Lumu light meter for photographers and videographers

[MarkoPirc]

Hey guys!

We are Lumu Labs. We developed Lumu, digital ambient light meter, which connects to your smartphone.

It is the last day of our Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lumulabs/lumu-bringing-light-meter-to-the-21st-century

It works without batteries. Uses smartphone's brain and connectivity to bring some features never seen in light meters before.

We are developing more different applications, for intuitive use in any kind of use: analog/digital/pinhole photography, video and motion picture recording or just simple measuring ambient light levels.

Check our KS page or blog for other additional info, tech specs, video comparison and list of supported smartphones.

BLOG: http://lumu.tumblr.com

WEB: http://ww.lu.mu
TW: http://twitter.com/Lumu

Live long and Lumu,

Marko.

 

[David.rhsc]

Yeah, that looks awesome. Needed to get off my kiester and buy a meter, and now I just did.

Full Disclosure: You all know I've been around here forever and I had to make a kickstarter account to do the transaction. I want to emphasize that this thread is the first time I've heard of this product. (Because I know we are, rightfully, touchy about new members and kickstarter campaigns and endorsements and such.)

I'm pretty fussy about gear (as you all probably know), but this looks very, very good - if the sensor accuracy is as good as the short demo implies. Really, I can't imagine why it would not be - it's basically the photocell from a lightmeter with the rest of the job being done by software in the phone. I almost bought a brand new 758-cine the other day but hesitated because of the damn price, like I always do when I look at them. I'll miss not having a spot meter with this, but at a hundred bucks I had to give it a spin. I can always buy a pentax-asahi if I want a spot meter. Of course, Marko, were your team to develop a 1deg spot lumu attachment I'd insta-buy that too.

Interesting possibilities for integrating this with other apps. For example, if I could be location scouting with something like Panascout or doing location layouts in Shot Designer, and somehow output stored meter readings and attach them (like placing storyboards on a shot designer layout for example), that could be quite a useful pre-production tool.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing where app development goes once the device is in the wild.

Any chance you'll be able to ship early since you had such a successful campaign?

Live long and Lumu.

Please tell me it says that on the back of your t-shirts.

 

[jax_rox]

Luxi is cheaper thuogh perhaps not quite as accurate.

I think this is a great idea, but my phone ends up going flat super quickly on set, between using Artemis, PCam and other apps, I don't want to find myself in a situation where I don't have my meter because my phone's flat..

Still cheaper than a proper meter though (especially if you're looking at a 758-cine!)

 

[Ernest Worthing]

This would be incredibly useful if it is accurate. Looking forward to some reviews.

Great idea which seems so obvious now.

@David: Interesting idea abt scouting. Why don't you KS that and I'll back you.

 

[knightly]

>10x the goal at this moment Have to budget for one of these!

 

[David.rhsc]

This would be incredibly useful if it is accurate. Looking forward to some reviews.

Great idea which seems so obvious now.

@David: Interesting idea abt scouting. Why don't you KS that and I'll back you.

Ha! One thing a time my good man. Besides, it's really just a matter of the lumu app supporting storing readings (it looks like they are already working on or supporting gps/location tagging of some sort) and then having it export to a couple of common formats. (xml, delimited txt file, pdf, whatever). I wouldn't even know where to begin in terms of code, just rambling ideas as I am oft to do.

Jax - I think really the only one I'd try that used only the phone hardware would be Adam Wilt's:

http://www.adamwilt.com/cinemeter/

Though it is more for scopes than a traditional "light meter." Too bad that it is iOS only though.

 

[ItDonnedOnMe]

I saw this before, and considered contributing, but finally had to be honest that as cool as it seemed I just didn't see much practical use for my video workflow.

I started out doing 35mm still photography years ago, and used a light meter quite frequently back then, but I still don't see a lot of use for a light meter in the digital video world outside of pre-lighting a set. A light meter is only ever an approximation of how the film/sensor is going to react, whereas the typical scope tools we have available now give you far more, and more useful, information than a light meter alone by quantifying how the sensor reacts to the light actually striking it.

