Comparison

Lighting Designer vs Lightlapse

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

Lightlapse

Capture stunning day-to-night time-lapses with your DSLR or mirrorless camera using just your phone. Connect wirelessly to compatible Canon, Sony, and Nikon cameras to set exposure and duration. Preview and share your creations, with advanced editing plugins available via upgrade.

Highlights
  • Day to night time-lapse capture
  • DSLR/mirrorless camera control
  • Wi-Fi enabled camera connection
  • Real-time preview
  • Lightroom/Photoshop editing plugins
Features
Read full description

Lightlapse is the first app that allows you to capture day to night Time-Lapses on your DSLR or Mirrorless camera. You no longer need a $400 piece of hardware to capture the “Holy Grail” of time-lapses. All you need is your phone, camera, and a great composition. Lightlapse supports most Canon, Sony, and Nikon cameras that are Wifi enabled and connecting is extremely simple. Once connected, all you have to do is expose your shot and set how long you want to run for. After you time-lapse has started you can sit back and watch a preview of it as it progresses and even share it after it’s complete. Best of all, when you upgrade Lightlapse to remove the restrictions you gain access to our editing plugins for Lightroom and Photoshop to process your images before posting.

Screenshots

Lighting Designer4 screens
Lightlapse3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Lightlapse at Free against Lighting Designer's $24.99. Lightlapse also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 14.0). Lighting Designer's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 2.2) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Lightlapse is free to download; Lighting Designer costs $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Lighting Designer holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lighting Designer has 145 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Lighting Designer's written reviews are positive against 22% of Lightlapse's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lighting Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, Lightlapse every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Lighting Designer versus Lightlapse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLighting DesignerLightlapse
Price$24.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (145 ratings) — better2.2 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews46.3% of reviews — better22.2% of reviews
Number of ratings145 — better12
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperScenario Software LLCRhino Camera Gear

Customer experience

Lighting Designer

All ratings145 ratings
Positive74.5%
Neutral6.2%
Negative19.3%
Written reviews80 reviews
Positive46.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative35.0%

Lightlapse

All ratings12 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative77.8%

In-app purchases

None

Lighting Designer

No in-app purchases

None

Lightlapse

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lighting Designer free?
Lighting Designer costs $24.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lightlapse free?
Lightlapse is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Lighting Designer or Lightlapse?
Lighting Designer is rated higher. Lighting Designer averages 4.0 out of 5 from 145 ratings, while Lightlapse averages 2.2 from 12 ratings.
Do Lighting Designer or Lightlapse have ads?
Neither Lighting Designer nor Lightlapse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lighting Designer or Lightlapse?
Lighting Designer ships an update every 3 weeks, and Lightlapse every 4 months. Most recently, Lighting Designer was updated on October 23, 2026 and Lightlapse on October 11, 2026.

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