Cine Meter II vs PaperDeveloper
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cine Meter II
This app functions as a professional light and color meter for cinematographers. It offers zoomable spot metering, RGB waveform monitoring, and false-color capabilities to analyze and adjust lighting for optimal shots. It also provides calculations for exposure settings like shutter speed and aperture.
- Zoomable spotmeter
- RGB waveform monitor
- False-color mode
- Incident meter with lux/foot-candle
- Color temperature and tint readings
- Exposure calculation (shutter speed, aperture, ND, ISO)
- Shutter angle support
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Cine Meter II measures light and color, so you can light and shoot and know what you'll get. “Cine Meter II is an essential app for every cinematographer.” — Jon Fauer, ASC “[T]he perfect app to have with you at all times.” — Roberto “Ganzo” Schaefer, ASC, AIC It's a zoomable spotmeter with an RGB waveform monitor and a false-color picture. It's an incident meter using a Lenny Hat or other diffusion, or Lumu™ Lite attachment, with lux and foot-candle readouts. (Lumu Power is NOT supported, and flash metering is NOT possible.) It's a color meter, showing color temperature and green/magenta tint, and giving you corrections to or from your target color. Measure more than just shutter-priority or aperture-priority: calculate shutter speed, shutter angle, aperture, ND, or ISO directly. • The exposure meter shows your stop as a decimal value (for cameras with EVF iris readouts) or as a full stop and fraction (for cine lenses with marked iris rings). Cine Meter II lets you use shutter angles – ideal for Digital Bolex and Blackmagic cameras – as well as speeds, and you can dial in ND filters and arbitrary exposure compensations. The spotmeter is zoomable up to 15x magnification (on devices that support camera zooming), using either the front or back camera. • The waveform monitor shows you how light levels vary across a scene. You'll see how smooth and even the lighting is on a greenscreen or background, and find subtle hotspots and shadows at a glance. The waveform’s RGB mode shows you color imbalances in the image and gives you a handy way to check color purity and separation for chroma-keying. • False-color mode lets you define allowable contrast ranges, and see instantly which shadows are underexposed and what highlights risk clipping. _______________________ READ BEFORE YOU BUY: Cine Meter II is NOT a flash meter; it can't measure strobes. Cine Meter II does NOT work with Lumu Power (the Lightning port Lumu), only Lumu Lite (the headphone jack Lumu). Cine Meter II gives you *absolute* light meter readings, but *relative* picture and waveform monitor levels: Cine Meter II’s picture and waveform monitor do not use the *exact* exposure shown by the light meter (they are close to the meter reading, but can differ from it slightly). The picture and waveform monitor show you *relative* levels within a scene, not *absolute* levels based on the meter reading. Shutter speeds, apertures, and ISOs shown in Cine Meter II are for metering purposes only and do not control the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO of the iPhone camera. The iPhone camera uses whatever exposure settings it needs to capture a reading. Cine Meter II is a light and color meter only; it is *not* a camera simulator. See http://www.adamwilt.com/cinemeterii/details.html#How_It_Works for details.
PaperDeveloper
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PaperDeveloper is a precise darkroom timer for the full wet process of photographic paper. Set your paper, chemistry, dilution, temperature and volumes. The app calculates times from manufacturer data. The built-in timer guides you through every step — developer, stop bath, fixer, wash, and optional toning. Track multiple papers and test strips at once, and save quick presets. KEY FEATURES • Timing for the full B&W paper wet process • Papers, chemistry, dilutions and temperatures • Multiple runs at once (paper + test strip) • Presets for quick setup • Chemical capacity / yield tracking • Red UI for darkroom use • Works offline — no account, no cloud This version includes materials from FOMA, Ilford and Kentmere. Important: the red interface helps in the darkroom, but PaperDeveloper is not a certified safelight. Please keep that in mind. Enlarge — don’t scan!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PaperDeveloper at Free against Cine Meter II's $24.99. Cine Meter II's advantage is chart position (#100 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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
PaperDeveloper is free to download; Cine Meter II costs $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Cine Meter II ships an update every 3 months, PaperDeveloper every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cine Meter II | PaperDeveloper |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.5 (25 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 79.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Best chart rank | #100 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adam Wilt | Jan Kalina |
In-app purchases
Cine Meter II
No in-app purchases
PaperDeveloper
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Cine Meter II free?
Is PaperDeveloper free?
Do Cine Meter II or PaperDeveloper have ads?
Which is updated more often, Cine Meter II or PaperDeveloper?
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