Comparison

Light Meter Wheel vs Lumu Light Meter

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

Head to head
About

Light Meter Wheel

This app offers a fast, visual, and precise way to measure light for photography. It features a unique exposure wheel that displays aperture, shutter speed, and ISO simultaneously, giving photographers instant control and clarity.

Highlights
  • Real exposure wheel with all values in one view
  • Real-time metering with instant EV readings
  • Wide ISO and shutter speed range
  • Exposure timer for long exposures
  • Incident metering using front camera
  • Calibration for accuracy
Features
Read full description

Light Meter Wheel brings a unique way to measure light — fast, visual and precise. Instead of switching modes, everything is visible at once. Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are seamlessly connected through a real exposure wheel, giving you full control at a glance. Designed for photographers who value clarity, speed and accuracy. Also especially useful for pinhole photography, where its wide aperture range and long exposure timer make setting exposures straightforward. Features • Real exposure wheel with all values in one view • Real-time metering with instant EV readings • Wide ISO range: 0.8 – 6400 • Shutter speeds from 1/8000s to 4 hours • Apertures from f/0.7 to f/1024 • Exposure timer (perfect for long exposures & pinhole) • HOLD function to lock readings • Incident metering using the front camera • Custom backgrounds and light/dark modes • Calibration for maximum accuracy Built by a photographer, for photographers.

About

Lumu Light Meter

This app functions as a standalone reflective light meter or pairs with hardware for professional flash and color temperature measurements. It offers various modes for photography and videography, storing measurements with notes and location.

Highlights
  • Standalone reflective light meter
  • Flash and color temperature metering
  • Photo and cine/video modes
  • Spot metering
  • Color temperature in Kelvin
  • Store measurements with notes
Read full description

The light metering tool for every great image maker. Use the standalone app as a reflective light meter or use it in combination with Lumu Power hardware for professional Flash and Color Temperature measurements. Lumu Power is an easy-to-use digital incident color and light meter that works seamlessly with the free Lumu app to deliver Color Temperature, Illuminance, Spot, Ambient, and Flash Exposure metering functionality on your iPhone. A new expression of what a light meter can be, Lumu meets the needs of enthusiasts, professionals, and students who find existing light metering solutions too bulky, expensive, and complicated. “The Lumu Power is without any doubt the most full featured light meter I have ever owned. It’s tiny, it weighs hardly anything, it manages to offer a feature set that expands way beyond what most will ever need from such a device.” - www.35mmc.com Key features: - SPOT METERING: Use your phone’s camera as a reflective light meter. With Lumu Power: - PHOTO SINGLE mode: Giving you exact parameters: exposure time, f-number, ISO, EV, lux. - PHOTO MULTI mode: Calculating average value or contrast between multiple measurements. - PHOTO PINHOLE mode: Measuring exposure time for custom pinhole camera settings. - CINE/VIDEO mode: Set FPS, F-number, exposure time and ISO. Get the values for the ambiental light. - FLASH EXPOSURE: See the graph of flash duration, measure its intensity. - COLOR TEMPERATURE: Read light Color temperature in Kelvin and Green/Magenta shift. - CHROMATICITY: See light colour in CIE1931 diagram and get X,Y,Z coordinates. - ILLUMINANCE mode: showing incident light level in lux / foot-candle values. - NOTES: Store all your measurements together with geo-location, custom notes and your photo in one place. + ND FILTERS, EXPOSURE COMPENSATION and more… Visit http://lu.mu/ to learn more.

Screenshots

Light Meter Wheel4 screens
Lumu Light Meter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Lumu Light Meter at Free against Light Meter Wheel's $1.99. Lumu Light Meter also leads on ratings volume (99 vs 12) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). Light Meter Wheel's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 3.4) and review sentiment (91% vs 53%). On update cadence, ads 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

Lumu Light Meter is free to download; Light Meter Wheel costs $1.99 up front. Lumu Light Meter sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Light Meter Wheel asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Light Meter Wheel holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lumu Light Meter has 99 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of Light Meter Wheel's written reviews are positive against 53% of Lumu Light Meter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Light Meter Wheel ships an update every 2 months, Lumu Light Meter monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Light Meter Wheel versus Lumu Light Meter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLight Meter WheelLumu Light Meter
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (12 ratings) — better3.4 (99 ratings)
Positive reviews91.3% of reviews — better52.8% of reviews
Number of ratings1299 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid QuilesLumu d.o.o.

Customer experience

Light Meter Wheel

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive91.3%
Neutral4.3%
Negative4.3%

Lumu Light Meter

All ratings99 ratings
Positive56.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative37.4%
Written reviews106 reviews
Positive52.8%
Neutral4.7%
Negative42.5%

Bugs and requests

Light Meter Wheel

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Lumu Light Meter

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • 🐛 LUX value shown as FootCandle
  • 🐛 ISO keeps changing when metering
  • 🐛 Color temp readout option disappeared
  • 🐛 Error when factory resetting module
  • 🐛 Cannot read CCT
Show 9 more
  • 🐛 App no longer recognizes original Lumu
  • 🐛 Photo Ambient mode turns off
  • 🐛 Device not recognized after app update
  • 🐛 High-pitched squeal on app open
  • 🐛 Loud painful high frequency noise with earphones
  • 🐛 Saved files not found
  • 🐛 App not working with older iPhones
  • 🐛 Exposure compensation backwards
  • 🐛 Extremely high pitched squeal

Requested features

11 requests
  • 💡 Aperture priority mode
  • 💡 Ability to lock aperture
  • 💡 Analog style shutter speed/aperture display
  • 💡 Option to see all equivalent exposure settings at a glance
  • 💡 Ability to take two readings and see difference in stops
Show 6 more
  • 💡 Use phone's volume button to take reading
  • 💡 Add lower ISO options (below 50)
  • 💡 Half-stop increments for ISO/aperture
  • 💡 Video mode
  • 💡 Location tracking for readings
  • 💡 Sync only on Wi-Fi setting

In-app purchases

None

Light Meter Wheel

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Lumu Light Meter

One-time3
  • Lite to Power Upgrade$69.99
  • Power to Pro Upgrade$229.99
  • Lite to Pro Upgrade$249.99

Questions

Is Light Meter Wheel free?
Light Meter Wheel costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lumu Light Meter free?
Lumu Light Meter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Light Meter Wheel or Lumu Light Meter?
Light Meter Wheel is rated higher. Light Meter Wheel averages 4.7 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Lumu Light Meter averages 3.4 from 99 ratings.
Do Light Meter Wheel or Lumu Light Meter have ads?
Neither Light Meter Wheel nor Lumu Light Meter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Light Meter Wheel or Lumu Light Meter?
Light Meter Wheel ships an update every 2 months, and Lumu Light Meter monthly. Most recently, Light Meter Wheel was updated on September 24, 2026 and Lumu Light Meter on September 19, 2026.

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