Archive for February 2013

Photography Apps – Android

Following on from my pick of  iOS Photography Apps its time to take a look at Android apps.

I’ve applied the same criteria to my selection of Android Apps – they must be free or low cost.

DoF Calc – Free

DoF Calc

 

This is a free depth of field calculator that has one of the easiest and most pleasant user interfaces for this type of app. Other app developers should take note. The first step is to select your camera, thankfully you don’t need to know the exact size of sensor just select the correct manufacturer range and you’re good to go.

After that its just a case of dialling in your preferred aperture, focal length and focus distance, pay attention to the units The app then gives you the near and focus limits for your chosen values and the hyperfocal distance for your chosen aperture and focal length. This is also shown pictorially which is handy.

 

Exposed – Free

Exposed Screenshot

This free exposure calculator is just about as simple as it gets. Ideal for using with strong ND filters, simply meter in camera without the filter then enter the shutter speed and the filter strength in stops and the app does the rest. We even get a timer for those exposures that are longer than the camera’s pre-programmed shutter speeds. The only drawback when using this app is the lack of aperture control, a change in aperture would require you to remove the filter and meter for the new f-stop setting or work out the adjustment to the original exposure yourself which kind of defeats the purpose. Also on longer exposures if your device goes to sleep the timer alarm doesn’t go off.

 

Exposure Calculator – Free

Exposure Calculator Screenshot

Another free exposure calculator, this one addresses an omission from the previous calculator I looked at, however the layout of the UI is a little awkward, particularly on a tablet when the layout goes a little wonky.

Using the + and – buttons enter your metered exposure and the adjustment required. Then enter your desired ISO and aperture to calculate the shutter speed. If you have a preferred shutter speed that you want to use then you can calculate the f-stop or ISO required. This app is missing the timer function but the stopwatch or countdown timer on your device can be used instead.

 

PHOforPHO – Free

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This app covers most of the bases required for photographers. Once you set the Circle of Confusion (used for depth of field calculations)

The UI isn’t the prettiest but it is functional. You can start with the Hyper-focal length however the drop downs aren’t the easiest way to set the values the results are displayed clearly as text.

The Depth of Field calculator also uses the drop downs for the selection of focal length and aperture but you can type the focus point. The app then calculates the DoF and also gives the hyper-focal point.

A nice touch is the inclusion of a multiple exposure EV calculator. This is used with film cameras and gives the exposure adjustment required per frame.

The Exposure Calculator again uses the dropdowns to set ISO and aperture from your metered exposure but you can type in the shutter speed either as a fraction or a decimal (1/125 = 0.008). Then set the strength of the filter or with no filter you can simply calculate equivalent exposures. Finally set your target ISO and aperture and calculate the shutter speed. You can then send your calculated time to a timer which can also run as a service allowing very long exposure times to be set and retain the ability to be alerted even when the device goes to sleep. The timer can also be set independently.

The app also links up to Catch Notes, allowing you to easily  log notes about settings etc.  Another function that is probably less useful allows you to measure the distance from your subject to your camera, this only really works over longer distances as it uses GPS which limits its applications.

 

Sun Surveyor Lite – Free

Sun Surveyor Lite

If you want to know where and when the sun will set and rise along with its path then this is the app for you.

The pro version  is £4.25 and adds functionality and removes ads.

The Lite version only shows the path and times for your current location, but does allow you to change the date so that you can plan a return when the sun will set in a particular area on the horizon. The pro version gives the ability to check for different locations, which when used in conjunction with mapping sites will help you work out when to visit particular locations and also uses mapping APIs and augmented reality and adds widgets.