PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY | Simple attachment turns iPhone into a light meter - The Courier

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Accessories and gadgets make me wonder sometimes — what can’t a smartphone do?

At first I was skeptical that the Luxi clip-on attachment from BiteMyApple would work on my iPhone 5 to turn it into an incident light meter. Professional photographers often use light meters to get the most precise settings in most any situation. Often hand-held light meters are more accurate than those built into cameras.

The Luxi and other hand-held light meters measure the actual light falling on your subject. While meters built into digital SLR cameras are often accurate, they measure light reflected off your subject and can often be fooled when measuring something that is very bright or dark.

After trying the Luxi diffusion dome attachment side by side with my Minolta meter, I must say the ambient light comparisons were almost right on. This includes quick tests in daylight as well as low indoor lighting conditions.

As a professional photographer, I’ll still stick to my high end gear options, but the Luxi has impressed me with its accuracy, which has earned it a spot in my camera case.

Installation is simple; just attach the dome over the iPhone’s front-facing camera. Obviously you can’t have a case on the phone but I do have a front and rear screen protector, which it fit over fine.

You’ll also need to download a light meter app, which is free in the iTunes store.

Details: $29.95; www.esdevices.com.

PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY | Simple attachment turns iPhone into a light meter - The Courier