Comparison

GrayZone 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

GrayZone

This app acts as a precise light meter for photographers, allowing you to measure light in specific areas of your scene. It helps achieve consistent exposure and accurate tonal representation, especially in challenging lighting conditions.

Highlights
  • Zone System Mode for tonal analysis
  • Real SPOT metering for selected areas
  • Direct exposure control with ISO, shutter speed, and aperture
  • Live preview with native sensor ratio
  • UI color inversion option
  • No ads or data collection
Read full description

GrayZone reads light where you decide — not where your camera guesses. Built by Max of max&douglas — professional photographer with 25 years in editorial and advertising photography. Zone System Mode Measure a reference area first (Zone V), then check where the other tones will fall and their relative EV difference, for precise and consistent exposure. Real SPOT Metering Reads light exclusively in the area you select. Ideal for portraits, complex lighting and critical situations. Calibrated to render the selected area as neutral gray. Direct Exposure Control Set ISO before metering, like a dedicated light meter. Instant precise combinations of shutter speed and aperture. Exposure lock with AE LOCK. Half-stop support for finer control. MANUAL mode with over/underexposure scale. Essential Interface Live preview in your sensor's native ratio. NEW UI color inversion Shows only what you need. Nothing else. Complete Privacy No ads. No photos saved. No data collected or transmitted. For manual shooters — on film or digital. It does not replace your camera. It works alongside it.

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

GrayZone4 screens
ProFilm Meter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: GrayZone at $2.99 against ProFilm Meter's $14.99. GrayZone also leads on chart position (#32 vs unranked) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). ProFilm Meter's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 2.8) and review sentiment (100% vs 63%). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

GrayZone costs $2.99 and ProFilm Meter $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ProFilm Meter holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GrayZone has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of GrayZone's written reviews are positive against 100% of ProFilm Meter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
GrayZone versus ProFilm Meter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGrayZoneProFilm Meter
Price$2.99 — better$14.99
Rating2.8 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#32 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB57 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMassimiliano SchenettiScott Henderson

Customer experience

GrayZone

All ratings5 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive62.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative37.5%

ProFilm Meter

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

In-app purchases

None

GrayZone

No in-app purchases

None

ProFilm Meter

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is GrayZone free?
GrayZone costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ProFilm Meter free?
ProFilm Meter costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, GrayZone or ProFilm Meter?
ProFilm Meter is rated higher. GrayZone averages 2.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while ProFilm Meter averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do GrayZone or ProFilm Meter have ads?
Neither GrayZone nor ProFilm Meter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GrayZone or ProFilm Meter?
GrayZone ships an update weekly, and ProFilm Meter weekly. Most recently, GrayZone was updated on September 22, 2026 and ProFilm Meter on September 15, 2026.

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