Shot Designer vs Light & Shadow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shot Designer
Create detailed camera diagrams and shot lists quickly. Animate characters and cameras in real-time to visualize scene rhythm. Import storyboards and sync projects with your team.
- Real-time camera and character animation
- Integrated shot list generation
- Director's viewfinder and storyboard import
- Set and lighting design tools
- Team sharing and syncing
- Template creation and library
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WHAT IS SHOT DESIGNER? • CAMERA DIAGRAM - Shot Designer dramatically speeds up the Director's process of making camera diagrams. Create full-blown diagrams in seconds. The software does most of the work. • ANIMATION - Animate your characters and cameras to move around your diagram in real-time. Previsualize the rhythm of a scene by seeing it play out. • SHOT LIST - The integrated Shot List is tied into the diagram and writes itself while you work. Edit shots intuitively in the diagram, not in a confusing spreadsheet. • DIRECTOR'S VIEWFINDER / STORYBOARDS - Bring in lens-accurate camera angles via the integrated Director's Viewfinder or Storyboard Import. • MAC/PC DESKTOP VERSION - An identical Mac/PC Desktop Version is included with the Pro Version (in-app upgrade). • SYNC & TEAM SHARING - Sync your scenes across all your devices. Share scene folders with teams. Control who owns which scene. (Pro Feature) Watch the feature-demo at https://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/shot-designer-videos.html CAMERA-BLOCKING ON STEROIDS Shot Designer was developed by Per Holmes, the creator of the renowned Hollywood Camera Work training, and has been developed in conjunction with major TV and Film productions. Shot Designer is based on the realization that neither Camera Diagrams, Shot Lists, or Storyboards by themselves give you a satisfying understanding of camera-blocking -- you have to use them *together*. Shot Designer is FAST. The app knows how Directing works and automatically does most of the work for you. Cameras rearrange themselves when you move characters. Animate characters and cameras with simple Walk To and Track To commands. Create sophisticated tracking shots with multiple marks. Shot Designer is fast enough that you can rearrange the diagram with actors waiting. OTHER FEATURES • Integrated Set Designer for building floor plans. • Integrated Lighting Designer for DPs, with lighting symbols provided by Ari Golan of Atomic Imaging Studios Chicago. • Import production drawings as backgrounds and block on top of them. • Factory Templates of pre-made camera setups for any situation. • Make your own templates as starting points for new scenes. • Large and growing prop/furniture library. Email us requests, we'll build them. • Scene Freeze: Experiment easily by taking snapshots you can return to (Pro). • PDF/JPG/Excel export and emailing of Camera Diagrams and Shot Lists (Pro). • Unlimited Folder Structure for organizing scenes (Pro). The Free Version of Shot Designer is full-featured except for Save, Export and Sync/Team. Your current scene is always saved, and you can be fully productive working on one scene at a time. The Pro Version (in-app upgrade) adds File Management, identical Mac/PC Desktop Version, Sync and Team Sharing, PDF/JPG/Excel Export and more.
Light & Shadow
Explore studio portrait lighting in AR on your iPhone or iPad. Learn lighting basics with interactive 3D models of studio setups and see how different light placements affect portraits. Choose your viewpoint to study lighting techniques.
- AR Studio Lighting Setups
- Interactive 3D Models
- Learn Lighting Basics
- Adjust Viewpoint
- Black and White/Color Modes
- Light Position Descriptions
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Using your iphone or ipad you can step into a Portrait Lighting Studio wherever you are. View a variety of Studio Lighting Setups in full size 3D. Learn the basics of portrait lighting using one light and a reflector or two light setups. This interactive app lets you move around the virtual studio and choose your point of view – study the light placement used to light the model or move in close to focus on the portrait. Features: 9 basic studio portrait light setups Description of each light position and the effect on the portrait back and white and color modes
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Light & Shadow at none against Shot Designer's 1. Light & Shadow also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and rating (4.0 vs 3.8). Shot Designer's advantage is ratings volume (10 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Shot Designer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Light & Shadow asks for nothing beyond the download.
Light & Shadow holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Shot Designer has 10 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Shot Designer's written reviews are positive against 100% of Light & Shadow's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shot Designer | Light & Shadow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (10 ratings) | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 138 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hollywood Camera Work SRL | paulo majano |
Customer experience
Shot Designer
Light & Shadow
Bugs and requests
Shot Designer
Reported bugs
17 issues- White screen of death on app launch
- App crashes when adding image props
- Login not working on iPhone devices
- Cannot register due to UI form scrolling errors
- Keyboard overlay blocking sign-in form
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- Sync deletes user work unexpectedly
- Pro version purchase not recognized after updates
- Cannot save designs to phone
- App doesn't fill entire screen on modern devices
- Lag when renaming scenes
- Keyboard doesn't appear when naming files
- Difficulty selecting objects when grouped closely together
- App crashes on iPhone 6s and newer devices
- Incompatibility with iOS 10.2 and later
- Director's viewfinder doesn't save metadata to photo gallery
- Cross-device sync losing work
- Account login issues between iOS and desktop versions
Requested features
25 requests- Apple Pencil integration for iPad
- Import custom designs and elements
- Drag-and-drop file import from Files app
- More lighting instruments and props
- PDF export functionality
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- Ability to import background images from Files app (not just Photos)
- Copy and paste functionality
- Assignable character names for multiple scenes
- Moveable background images
- Scene metadata for automatic camera labeling
- Ability to reorder shots in Mac version
- Undo functionality
- iCloud sync support
- Google Drive integration
- Full-screen mode for modern iPhones
- French language support
- Spanish language support
- Scene duplication feature
- More than 5 pages available
- Storyboard animation export
- Audio/soundtrack integration
- Script import capability
- Hide individual objects instead of entire categories
- Retina Display support for Mac
- Real-time sync between devices
Light & Shadow
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Shot Designer
- Pro Version Upgrade$19.99
Light & Shadow
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Shot Designer free?
Is Light & Shadow free?
Which has better reviews, Shot Designer or Light & Shadow?
Do Shot Designer or Light & Shadow have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shot Designer or Light & Shadow?
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