-
iPhone Viewfinder app
Hi guys,
I've just released a previsualisation app for the iPhone. Viewfinder Preview is an iPhone app for previsualising a scene given a film size and lens focal length. Instead of spending all that time setting up your big camera, just choose your desired film/sensor size and focal length in the app and point the iPhone camera at what you want to photo to verify framing. If you are happy with the framing then you can get the big camera out. The app is primarily targeted at the film camera user but there is no reason why someone working in digital can’t take advantage of it.
The app includes
- Customisable menus so you can include the film formats and focal lengths you care about.
- A fully configurable light meter.
- You can take photos with it, so you have a record of shots you were framing.
- Photos taken with the app include additional data that describe the film format, focal length and lighting meter settings at the time the shot was taken
- The ability to add notes to your photos
- A photo gallery for viewing photos taken with the app which also displays the additional data
For more info you can go to my website https://adamfowlerphotography.co.uk/viewfinder/ or you can go straight to the App Store https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/view...216484605?mt=8
thanks
Adam
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
You need a better walkthrough.
I just bought and trying...
I also want 11X14 and lenses tp 1200mm
7X17, etc
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
How do you handle displaying the correct field of view, if using lenses on camera that have an angle of view wider than the iPhone camera lens?
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
At the moment the app cannot display outside the capabilities of the iPhone camera. I intend to add support for some of the wide angle lens attachments you can get for the iPhone in the near future.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I know the walk through isn’t ideal. I’ll look to improve it. Have you looked at the help pages yet? I can increase zoom levels but at some point you’ll hit the limits of the iPhone camera. Regarding the film formats you can add your own custom film format sizes in the film format menu page.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I just bought the app and it's fairly easy to figure out. It's an added bonus that it also has a light meter function, is it a spot meter or overall average or ???. I haven't tested the metering accuracy yet against another metering app I have or my spot meter (those two agree within 1/3 stop). There's a hard focal length limit at 400mm, which is likely a consequence of the finite zoom range of the iphone's camera relative to 35mm full-frame, but 400mm isn't all that long for an 8x10 user. It would be even more useful if you could implement format-dependent focal-length limiting, but I understand that's probably a level of complexity beyond the initial release. Why not allow the user to enter whatever focal length he wants into the list and do the limiting at selection time since the format is known then - invalid choices could show in red or something.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Alan9940
How do you handle displaying the correct field of view, if using lenses on camera that have an angle of view wider than the iPhone camera lens?
Wouldn't applying an outline to show the image area address these? I don't have an iPhone so don't know how the app displays currently. I do think it's a useful concept - even if limited to 6x9, 4x5 and 8x10.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Currently the app will display a red outline and the area that can be captured by the iPhone camera is displayed at the right scale for that focal length.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Steve Goldstein
I just bought the app and it's fairly easy to figure out. It's an added bonus that it also has a light meter function, is it a spot meter or overall average or ???. I haven't tested the metering accuracy yet against another metering app I have or my spot meter (those two agree within 1/3 stop). There's a hard focal length limit at 400mm, which is likely a consequence of the finite zoom range of the iphone's camera relative to 35mm full-frame, but 400mm isn't all that long for an 8x10 user.
The standard mode for the light meter is average but if you touch the screen it will be a spot meter for the point you touched. It works in a similar way the iPhone camera app works.
Regarding the 400mm focal length limit that is being upped to 1500mm. I have just submitted a new version of the app to Apple with this change
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Good
I do hope you sell many copies.
What's $2 these days!
-
2 Attachment(s)
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Got this for 7x17. Not much help, as the iPhone’s lens isn’t wide enough to give an image for any lens under 355mm.
This is a screen shot for 305mm:
Attachment 176980
Here’s 240mm:
Attachment 176981
As you can see, kinda pointless with all the black.
Obviously, this criticism is not directed at the app; it’s a heads-up based on the iphone’s Lens’ limitations.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
If one already has Artist's Viewfinder MkII, what additional features does this app offer?
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Adam Fowler
Regarding the 400mm focal length limit that is being upped to 1500mm. I have just submitted a new version of the app to Apple with this change
This update is now live
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
williaty
If one already has Artist's Viewfinder MkII, what additional features does this app offer?
Main additional feature is the lightmeter and histogram view. Oh it doesn't cost an arm and leg either, but sounds like you've lost those already.
It is in active development, so new features will be coming through in the next few months.
-
1 Attachment(s)
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Version 1.1 of Viewfinder Preview has just been released. New features include
- Film emulation filters: You can select a film stock in the Settings and it will apply a filter to the preview view to replicate the colour and tone characteristics of that particular film stock.
- Wide Angle Lens Adapter support: It is possible to buy wide angle lens adapters for the iPhone. With one of these you can preview much shorter focal lengths. The only problem is the phone doesn't know when one of these is attached or how wide they are. You can now add this information in the Settings.
- Aspect ratio overriding: There is an additional button on the main screen for you to set the aspect ratio of the preview.
