Comparison

Long Exposure Toolkit vs Light Meter Ultra

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

Head to head
About

Long Exposure Toolkit

This app provides DSLR photographers with a suite of tools for creating long exposure photographs. It includes calculators for ND filters, light metering, time-lapses, and exposure values, along with tips and a photo feed for inspiration.

Highlights
  • ND Calculator
  • Light Meter
  • Timelapse Calculator
  • Exposure Value (EV) Calculator
  • Star Trail Calculator
  • Exposure Timer
  • Flickr Photo Feed
Features
Read full description

Beautiful light doesn’t happen by accident. Long Exposure Toolkit gives creative photographers the tools to plan the light, find the moon and stars, calculate long exposures, and get the shot right — from golden hour to deep into the night. PLAN THE LIGHT, NOT JUST THE SHOT Track every phase of natural light throughout the day, including civil and nautical dawn, blue hour, golden hour, solar noon, sunset and dusk. Follow the live sun-path arc, see exact times for every transition, and get a live countdown to your next photographic window. MOON, STARS, AND THE NIGHT SKY Point your iPhone at the sky and the Moon Finder guides you towards the moon using the live camera and a precision compass rose. Follow the moon’s path through the night, check moonrise and moonset for your location, and plan for upcoming lunar eclipses. For star-trail photography, choose any star or constellation from the built-in catalogue and view its declination arc — ideal for planning and compositing very long star-trail exposures. LONG EXPOSURES, MADE PRECISE Use the built-in light meter to measure the scene, select your ND filter strength, and quickly calculate the corrected shutter speed. When exposures run into minutes or hours, the built-in timer counts them for you and chimes when they’re complete. THE COMPLETE TOOLKIT • Golden Hour — a light planner for golden hour, blue hour, dawn, dusk, solar noon and live sun-path tracking • Moon Finder — locate the moon, follow its path, and check moonrise, moonset, eclipse and other information • Star Trails — view declination arcs for stars and constellations to help plan long star-trail exposures • Light Meter — live camera metering with ISO, aperture and shutter-speed readout • ND Calculator — calculate corrected exposure times for ND filters • Timelapse — calculate the interval and number of shots required for your chosen movie length • Stops — calculate the exposure difference between any two f-stops, shutter speeds or ISO values • EV Calculator — calculate exposure value from camera settings or measure the EV of the current scene • Timer — time long exposures with an audible alert when the exposure is complete • Torch — adjustable LED torch plus a screen light with a full colour picker for light painting; save your favourite colours for quick access • Inspiration — browse long-exposure photography from the Flickr community and see the camera settings used to create each image • Technique — more than 70 tips covering long-exposure technique, ND filters, subjects, camera settings, focusing and field craft Whether you’re photographing silky water, moving clouds, city lights, the moon, blue hour or star trails, Long Exposure Toolkit gives you the essential planning and exposure tools all in one place.

About

Light Meter Ultra

This app provides precise light metering for film photography, eliminating the need for external hardware. It offers various metering modes and customizable profiles to ensure perfect exposures for manual cameras. Advanced features like reciprocity failure correction are available with a PRO plan.

Highlights
  • Aperture Priority Metering
  • Shutter Priority Metering
  • Exposure Priority Metering
  • Customizable ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture
  • Exposure Compensation
  • Reciprocity Failure Correction
  • Custom Camera Profiles
Read full description

Fast, precise and easy to use. Get perfect exposures every time. No additional hardware required. Say goodbye to arcane Sunny 16. Figuring out the best exposure settings for your manual camera doesn’t have to be difficult. Light Meter Ultra for iPhone gives you the exact readings you need for your camera by simply pointing your device at the scene. Precise measurements mean you can dial in the perfect exposure settings for capturing the widest dynamic range, whilst customizable shooting profiles allow you to switch between settings with a single tap. Download now and take advantage of our free plan which includes our precision Aperture Priority metering mode, limited settings, and single-use shooting profiles. Or choose one of our PRO plans and gain access to everything the app has to offer, including our full suite of professional metering modes, quick-select reusable shooting profiles, plus advanced features such as reciprocity failure correction that you won't find elsewhere. Capture your creative vision with powerful features, including: - Aperture Priority Metering Mode - Shutter Priority Metering Mode* - Exposure Priority Metering Mode* - Stop increment selection of full, half or third stops* - Customizable ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture ranges* - Exposure Compensation - Exposure Lock - Sample Offset - Custom Camera Profiles* - Detachable Lens Profiles* - Film/Emulsion Profiles* - Bulb-mode* - Reciprocity Failure Correction* *Features marked with an asterisk require an active PRO plan Download now and start metering on your iPhone today. Terms of Use: https://lightmeterultra.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://lightmeterultra.com/privacy

Screenshots

Long Exposure Toolkit4 screens
Light Meter Ultra4 screens

Verdict

The call

Long Exposure Toolkit and Light Meter Ultra both sit at 4.5 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Long Exposure Toolkit's written reviews are positive against 38% of Light Meter Ultra's. Long Exposure Toolkit also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6). Light Meter Ultra's advantage is price (Free vs $5.99) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 months). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Light Meter Ultra is free to download; Long Exposure Toolkit costs $5.99 up front. Light Meter Ultra sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Long Exposure Toolkit asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Light Meter Ultra holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Light Meter Ultra has 738 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Long Exposure Toolkit's written reviews are positive against 38% of Light Meter Ultra's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Long Exposure Toolkit ships an update every 3 months, Light Meter Ultra every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Long Exposure Toolkit versus Light Meter Ultra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLong Exposure ToolkitLight Meter Ultra
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (4 ratings)4.7 (738 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better37.9% of reviews
Number of ratings4738 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB81 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrew OffieldUltrafine

Customer experience

Long Exposure Toolkit

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Light Meter Ultra

All ratings738 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral2.4%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive37.9%
Neutral11.5%
Negative50.6%

Bugs and requests

Long Exposure Toolkit

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Light Meter Ultra

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Camera integration issues causing failed exposures
  • Inconsistent metering results compared to standalone meters

Requested features

4 requests
  • Offline mode for remote shooting
  • Wider aperture and shutter speed range
  • Support for more camera/film types
  • Customizable exposure bias/compensation

In-app purchases

None

Long Exposure Toolkit

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Light Meter Ultra

Subscriptions3
  • Light Meter7 Days trial2 variants$7.997 Days
  • Light Meter2 variants$11.991 Month
  • Light Meter2 variants$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Long Exposure Toolkit free?
Long Exposure Toolkit costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Light Meter Ultra free?
Light Meter Ultra is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Long Exposure Toolkit or Light Meter Ultra?
Light Meter Ultra is rated higher. Long Exposure Toolkit averages 4.5 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Light Meter Ultra averages 4.7 from 738 ratings.
Do Long Exposure Toolkit or Light Meter Ultra have ads?
Neither Long Exposure Toolkit nor Light Meter Ultra shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Long Exposure Toolkit or Light Meter Ultra?
Long Exposure Toolkit ships an update every 3 months, and Light Meter Ultra every 8 days. Most recently, Long Exposure Toolkit was updated on October 19, 2026 and Light Meter Ultra on October 30, 2026.

Other comparisons