So I'm just curious what those who do use light meters with digital video use them for and why? With a big crew I can see pre-lighting before the camera is set up, and David's example of scouting is another. Are there other applications that I'm missing?

 

[jax_rox]

Ha! One thing a time my good man. Besides, it's really just a matter of the lumu app supporting storing readings (it looks like they are already working on or supporting gps/location tagging of some sort) and then having it export to a couple of common formats. (xml, delimited txt file, pdf, whatever). I wouldn't even know where to begin in terms of code, just rambling ideas as I am oft to do.

There's so many filmmaking applications for different apps and whole new apps that I'm sure I'd make millions on if I only knew how to code

Jax - I think really the only one I'd try that used only the phone hardware would be Adam Wilt's:

http://www.adamwilt.com/cinemeter/

Though it is more for scopes than a traditional "light meter." Too bad that it is iOS only though.

I'm not sure if it's this app or another similar one that I've seen in use - but I wonder how accurate it can be using only the phone's limited camera. The one I saw in use also had a 'false colour' it projected onto the image, and as you moved the exposure around with your finger (like you do on an iPhone) it changed to show what was under/over/correctly exposed. Great if you're using your phone to shoot, or as an overall idea of where the exposure is placed in the scene, but not something I'd ever rely on for highly accurate information that relates to the camera I'm using.

Plus, I've already spent too much money on apps like pCam, Sunseeker, Artemis, Kodak Cinema Tools etc. etc. which makes it even more depressing when I get my phone out to check a frame on Artemis or check DOF on pCam and it's dead.
Sometimes makes me wonder if I'm too reliant on the apps..

So I'm just curious what those who do use light meters with digital video use them for and why? With a big crew I can see pre-lighting before the camera is set up, and David's example of scouting is another. Are there other applications that I'm missing?

I read that Deakins uses his meter to get an idea of the exposure in the room, but generally lights by eye more than anything else.

Personally, I like to light to a stop, so I like to especially set my key light using a meter. After that, it really depends on what it is that I'm shooting as to what I'll use the meter vs monitor for. Generally I use the monitor for lighting tweaks - the meter is great not just to pre-light, but I generally make decisions about how far over/under I want certain lights to be (based on tests of the camera's latitude) and the meter helps to make sure it is, say, 3 stops over, so that it's brighter but I still have information there (I hate, for example, using RED's histogram system). On top of that, I can light a set whilst the camera's still being built - I can get my G&E team working whilst the cam guys are building camera, and then once camera's up make little tweaks based on what I see on the monitor.

I've also grabbed my meter to check lights that I thought were a bit too hot - i.e. I'll have the scene exposed at, say, 2.8, notice that the backlight's a bit hot, meter it and find it's metering at f/8, and so I'll ask for a double to be dropped in to bring that down to a 5.6 so it's only two stops over.

I don't use it as much as I would when shooting film, but I still use my meter all the time, and I find it invaluable.

 

[David.rhsc]

@Jax,

It's possible I am biased as I have rented from Adam a couple times, and the depth of his knowledge is impressive to say the least. Having said that, I agree - using the phone hardware just seems inherently inaccurate. I know the feeling about over-reliance on some of these things. I did some work in s16 (for the first time since basically college) earlier in the year and it really hit me how much I have been leaning on the in-camera tools and nice big 17" monitors. Maybe part of my "insta-buy" was born out of that.

@Don,

I think you've touched on the reason that I have not dropped the money on the "big-boy" meter to date. It's really difficult to justify the cost of one given that there are other tools already at hand that can do 90% of the job that it does. Maybe more, maybe less, that is probably as much a matter of taste/experience as it is technology.

In addition to what's been mentioned above, I find that I cannot always be next to the camera as a dp, so being able to take a quick reading from anywhere on set is valuable me - having to repeatedly walk back to look at a monitor eats a little time, but mostly breaks my concentration. Ha! Honestly, I'm still getting used to that part - I was able to work as a 1st AC long enough to train myself to always be with the camera, always be the one building and maintaining it - now I need to let that go and trust my 1st to handle those tasks.

