DevelopFilm vs Cutvey Meter
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DevelopFilm
This app is a pocket darkroom companion for black-and-white film development. It offers official developing times, a smart timer with agitation guidance, and full process control. Track your film details and parameters in a built-in journal to refine your workflow and achieve consistent results.
- Official developing times database
- Smart timer with agitation guidance
- Full process control adjustments
- Built-in film roll journal
- Quick custom timer
- Darkroom-ready minimal interface
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Your pocket darkroom for black-and-white film. DevelopFilm is a complete darkroom companion designed to help you develop film with confidence — whether it’s your first roll or your hundredth. Official developing times: Access precise data from manufacturer datasheets for Adox, Bergger, Foma, Fujifilm, Ilford, Kentmere, Kodak, Rollei, and more. The library is continuously expanding. Smart timer with agitation guidance: Run a clean dual-phase timer for developing and fixing, with built-in agitation reminders and visual alerts. Full process control: Adjust by temperature, developer reuse, push/pull stops, processing vessel, fixer, stop bath, toners, and more — everything that affects your final look. Built-in journal: Keep track of every roll. Save your film details, developing parameters, notes, and photos so you can repeat your best results or refine your workflow. Quick Timer: Need flexibility? Set a custom time and start developing instantly. Darkroom-ready design: A minimal, dark-mode interface that stays readable under safe lights and keeps you focused on the process. Whether you’re new to film developing or refining your craft, DevelopFilm helps you stay consistent, learn faster, and enjoy every step of the process. Upgrade to Darkroom Pass to unlock pro features like push/pull adjustments, fixer timer, and photo journaling. Terms of Use: mirnijatom.github.io/terms.html Privacy Policy: mirnijatom.github.io/privacy.html
Cutvey Meter
This app uses your camera to measure light color temperature, tint, and exposure in real-time. It also tracks the sun's path and helps match lighting setups for cinematographers and photographers.
- Real-time Kelvin, tint, and lux readings
- Sun path tracking with hour markers
- Light matching with gel recommendations
- Live ND filter recommendations
- Reading stability indicators
- Save and compare readings with frames
- Customizable calibration for accuracy
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Color meter. Light meter. Sun tracker. ND calculator. Everything you need to nail white balance, tint, exposure and golden hour, on the iPhone and iPad you already carry, and now on Apple Watch. WHITE BALANCE, NAILED Point at a gray card and read the light on every lens your device has: color temperature in kelvin and tint in green and magenta, live. Set it on your camera and roll. Hold LOG for a second opinion, read straight from the sensor's RAW pixels. MATCH EVERY LIGHT Pin one light with REF, or type the color you are shooting for: 3200, 5600, anything. Point at the next fixture and see how far off it is in kelvin and tint, so you know which way to dial it. Still carry gels? It names the LEE or Rosco filter too. Turn on Stops for your key-to-fill ratio. EXPOSURE, SOLVED Lux and EV, live. Set your frame rate, shutter, ISO and stop once, and the right ND for your rig is always on screen. Or solve for any of the four. NO FLICKER. NO SURPRISES. On 50 or 60 Hz power, if your shutter would catch a flickering light, the meter tells you, and fixes it in one tap. CONFIDENCE YOU CAN SEE HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW. Every reading tells you how far to trust it. And when the light itself is the problem, whether flicker, two lights mixing on your gray card or a color past what a camera can read, it says DIFFICULT SOURCE. GOLDEN HOUR, TO THE MINUTE The sun's path, drawn over the live view with the horizon and a compass. Golden hour and blue hour to the minute, here or wherever you shoot next, on that place's own clock. Drag the scrubber to see tomorrow's light today. SCOUT ANY LOCATION Search a place or press and hold to mark one, pick a day, and see the sun's path over the map, how long the shadows run and where you took each reading. Tilt into 3D, or look down from the sun. Share the plan with your crew, with or without the location. ON YOUR WRIST Meter from across the set with Apple Watch. Read the light, log with a Double Tap, browse your logged readings, check your ND, and get a heads-up fifteen minutes before golden hour. Your rig, your last reading and the next window, right on your watch face. EVERY READING, REMEMBERED Each reading saves with the frame you shot. Browse them as a contact sheet, compare any two and see what it takes to match them, or share one in a tap. TUNED TO YOUR METER Own a reference meter? Calibrate each lens against it, and check it at the temperatures you shoot, because a camera drifts from warm to cool. YOUR UNITS. YOUR LANGUAGE. ND as density, stops or factor. T-stop or f-stop. Angle or speed. 12 or 24-hour time. Lux or foot-candles. 41 languages. iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. THE FINE PRINT It is a camera, not a spectrometer. Three color channels cannot see the shape of a spectrum, so a spiky LED can read steady and still be off. Lux is worked out from exposure: close on a gray card, an estimate anywhere else. Tint is a starting point, not a lab measurement. One purchase unlocks it for good, or sign in with an active Cutvey membership. No ads. No third-party tracking. Your readings, frames and location stay on your own devices unless you share them. The map and place search come from Apple Maps. Privacy policy: https://cutvey.com/legal/privacy Terms: https://cutvey.com/legal/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Cutvey Meter at free against DevelopFilm's freemium. Cutvey Meter also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 11 days) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. DevelopFilm sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Cutvey Meter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for DevelopFilm against 5.0 for Cutvey Meter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 2 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
DevelopFilm ships an update every 11 days, Cutvey Meter every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DevelopFilm | Cutvey Meter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 24 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleksandrs Bertulis | Cutvey LLC |
Customer experience
DevelopFilm
Cutvey Meter
In-app purchases
DevelopFilm
- Darkroom Pass Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Darkroom Pass Yearly7 Days trial$17.991 Year
- Lifetime Pro$34.99
Cutvey Meter
- Unlock Cutvey Meter$19.99
Questions
Is DevelopFilm free?
Is Cutvey Meter free?
Which has better reviews, DevelopFilm or Cutvey Meter?
Do DevelopFilm or Cutvey Meter have ads?
Which is updated more often, DevelopFilm or Cutvey Meter?
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