CALM: Cinema Lighting Matcher
Lux and f-stop for film sets
$14.99 · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
CALM (Cinema Advanced Lighting Matcher) is a lighting calculator for film and video. Pick a fixture, accessory, distance and colour temperature, and CALM gives the illuminance at that point and the T-stop you get with your current camera settings.
It covers 398 fixtures from 34 makers, based on each maker's photometric data: HMI, LED, tungsten, PAR, Fresnel and soft sources that crews use every day.
Included with the app
- Calc: illuminance and T-stop from fixture, accessory, distance and colour temperature. A diagram shows the beam angle and coverage; for elliptical beams such as the Joker lenses it gives the diameter and radius of each axis.
- Compare: three lights side by side, with illuminance, T-stop, power draw and weight at the same distance.
- Camera: enter ISO, frame rate, shutter angle and T-stop once, and every calculation follows. Digital, film and stills.
- Manual camera: sets the iPhone to the same exposure as your T-stop, ISO and shutter. Apple Log or Rec.709, looks and LUTs (.cube), false colour, zebra, waveform and 13–200mm focal lengths.
- AR measure: measure the distance to your subject with the camera and use it straight away.
- Mired: turn a colour temperature difference into the filter strength you need.
- Colour Match: match a target colour with faders — CCT and ±G, xy, HSI, individual LED emitters, or a crossfade. 5-cue runs, time trials, and reading the xy and CCT of a colour from a photo.
Add-ons (one-time in-app purchases)
- MIX: combine several lights for the total illuminance and the mixed colour temperature. Compare up to three setups and save them by name.
- Finder: enter a target T-stop and distance, and see the fixtures that reach it, ranked.
- ALT: find a stand-in for a fixture you could not book, with the number of units needed and a match rate.
- Draft: place people, lights, bounces and camera on a floor plan and read the meter at each angle, with key ratios. Use a PDF or photo as the underlay.
- SUN SCOUT: the day's sun and moon paths from any place and date, with sunrise, sunset, magic hour and moon phase, laid over the live camera view. It also gives shadow length and direction, and the fixtures needed to fill shade from your sunlit and shade readings.
- Premium: unlocks all five above.
All add-ons are one-time purchases. There is no subscription.
12 languages: Japanese, English, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Finnish, Korean and Thai.
No account is required. Settings and plans stay on your device and in your own iCloud Drive.
Please note
Values are calculated from photometric data. On set, mains voltage, lamp hours, unit-to-unit variation, reflections and the air all change the result, so readings on a real light meter can differ. Use CALM as a guide and confirm with a meter on location.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
- SUN SCOUT: set the planned time in the camera view and tap "Save view" to get a Draft plan with the sun, shadows, north and the camera direction. Sunlit and shade levels measured in SUN SCOUT go into the plan too.
- SUN SCOUT: the compass is prepared in advance, so the heading is right as soon as the camera opens. The "Done" step on opening is gone.
- Swipe left or right to move between screens in the order of your bottom tabs (also from SUN SCOUT, Mired and Colour Match).
- Colour Match on iPad no longer shifts sideways and now fills the iPad screen.
- Notices are no longer hidden behind SUN SCOUT and other sheets.
- Fixed the Draft result sometimes showing the distance with a long decimal.
The developer, MANABU KATOH, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Contact Info
- User Content
- Diagnostics
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- MANABU KATOH
- Size
- 13.4 MB
- Category
- Photo & Video
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English and Japanese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Premium (all five add-ons) $34.99
- SUN SCOUT (sun and moon) $9.99
- Draft (lighting plan) $14.99
- ALT Alternatives $9.99
- Finder (find by f-stop) $9.99
- Mix (multiple fixtures) $9.99
- Copyright
- © Manabu Katoh