Lighting Designer vs pCAM Pro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lighting Designer
Create professional overhead lighting plots for film, TV, theater, and events. Quickly illustrate and communicate lighting setups with a vast library of equipment and intuitive tools. Sync your work across all Apple devices.
- Create overhead lighting plots
- Extensive equipment library (2000+ items)
- Organize setups into Shows
- Custom fixture creation with own images
- Detailed light specifications
- Floor plan drawing tools
- Email editable Plots
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Never draw a lighting setup on a scrap of paper again. Lighting Designer is a quick and intuitive way to create overhead lighting plots for film, theater, television, concerts, and anything else you can light. The wide selection of equipment and simple yet powerful interface makes it easier than ever to illustrate and communicate your lighting setups, from most Apple devices. Your Silicon Mac is powerful and gives you the most screen to work with; your iPad is large and versatile; your iPhone will go with you anywhere. And if you like, your work can sync among all your Apple devices using iCloud, so you can start plotting on one and finish on another. LD is perfect for tech scouts, working while traveling, or just choosing the couch over your desk chair. While expensive drafting programs can take hours to use and years to master, Lighting Designer is an accessible way to plan your next show! Features: • Organize your setups into Shows, with details like shooting dates and crew members • Choose from over 2000 built-in types of lights, grip equipment, camera gear, actors, and objects like furniture and musical instruments • With a Crescit Premium account, you can have access to an additional 25,000+ pieces of lighting equipment, gels, and gobo templates • Use your own images to create custom fixtures on your Plots (read the User Guide for image specs) • For each light, specify wattage, beam spread, light output, DMX address, color, and many other details • Certain fixtures include info for exposure approximation; all can be user-configured and have their exposure reverse-calculated from real-world readings • Use Groups to create flexible collections of lights • Notes allow you to describe every detail of your setup • Pack your Truck to share gear among multiple Plots • Draw a Floor Plan using basic shapes, and images from your device • Lights can target other objects, and objects can rig onto each other for easy adjustments • Email editable Plots to the crew, with images, equipment, and crew lists • Undo/Redo functionality • Dark Mode presents a dark workspace to reduce eyestrain and minimize your device's light in a dark environment
pCAM Pro
This app provides 27 essential tools for cinematography and photography professionals and students. It offers instant calculations for depth of field, field of view, exposure, and more, with a user-friendly interface designed for on-the-go use.
- Depth of Field calculations
- Field of View preview
- Focal Length matching
- Exposure calculations
- HMI Flicker-free settings
- Speed Booster adapter calculations
- VFX tracking markers
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Plan shots, choose lenses, calculate exposure, and pre-visualize the frame in seconds. 27 pro tools. Every result illustrated. 2,000+ camera formats plus unlimited user-defined formats. I've deliberately kept pCAM Pro a one-time purchase, with none of the subscriptions that have crept into so many apps. • Universal app for iPhone, iPad, Apple Silicon Mac, and Apple Vision Pro • Depth of Field (hyperfocal, total depth, near and far, image circle) • Field of View (and angle of view) • Field of View Preview in both Portrait & Landscape camera positions (8 images to pre-visualize & size shots by distance & focal length) • Focal Length (lens) Matching — match to horizontal, vertical, or diagonal dimensions • Relative Size (compares sensors) • Exposure calculations • HMI Flicker-free (safe shutters & safe camera speeds) • Reference (technical charts, lists & tables. Cine film stocks with film can labels, cine lens specs, false color/exposure change, diopter distance table, miniature shooting, safe panning speeds, zone system) • Insert Slate (4 font colors plus white or black backgrounds) • Splits — Aperture Finder calculation • Speed Booster® Adapter — calculate reduced Focal Length & Boosted Aperture with various adapters. Also create camera format profiles with attached adapters for use in other tools • Eye Light (soft-edged light shapes — Full Screen, Oval, Ring, and Strip) • Chroma Key & VFX Tracking (green and blue screen and VFX tracking markers) • Light Effects for handheld light or via Apple AirPlay to HDTV. Includes templates for: fire, television, siren, neon, strobe, flashbulb, lightning. Create unlimited custom animations • Mired Shift — Gel Selector • Conversion calculator • 4 Test Charts (incl. Siemens Star) • Triangulate calculation (calculate distances, image circle, etc.) • Film Running Time to Length • Shooting to Screen Time • Color Correction (chooses color correction filters) • Time Lapse (shooting interval, event duration, screen time) • Scene Illumination (beam intensity) • Light Coverage (width/distance) • Underwater Distance • Diopter (lens focus, diopter power) • Macro (object distance, magnification, corrected stop, DoF, object size, image size, fill percentage) • Built-in user guides on each screen • Calculates instantly & automatically as each entry is entered • 2,000+ camera formats plus unlimited customizable, user-defined camera formats, CoC & filters • Designed by a working camera technician who understands that calculations must be done simply and on-the-run AND ONE THING THAT ISN'T A CALCULATOR Crew Wheel — spin to settle who's buying the coffee. Not a tool, just a small gift for the standing-around time. Every long day needs one. TRUSTED WORLDWIDE BY DPs, Photographers, Camera Assistants, Camera Operators, Production Designers, VFX, Videographers, Gaffers, plus Film, Television, and Digital Media students. INDUSTRY RECOGNITION • Membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Production and Technology Branch). • 75th Primetime Emmy Awards — Emmy® for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering, Science & Technology" from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. • 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards — Engineering Plaque for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development" from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. • Technical Achievement Award from Society of Camera Operators — "For outstanding contributions to cinematography through the design and development of the pCAM Film+Digital Calculator."
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: pCAM Pro at 97% against Lighting Designer's 46%. pCAM Pro also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.0) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 weeks). Lighting Designer's advantage is price ($24.99 vs $34.99) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). On ratings volume, ads, chart position 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
Lighting Designer costs $24.99 and pCAM Pro $34.99 up front. pCAM Pro sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Lighting Designer asks for nothing beyond the download.
pCAM Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 144 and 221 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Lighting Designer's written reviews are positive against 97% of pCAM Pro's.
Lighting Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, pCAM Pro every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lighting Designer | pCAM Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 — better | $34.99 |
| Rating | 4.0 (144 ratings) | 4.9 (221 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.3% of reviews | 97.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 144 | 221 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #181 — better | #195 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Scenario Software LLC | David Eubank |
Customer experience
Lighting Designer
pCAM Pro
Bugs and requests
Lighting Designer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
pCAM Pro
Reported bugs
1 issue- None explicitly mentioned, but feature requests imply areas for improvement.
Requested features
3 requests- Access iPhone camera for exact POV simulation
- Implement a night mode
- Relocate hyperfocal 'apply' button in Depth-of-Field calculator
In-app purchases
Lighting Designer
No in-app purchases
pCAM Pro
- Small Tip$1.99
- Medium Tip$4.99
- Large Tip$7.99









