10 Lighting Apps for iOS and Android Devices

Eric Cornwell & West Side Systems, LLC

$14.99 (iOS)

Rated 4+ (iOS), 3.5 Stars

Requirements - iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, iOS 3.1 or later.

Not all A/V techs are math wizards. Thankfully, BeamCalc, designed by Eric Cornwell and West Side Systems, is there to help us with the difficult lighting geometry and photometric calculations we’re faced with while on location. The app’s software allows users to place and direct three light sources on a grid, which in turn offers ideal postitioning and other factors.

* Evaluate, compare lighting characteristics like elevation angle, beam and field pool width, illumination, shadow length

* Choose from more than 150 different lighting fixtures

* Convert work into multiple units

okamotodesigns

Cost: $0.99

Rating: 3.5 stars

Available on: Android 1.5 and up

Use the Lighting Beam Calculator to calculate beam diameter, beam angle, and automatically calculate throw distances with known trim height and room distance.

By Synthe FX

$99.99

Rated 4+ in iTunes

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1 or later

DMX lighting controller for iPhone. Luminair DMX lighting control software allows users to wirelessly control lighting fixtures, dimmers, consoles and media servers all via a Wi-Fi connection. Luminair works by transmitting and receiving DMX data using the Art-Net and sACN E1.31 protocols, so it’s compatible out of the box with lots of existing equipment on the market. It works great for controlling color-mixable LED fixtures, studio lighting, moving lights and any other DMX-enabled equipment. Use Luminair as the ultimate remote focus tool, for advanced architectural lighting or simply as the centerpiece of your DMX lighting rig.

Requires an Art-Net-compatible hardware or software device, as well as a Wi-Fi connection.

okamotodesigns

Cost: Free

Rating: 5 stars

Available on: 1.6 and up

Calculate DMX and Binary values with the DMX Calculator v1.89. Finding DMX and Binary values is simplified with this app, just enter the starting fixture number, the starting DMX number and the total number of fixtures or channels and let the app do the rest. Also, convert between binary values and DMX values for job specific measurements.

DHV Lighting

Free (iOS)

Rating - 3 Stars (194 ratings)

Requirements - iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, iOS 2.0 or later.

A watered down, budget friendly version of the Light Calc app, Light Calc Lite is a simple calculator app that allows you to easily figure out single beam throw data. Additionally, the app churns out the complex math required to determine diameter for the light your throwing towards your stage.

* Calculates beam diameter, field diameter

* Input angles, distance to calculate relevant setup details

* Full version of app features extensive upgrades, including fixture library, intensity calculators, and data on specific lamps

Juha J

Cost: Free

Rating: 3.5 stars

Available on: 2.1 and up

LDTools helps lighting technicians:

-Calculate numeric DMX address from DIP switch configuration.

-Calculate DIP switch configuration from numeric DMX address.

-Calculate universe number from DMX addresses over 512.

-Calculate ArtNet universe (subnet:universe) from DMX addresses over 512

Also, LDTools can calculate beam distance, size, and angle. Plus, the app can calculate power, amps and voltage for single phase systems.

Free

Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Designed by the lighting experts at Whitegoods, this cool looking light meter App provides a simple way of measuring lighting levels.

This App can be used to measure various lighting scenarios and gives suggestions to users regarding the current lighting scenes such as: “ideal for reading printed paper of high contrast” or “ideal for performing visual tasks of low contrast or very small size.”

Dynamic information is shown on screen as light levels change.

The App can be set to display foot-candles and it will allow users to get an insight of different levels of lighting and measure the amount of light received on a surface which is expressed in Lux (1m/2m).

The application is compatible with the iPhone 3GS and above and uses both front and back camera’s and has a built in timer.

The App carries the Whitegoods brand by displaying the company logo and linking to their website and most important, it is simple to use and extremely intuitive.

Andrew Derrington

Cost: $4.99

Rating: 4.6 stars

Available on: Android 2.1 and up

Lighting Handbook is a tool for A/V techs offering information and specifications for over 900 different types of moving lights, dimmers, conventional fixtures and effects. Also, access pinouts and lamp specifications for a variety of different lighting manufacturers

Use the Lighting Handbook app to access information such as the following for a majority of brands and manufacturers.

• Weight

• Power Consumption

• Data Connection types

• Light Output (According to manufactures manual)

• Colour wheels/Mixing

• Gobo Wheels

• How many DMX Channels and in what mode

• Beam Size

• Lamp type

By Four Pin Plug

$29.99

Rated 4+ in iTunes

Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later

Designed for Cinematographers, Directors of Photography, Cameramen, Lighting Directors, Stills Photographers, Camera Assistants, Gaffers, Best Boys and Electricians; and as a guide to Producers, Line Producers and Production Managers—Light Source helps take the guesswork out of choosing the correct lamp for the job in hand.

Light Source is a fully functional photometric calculator for industry professionals, for Film, Television, Photographic, Theatre and Stage applications. This application also serves as an essential learning tool for Film Schools and their students.

Light Source contains an extensive database of lighting fixtures from leading manufacturers. Enter your criteria and the search engine will suggest suitable lamps to meet your needs. Alternatively you can start by selecting your favorite lamp to see if it will be suitable for your requirements.

In Movie and DSLR mode the output includes a value for the actual exposure level (F/T stop) provided by the lamp with the given settings.

In all modes (Movie, DSLR and Stage) the output includes the foot-candles and beam spread you can expect.

2Flying

Cost: $4.99

Rating: 4.2 stars

Available on: Android 1.5 and up

RigCalc for Android offers quick references for a variety of rigging calculations. Do work with common conversions or calculate even calculate pulley ratios and angles. A list of app capable measurements include:

*Common unit conversions

*2 and 3 point bridles

*Counterweight weights & bricks to use

*Pulley fleet angle

*Pulley resultant force

*Pulley D to d ratio

*Design factors

*Cable tension for multiple truss loading configurations

*And more