Shot Designer vs Northlight DP
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.
Northlight DP
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Northlight predicts how your lights will actually render on camera — before you roll. If you light people for a living — cinematographers, gaffers, DPs, camera operators, and serious content creators — you know the guesswork. A fixture's box-spec Kelvin is a claim, mixed sources fight each other, and you burn set time on white-balance tests instead of shooting. Northlight replaces the guesswork with real color science: tell it your fixtures, your camera, and the look you want at the subject, and it solves how every source renders at your camera's white balance — then hands you the exact Kelvin and tint to set on each light and the white balance to set on the camera. It's a planning instrument, not a control surface. Northlight computes the targets; you dial them into your own gear by hand. Nothing to connect, no accounts, no subscriptions. — Design the look Place your fixtures on a top-down plan around your subject, set each one's color and intensity, and dial the look you want at the face. Northlight solves it live: the combined color at the subject, the key-to-fill contrast ratio, and the illuminance, with warm/cool and gel-equivalent read-outs. A master level fader and a subject color dial push the whole look while your ratios hold. — Calibrate with your phone A fixture's nominal Kelvin is a claim; a measurement is the truth. In the Measure tab, point your iPhone at a grey card under a light and Northlight reads how it really renders — median-aggregated across frames, held steady by a stability gate — and records it against that fixture. From then on your predictions match the gear you actually own, not the marketing spec. — See it rendered On ray-tracing-capable Apple silicon, a path-traced preview shows a head lit by your exact setup: real perspective from your camera's spot, your chosen lens, a skin tone or neutral clay reference, bounce cards and negative fill, windows and room bounce. Read the modeling and the color cast before you're on set. Every other feature works without ray-tracing hardware. — Three ways to balance Camera-locked holds your white balance and re-dials your bi-color sources to reach the look. Follows-subject anchors the camera to the mix at the face. Explore sweeps every lever at once. Pick the instrument that fits your intent. — Yours, everywhere Your fixture and camera libraries and every saved look sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac over iCloud, automatically, in your own iCloud account. No account to create, no sign-in, no ads, no analytics, no data collection. The camera is used only on your device to meter a grey card — no images ever leave it. Northlight opens on a ready-made Demo look, so you can start experimenting immediately. Northlight is an independent product and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any manufacturer named in the app. Product names are used for identification and compatibility reference only, and catalog values are published nominal specifications — measure your own units for accuracy.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Northlight DP at none against Shot Designer's 1. Northlight DP also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). Shot Designer's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Northlight DP asks for nothing beyond the download.
Shot Designer ships an update monthly, Northlight DP every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shot Designer | Northlight DP |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (10 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 68.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 82 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hollywood Camera Work SRL | Matthew Grdinic |
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
Northlight DP
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Shot Designer
- Pro Version Upgrade$19.99
Northlight DP
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Shot Designer free?
Is Northlight DP free?
Do Shot Designer or Northlight DP have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shot Designer or Northlight DP?
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