Comparison

SlowLightMeter vs ProFilm Meter

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

Head to head
About

SlowLightMeter

This app provides a simple and accurate light meter for film photographers. It continuously measures light with minimal interaction and includes an ISO lock to prevent accidental changes. EV values are a core feature for ease of use.

Highlights
  • Reflective and incident light metering
  • Continuous light measurement
  • ISO lock
  • EV value display
  • Simple interface
Features
Read full description

As a film photographer, I wanted an accurate yet simple reflective and incident light meter. After trying several, I decided to build my own. This light meter continuously measures light, so it requires minimal interaction during a shoot. To avoid accidentally changing film ISO, I added an ISO lock. And since I shoot often with my Hasselblad, I made EV values a core feature of the app.

About

ProFilm Meter

This app acts as a comprehensive light meter and exposure toolkit for film photographers. It supports various film formats and calculates complex exposure adjustments like reciprocity failure and bellows compensation. Features include real-time metering, film stock libraries, and flash metering.

Highlights
  • Precision reflected-light meter
  • On-device film stock library
  • Reciprocity failure correction
  • Bellows compensation calculation
  • RA4 Color Reversal estimates
  • Flash metering and trigger
  • Lens-independent viewfinder zoom
Read full description

ProFilm Meter is the most complete light meter and exposure toolkit for film photographers. From 35mm to 8×10 large format, dry plates to tintypes, it handles every calculation you'd normally reach for three separate tools to solve — all offline, all in real time. LIGHT METERING Your phone's camera becomes a precision reflected-light meter. Choose spot, center-weighted, or average metering and dial in exposure with ⅓-stop, full-stop, or any combination of increment sets running simultaneously. A live RGB histogram keeps highlight and shadow zones in view at all times. Native per-frame ISO, shutter, and aperture capture at ~10 fps Multi-point metering: average 2–4 scene readings into one exposure value Tap-to-focus and multi-lens camera selection Adaptive EV smoothing adjusts for scene changes automatically Screen stays awake during active metering sessions CALIBRATION Two-point guided calibration locks each camera to a trusted reference. After calibration, a fine-tune step lets you match any external meter in ⅓-stop increments. Uncalibrated cameras are gated with a full-screen prompt so you never shoot on an unmeasured body. FILM STOCKS & RECIPROCITY An on-device film stock library covers 35mm, 120, and large format emulsions — including the full Zebra Dry Plate collection. Every stock carries its own reciprocity profile. Eight built-in profiles (Acros II, T-Max, HP5+, Portra, Fomapan, Zebra, and more) plus full custom profile creation, including Schwarzschild p-factor and optional threshold. Add custom film formats and reciprocity profiles inline, without leaving the film stock screen. COMPENSATIONS Reciprocity failure — corrected automatically for exposures beyond threshold Bellows compensation — calculated stop-for-stop from draw and focal length RA4 Color Reversal — estimates scene color temperature and gives you Mired-shift filter corrections for color positives; works in both ambient and flash mode Spectral sensitivity — metering coefficients adjusted for panchromatic, orthochromatic, and blue-sensitive emulsions Lens filters — ND (1–10 stops), polarizer, yellow/orange/red/green contrast filters, R72 and deep IR, plus custom filters Positive/reversal process — +0.5 stop compensation, auto-enabled for tintype stocks UV/environmental compensation — adjustable for altitude and atmospheric conditions IR Light Estimator — dedicated tool for infrared exposure estimation FLASH Flash metering detects incident flash via fast polling with peak-hold and sticky arming. A built-in flash trigger supports Optical Slave (fires the LED torch to trip slaved units) and Cable Sync (audio click for USB-C to PC-sync adapters). VIEWFINDER A lens-independent viewfinder zoom gives consistent framing regardless of which physical lens the phone uses. Overlay your chosen film format frame lines and compose like you're looking through a director's viewfinder. FIELD JOURNAL Save any exposure to the journal with one tap. Each entry records ISO, aperture, shutter speed, EV, reciprocity correction, RA4 and spectral corrections, GPS coordinates, and a cropped preview photo. Entries are exportable and shareable. EXTRA TOOLS Depth of Field Calculator — for any format and focal length Zebra Exposure Guide — zone-system reference for dry plate work Alternative Processes Meter — cyanotype, platinum, salt print, and more Step Wedge Tool — exposure planning for contact printing Rolling Shutter Calculator — flash sync safety for focal-plane shutters 20 FILM FORMATS 35mm · 6×4.5 · 6×6 · 6×7 · 6×9 · 4×5 · 5×7 · 8×10 · 9×12cm · 10×10 · 10×12 · 11×14 · 12×12 · 13×18cm · 20×24 · Sixth Plate · Quarter Plate · Half Plate · Whole Plate · custom dimensions 7 LANGUAGES English · Slovenian · Spanish · French · German · Japanese · Simplified Chinese PRIVACY All metering and calculation runs entirely on-device. No account required. No data leaves your phone.

Screenshots

SlowLightMeter2 screens
ProFilm Meter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SlowLightMeter at Free against ProFilm Meter's $14.99. On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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

SlowLightMeter is free to download; ProFilm Meter costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for SlowLightMeter against 5.0 for ProFilm Meter. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SlowLightMeter ships an update every 4 days, ProFilm Meter weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 18, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
SlowLightMeter versus ProFilm Meter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSlowLightMeterProFilm Meter
PriceFree — better$14.99
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAri JaaksiScott Henderson

Customer experience

SlowLightMeter

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ProFilm Meter

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

SlowLightMeter

No in-app purchases

None

ProFilm Meter

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SlowLightMeter free?
SlowLightMeter is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ProFilm Meter free?
ProFilm Meter costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SlowLightMeter or ProFilm Meter?
SlowLightMeter and ProFilm Meter are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do SlowLightMeter or ProFilm Meter have ads?
Neither SlowLightMeter nor ProFilm Meter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SlowLightMeter or ProFilm Meter?
SlowLightMeter ships an update every 4 days, and ProFilm Meter weekly. Most recently, SlowLightMeter was updated on September 18, 2026 and ProFilm Meter on September 15, 2026.

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