Also, as cameras become more sensitive they see more than our eye does in certain low light situations, and this meter looks to be good at working those low light levels. Trust me, the first time you look at a monitor and realize the camera can see more detail under that streetlight than you can it's quite unsettling. Push far enough with the right camera and this can happen. When it is happening, I'm thinking the meter will come in handy to ensure I'm getting what I want.

Finally, a little bit of testing will let you compensate for any difference in readings between camera and meter. Also, since the sensor is approximate, it's scopes are as well. I would prefer to know for certain. I also think it helps with discipline, but that delves into personal style of working and kinda subjective.

To be fair, I love my false color (but histograms are useless to me by and large) and waveform is always welcome on my set, but I think in order to reach the "i do it mostly by eye" I want to go back to metering a little more. None of this is to say that working without a meter (only using in-camera or in-monitor exposure tools) is any less valid than using one - we have some robust tools at our disposal and it would be silly to not use them. More importantly, we all got to work in the way that affords us the best results. Lots of amazing imagery has been created by people who've likely never even picked up a light meter.

Knowing me I'll probably carry it around driving people nuts by constantly metering stuff when I'm not working.

 

[jax_rox]

I did some work in s16 (for the first time since basically college) earlier in the year and it really hit me how much I have been leaning on the in-camera tools and nice big 17" monitors. Maybe part of my "insta-buy" was born out of that.

Part of what I like about working on film is the fact that I'm forced to work the 'old-school' way if you will. I feel like lighting by waveform or monitor is 'lazier' than doing it the 'real' way
Plus, it's also more satisfying when you get the telecine back and it looks good

I think something I dislike about the new age of digital cinema is that in film you really need(ed) to know your sh*t and in a way that really seperated the men from the boys - there was a reason you spent x amount of years as an AC and then an Operator before making the jump to DP.
These days, anyone can look at a histogram on a RED to make sure you're not clipping anywhere and leave it for post to figure out.

I was able to work as a 1st AC long enough to train myself to always be with the camera, always be the one building and maintaining it - now I need to let that go and trust my 1st to handle those tasks.

I know the feeling - I personally find it an odd mixture of both liberating and uneasiness when I can 'sit back' in a way and let my crew work around me when I DP.

Knowing me I'll probably carry it around driving people nuts by constantly metering stuff when I'm not working.

I would definitely do this, especially if you could store readings - storing readings with pictures would actually be incredibly useful for matching shots later, re-shoots etc. If you could mark up a picture with readings, or even just as a list attached to a picture would be awesome on set and for location scouting.
In fact, even just a list of stored readings that you could add descriptions to (i.e. CU Mark key) without pictures would be great.
That would be a useful app that I would add to my already substantial collection.

 

[David.rhsc]

I think something I dislike about the new age of digital cinema is that in film you really need(ed) to know your sh*t and in a way that really seperated the men from the boys - there was a reason you spent x amount of years as an AC and then an Operator before making the jump to DP.

Yeah, I think there is a lot of value in that path. It's interesting reading about some of guys like Gordon Willis and his contemporaries - the ones who did come up through the apprentice system were being a little bit rebellious against the previous norms of lighting/camera-work in the films that made them famous, but it's the benefit of that experience that allowed them to make it work. To be fair, not everyone from that era did the long path, but iirc most of the ones who didn't came at it from either formal education (Storaro, etc) or tangential fields like photography or journalism.

I am bummed that I wasn't more "together" as a young adult and that I missed out on the benefit of that long apprenticeship and being promoted by people who've seen you develop rather than diving in without the grounding and learning entirely "on the job" as it were. I have done some years as an AC and now as an operator with a peppering of DP gigs, and despite the lack of money for a long time I still think that was a better choice than spending my severance on a camera in 2008 and just calling myself a DP from the go.

I still don't think I really deserve the title, but I'm going to start using it because as someone once told me - "you gotta stop toe-dipping and get in there."

___

Also, thinly veiled bump to the top.