in Settings and on the upgrade screen. UNDERSTAND THE ESTIMATE Sun position is calculated from solar geometry. It is not a weather forecast, shadow survey, navigation aid or guarantee of direct sunlight. Terrain, buildings, trees and cloud cover can change what you see. Never look directly at the sun through unprotected eyes or optics. Privacy Policy: https://plansunlight.app/privacy Support: https://plansunlight.app/support Terms of Use (Apple Standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Long Exposure Buddy4 screens
Sunrise4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Long Exposure Buddy at none against Sunrise's 1. Sunrise's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 96 months) and device support. On price and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Sunrise sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Long Exposure Buddy asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Long Exposure Buddy ships an update every 96 months, Sunrise fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
Long Exposure Buddy versus Sunrise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLong Exposure BuddySunrise
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 96 monthsFortnightly โ€” better
Adsโ€”No
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
Devicesโ€”iPhone, iPad โ€” better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size1 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developermitesh soniYurii Koshkin

In-app purchases

None

Long Exposure Buddy

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Sunrise

One-time1
  • Plan Sunlight Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Long Exposure Buddy free?
Long Exposure Buddy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sunrise free?
Sunrise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which is updated more often, Long Exposure Buddy or Sunrise?
Long Exposure Buddy ships an update every 96 months, and Sunrise fortnightly. Most recently, Long Exposure Buddy was updated on November 2, 2026 and Sunrise on November 6, 2026.

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