Comparison

GrayZone vs Second View

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

Second View

This tool assists photographers in planning shots by simulating their actual camera's field of view and aspect ratio. It includes a light meter, filter logging, and reciprocity correction for film stocks. Features like LiDAR distance measurement and composition guides help refine framing and exposure before taking the shot.

Highlights
  • Precise field-of-view matching
  • Real-time light meter with spot metering
  • ND, polarizer, and color filter logging
  • Reciprocity failure correction for 60 film stocks
  • LiDAR distance measurement
  • Composition and grid tools
  • Panorama simulation
Read full description

PLEASE READ FIRST Second View is not a camera app and does not take photos for you. It helps you frame, meter, and plan shots before you press the shutter on your own camera. The photos it saves are framing aids, not final images. --- Second View turns your iPhone into a precision field toolkit for analog photographers. Set your lens and format, and it crops the ultra-wide camera to match what your film camera will capture: same field of view, aspect ratio, and framing. Supports 35mm, medium format (6x4.5 through 6x17 panoramic), large format (4x5, 5x7, 8x10), digital sensor sizes, and custom sizes. VIEWFINDER Precise field-of-view matching for any focal length and format. Portrait or landscape, control side of your choice, even upside down. WORKSPACES Design your own bottom control panel. Arrange the controls you use, then switch layouts with an edge-swipe. Start from built-in layouts or build your own per kit. FREEZE MODE Pause the frame on a full-resolution still to compose rise and shift, spot-meter, and measure distance, all without the scene moving. LIGHT METER Select your aperture and the app calculates the shutter speed. EV compensation, hyperfocal distance, auto/manual modes, readout in shutter speed or EV, and whole/half/third-stop increments. BELLOWS COMPENSATION A meter cell folds close-focus light loss into your reading for macro and large-format work, set manually or by LiDAR. SPOT METERING Meter the whole frame, or switch to spot mode to read a small area with a reticle, calibrated against your reference meter. LENS FILTERS Log the ND, polarizer, and color filters on your lens. The meter compensates automatically, and every capture records them. RECIPROCITY CORRECTION 60 built-in film stocks with accurate reciprocity curves, plus your own. Exposures over one second are corrected automatically. Portra, CineStill, Tri-X, Velvia, and more, plus an ECN-2 category. Custom stocks support color or B&W, white balance, and a tunable curve. FILM AND FILTER PREVIEW Simulate B&W film with color filters in the preview and captures, and preview color-film white balance from the loaded stock. LONG EXPOSURE TIMER A countdown timer for long exposures, with a 3-second pre-countdown and a full-screen progress ring. LIDAR DISTANCE MEASUREMENT On iPhone 12 Pro and later, measure the distance to your subject with LiDAR by tapping the viewfinder. On other devices, enter it manually. PARALLAX CORRECTION Compensates for the physical offset between the iPhone and the taking lens, using LiDAR or a manual distance, applied automatically. RISE, FALL AND SHIFT Simulate the movements of a view or technical camera. Offset the crop up, down, left, or right in 1mm steps. COMPOSITION TOOLS Rule of thirds, phi grid, golden triangle, square 1:1, and a custom grid up to 12x12. Bubble level with roll and pitch readout. PANORAMA SIMULATION Preview a stitched multi-frame panorama before you shoot it, and save it as a plan. SHOT CHECKLIST Build a step-by-step checklist per kit and run through it in the viewfinder. One step can fire the shutter automatically when you reach it. CAMERA KITS Save complete configurations and switch instantly. Each kit stores its lenses, format, preferred stocks, workspace, parallax offsets, and checklist. Pick a body and the format picker narrows to the masks it can shoot, with a film-advance guide for multi-format cameras. FILM ROLL TRACKING Track your rolls from first frame to last, so you always know which is loaded and when it was exposed. CAPTURE AND GALLERY Save a reference photo cropped to the exact framing, with full metadata: focal length, format, stock, filters, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, rise/shift, GPS, and timestamp. Optionally export a frame with a data overlay. Edit data, add notes, group into rolls, and export a CSV log. --- Terms of Use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy : https://secondview.app/privacy

Screenshots

GrayZone4 screens
Second View4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Second View at Free against GrayZone's $2.99. Second View also leads on rating (4.0 vs 2.8) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.6). GrayZone's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, ratings volume, update cadence and device support 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

Second View is free to download; GrayZone costs $2.99 up front. Second View sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per year. GrayZone asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Second View holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 63% of GrayZone's written reviews are positive against 56% of Second View's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and August 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
GrayZone versus Second View: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGrayZoneSecond View
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating2.8 (5 ratings)4.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.5% of reviews — better55.6% of reviews
Number of ratings55
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#144 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS18.616.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMassimiliano SchenettiBenoit Linard

Customer experience

GrayZone

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

Second View

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive55.6%
Neutral11.1%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

GrayZone

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Second View

Subscriptions2
  • Second View Basic Yearly7 Days trial$7.991 Year
  • Second View Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year

Questions

Is GrayZone free?
GrayZone costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Second View free?
Second View is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, GrayZone or Second View?
Second View is rated higher. GrayZone averages 2.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Second View averages 4.0 from 5 ratings.
Do GrayZone or Second View have ads?
Second View shows ads; GrayZone does not.
Which is updated more often, GrayZone or Second View?
GrayZone ships an update weekly, and Second View weekly. Most recently, GrayZone was updated on September 22, 2026 and Second View on August 12, 2026.

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