Measuring light intensity with a smart phone

[withoutid]

Hi everyone,
I am new member to the forum (but not that new to orchid ). I just figured out that there are 2 apps for android phone that can measure the light intensity: beeCam lightmeter and Light meter. Has anyone tried to compare the accuracy of these apps to a professional light meter? Using the galaxy S4 with these apps, I came up with some number:
Outdoor, under direct sunlight: 58~60k lux
Indoor, through a black window glass: 20~24k lux
Indoor, toward the sky, no sunlight: ~2k lux
It would be wonderful if our smartphones can give us number close to that from a professional device, that's why I 'd like to ask. Thanks

[Paul Mc]

I believe there was a discussion here about this. Hmmmm, let me see if I can find it to post a link.


Paul McMahon
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[Paul Mc]

Here it is!

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ad.php?t=41106


Paul McMahon
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[RosieC]

I tried the free versions of both those apps and couldn't figure out how to get them to do anything, let alone how to interpret the results. So I gave up.

Let us know if you have any luck.

[jeremyinsf]

There are actually several threads on this board that cover this topic, that talk about the different apps, how to use them, how to interpret the results, people's opinions about them, etc.

Search for "light meter" or "light meter app".

[Island Girl]

When I used my app, I had to take the numbers the app gave me (when I held it up to a sheet of white paper) & enter them into Rays light intensity calculator, then that would give me the reading in foot candles: Light Intensity Measurement

....eventually, I just got a decent light meter (think I ordered it from Ray, actually) because I hate math, and I'm HORRIBLE at it! (even with a calculator, lol)

[naoki]

Those phone camera light meter is a reflected light meter, right? In other words, color of the area which is reflecting the light influence the measurement. So if you use the neutral gray card (18% gray, available at photography store), the reading should match with the incident-light meter.