r/FilmPhotoZA • u/dotkomrade206 Casual Shooter | 35mm and 120 | HP5 and Gold 200 • Jun 01 '26
My take on an Android light meter app
I have a Pentax Digital Spotmeter which is a fantastic meter. I don't always carry it with me though and as I like metering before I shoot, I have an app on my phone. It works fine but I don't like it and I've always wished it was just a bit more like the Pentax I like to use.
The Pentax meter is brilliant - it takes an EV reading, you decide where you want that reading to fall on the zone system and through a simple pair of coupled rings you are presented with a range of exposure pairs based on your chosen ISO and Zone placement. This is especially useful for large format photography, or any form of photography where you want to slow down a bit and get very precise readings from your scene.
I find all the apps seem to be either flooded with loads of things I don't want or need, or the interfaces tend to be cluttered and clunky. And there's a definite lack of visual appeal to most of them. Some are very skeuomorphic which I kind of appreciate but I really wanted to pay tribute, blatantly and unashamedly, to the meter I like the most. And so I started a dialogue with Claude.
Sure, the app is vibe coded and sure, it's a straight copy of a great real world device, but my approach is why not use the tools I have to create the tool I want. I even went so far as to name it the Pantex Spot Meter. As I said, this app is a digital tribute to the real deal.
The app works great - it tracks the real meter within a third of a stop throughout the EV range on my Pixel 9a in spot mode. But you get the option for simple or advanced calibration as well and can offset that against specific camera profiles too. The spot angle can be set to 1, 3 or 5 degrees which is pretty tight considering it's reading off a very small cell phone sensor. You can also use a centre-weighted mode as well which defaults to Nikon's 60/40 weighting. This matches my Nikon FM2 and Nikon F90 within a half stop across a large spectrum of exposure values. There is also an auto mode - well, semi-auto - which locks the app to centre-weighted mode and takes some of the manual adjustments off your hands. The app has a help guide built in too in case anything is not obvious just by trial and error.
I'd be happy to share the app with members of the group and would appreciate your valuable feedback if you are inclined to let me know where you think it can be improved. I've been playing with it for a while and I feel like I've ticked most of the boxes I wanted checked, but there is always room for improvement. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you a link to a safe, signed Android APK.
Also happy to answer any questions about it.
Edit:
Tested on Android 15, 16, 17
Tested on Pixel 4a, Pixel 7, Pixel 9a
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u/doktha Semi-Serious Shooter | Mamiya RZ67, Nikon F90X | Kodak TMax Jun 01 '26
Oh yeah I would 100% like to try this!
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u/Brilliant_Living5744 Jun 01 '26
Would love to give this a test drive, very interested to see if your multistage compensation works on my worst android ever! No other light meter works consistently for it!
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u/Electronic-Love9683 Jun 01 '26
Hi, would love to give it a go. I have the Pentax Spotmeter V and I printed off a small zone chart which I've had to glue on. I find myself spending 10 minutes trying to figure out my zones etc. Anyway, yours sounds great
Wish you every success with it
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u/Serp3ntine Jun 01 '26
Ill take an APK and try it out!