Comparison

Frontier Minilab vs Luma · Light Meter

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

Head to head
About

Frontier Minilab

Recreate the classic film lab aesthetic on your iPhone. Apply authentic presets, fine-tune colors with CMYK controls, and batch edit entire rolls of film. Experience instant, lag-free edits with haptic feedback.

Highlights
  • Authentic film lab presets
  • CMYK color control
  • Batch editing
  • GPU-accelerated Metal rendering
  • Custom haptic feedback
  • Film borders and contact sheets
  • Google Drive export
Features
Read full description

Frontier brings the film lab to your iPhone. The Frontier scanner has defined the film lab look for decades. Warm highlights. Smooth rolloff. Colors that feel right instead of processed. We studied thousands of Frontier scans. Built that look into three presets. Supra — Daylight warmth. Superia soul, Portra glow. Chrome — Tungsten cinema. Fujichrome punch, Kodachrome mood. XXX — Contrast and grain. Double-X grit, Tri-X punch. That's it. Metal fast. Runs on Apple's Metal framework. GPU-accelerated shaders render your edits in milliseconds. Drag a slider, see it instantly. No lag. No waiting. Batch editing. Edit up to 36 frames at once. Lock your settings, swipe through your roll, apply to the batch. Like a real lab. Feel every adjustment. 30+ custom haptics. Every tap, every slider tick, every preset has its own feel. CMYK color control. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Density. Adjust like a lab tech. Film borders. 14 authentic borders. Each preset has its own. Contact sheets. Auto-generated proof sheets. Perfect for carousels or archiving. Google Drive export. Export direct. Browse folders. Stay organized. Try free for 7 days. Then $3.99/month or $12.99/year. Terms of Use: https://frontierminilab.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://frontierminilab.com/privacy/

About

Luma · Light Meter

Features
Read full description

A mechanical camera does not forgive an exposure mistake: on a roll of 36, you only see your misses at the lab. Luma answers the one question that matters as you raise the camera — which aperture, which shutter speed, for this scene and this film? No shot log, no frame counter, no hidden settings. One screen, three values. LIVE METERING Your iPhone's camera becomes the meter. Luma continuously reads the exposure the phone settles on and converts it into an ISO 100 normalised EV, smoothed for a stable reading. No photo is ever saved: the image is analysed, then forgotten. ONE RECOMMENDATION, NOT A LIST Luma shows a single aperture and shutter pair, chosen for handheld shooting: at least 1/125 s to stay clear of camera shake, then f/5.6 to f/8 where the lens is sharpest. When light runs short, it opens the aperture before slowing the shutter. THE DIAL Every equivalent aperture / shutter pair scrolls under your thumb with clicking haptic feedback, like the shutter dial on the body. Pick f/2.8 to lift a portrait off its background, f/16 for a landscape sharp front to back — the shutter speed follows. SPOT METERING Tap the viewfinder to place the metering circle on your subject: a backlit face, a shadow worth keeping. Tap the circle to return to average metering. IT REFUSES TO LIE When the scene falls outside the camera's range, Luma says so — too dark, too bright — and shows no values at all. A wrong recommendation would be worse than none. IT EXPLAINS Two lines under the values: what the shown aperture does to depth of field, what the shown shutter speed means for shake. Enough to learn, roll after roll. FILM STOCKS Portra 160/400/800, Ektar 100, Gold 200, UltraMax 400, HP5+ 400, Tri-X 400, Delta 100/400, Fomapan 100/400 — plus manual ISO entry for everything else, including pushed or pulled film. Your choice stays loaded for the whole roll. BUILT FOR A SPECIFIC CAMERA Luma is calibrated for a Nikon FM2 with a 28 mm f/2.8 lens: 1 s to 1/4000 s, f/2.8 to f/22. It serves any manual camera sharing that range just as well — simply transfer the values to the stops your gear actually has. Independent project, not affiliated with Nikon; trademarks are named only to describe compatibility. IT ASKS FOR NOTHING No account, no ads, no network access: Luma works fully offline and collects no data whatsoever. Free, no in-app purchases, open source. Please note: the app's interface is in French. Luma is an aid, not a guarantee — cross-check it against a reference meter on a few scenes before trusting it with a roll.

Screenshots

Frontier Minilab4 screens
Luma · Light Meter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Luma · Light Meter at none against Frontier Minilab's 2. On price, 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

Both are free to download. Frontier Minilab sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Luma · Light Meter asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Frontier Minilab versus Luma · Light Meter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFrontier MinilabLuma · Light Meter
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size37 MB1 MB
Age rating12+4+
Developerelliot HasseÉlite Dangereuse

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Frontier Minilab

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$12.991 Year
None

Luma · Light Meter

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Frontier Minilab free?
Frontier Minilab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Luma · Light Meter free?
Luma · Light Meter is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Frontier Minilab or Luma · Light Meter have ads?
Neither Frontier Minilab nor Luma · Light Meter shows ads.

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