- Exposure offset: You can add an offset to the lightmeter exposure calculation. If you are using a ND filter use this offset to get the correct exposure inside Viewfinder Preview.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/view...216484605?mt=8
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lachlan 717
Got this for 7x17. Not much help, as the iPhone’s lens isn’t wide enough to give an image for any lens under 355mm...
It is possible to buy wide angle lens adapters for the iPhone. With one of these you can preview much shorter focal lengths. The only problem is the phone doesn’t know when one of these is attached or how wide they are. The new version add support for supplying this information.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I feel like such a techno-idiot. How do I download your app? Went to the App Store and it shows a banner saying IOS only, then a description of the app, but no download button. What am I missing here? I am an iPhone as well as a Mac user, so this should move along more easily, I would think.
If this post is inappropriate, I can take the concern directly to Apple, but I'm hoping for a simpler solution.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Will Whitaker
I feel like such a techno-idiot. How do I download your app? Went to the App Store and it shows a banner saying IOS only, then a description of the app, but no download button. What am I missing here? I am an iPhone as well as a Mac user, so this should move along more easily, I would think.
If this post is inappropriate, I can take the concern directly to Apple, but I'm hoping for a simpler solution.
Will, do you have a debit card attached to the App Store?
I keep a low balance Debit card for this purpose.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Will Whitaker
I feel like such a techno-idiot. How do I download your app?
Are you doing this on your iPhone or on a computer? If you go to the link on your iPhone it should work fine as long as you’ve got funds. Alternatively you can open the App Store on your phone and search for Viewfinder Preview. I hope that helps.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I was trying this on my computer. I prefer to download to the computer then sync the iPhone.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Just bought this yesterday. Unfortunately it seems there's some sort of glitch in that I cannot add focal lengths. No matter how many times I've tried, hitting the "+" to add once I've entered the focal length just takes me back to the list without entering the new data into the database.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gadfly_1971
Just bought this yesterday. Unfortunately it seems there's some sort of glitch in that I cannot add focal lengths. No matter how many times I've tried, hitting the "+" to add once I've entered the focal length just takes me back to the list without entering the new data into the database.
Yes I see that. Don't know when this stopped working. I'll get a fix out asap. Sorry
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gadfly_1971
Just bought this yesterday. Unfortunately it seems there's some sort of glitch in that I cannot add focal lengths. No matter how many times I've tried, hitting the "+" to add once I've entered the focal length just takes me back to the list without entering the new data into the database.
Version 1.1.3 was released today with a fix for this.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Adam Fowler
Version 1.1.3 was released today with a fix for this.
Awesome! Thanks for being so quick. :-)
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Version 1.2 of Viewfinder Preview was released today. It includes the new Journal view. This is an alternative to the film strip style Photo Gallery that is already available. The idea behind the Journal is to streamline the viewing of the data attached to photos and the editing of notes.
Along with the Journal comes the ability to create Albums. Use Albums to store all the images from one project, trip, storyboard etc. Setup an active album to which all photos you capture are automatically added. The Journal was meant to give you a form of iPhone based photography notebook. With the album feature you can have a separate notebook for each of your projects.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Looks good; I will use it.
But gee whiz, I shoot in 24x36, 645 digital, 67 film, and 4x5, with about ten lenses for each. I quickly ran out of focal lengths that the app would list. It seems to be capped at about 20.
Also, I see a control for linking settings to format, but I don't see any effect of that. Having a list of focal lengths for each format would be nice for those of us who work in many formats.
My iphone is almost wide enough for 90mm on 4x5--now pondering an iphone holder for my Travelwide.
Rick "lensaholic" Denney
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rdenney
Looks good; I will use it.
But gee whiz, I shoot in 24x36, 645 digital, 67 film, and 4x5, with about ten lenses for each. I quickly ran out of focal lengths that the app would list. It seems to be capped at about 20.
Also, I see a control for linking settings to format, but I don't see any effect of that. Having a list of focal lengths for each format would be nice for those of us who work in many formats.
My iphone is almost wide enough for 90mm on 4x5--now pondering an iphone holder for my Travelwide.
Rick "lensaholic" Denney
My god that's a lot of lenses. One feature I'm looking into is focal length lists per film format. In the meantime I can up the menu limit.
The link settings to format option will store the last iso, focal length, film emulation and aspect ratio used with a format. The next time you select that format these values are restored. I kept finding when out with multiple cameras I was forgetting to change the iso when changing between cameras (that had different film loaded) and then getting wrong light meter readings. With this option enabled, the iso is setup correctly whenever I change film format in the app.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Sounds great. And it is a lot of lenses. I can’t help it. But I never know which ones I’ll take on a given excursion.
Current dilemma: how to divide my lenses on Sinar boards between the F case and the P case. Oh, the horror!
Rick “may need more lenses” Denney
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Version 1.2.1 is out with a much larger focal length menu. This version has also added iPad support.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rdenney
Looks good; I will use it.
But gee whiz, I shoot in 24x36, 645 digital, 67 film, and 4x5, with about ten lenses for each. I quickly ran out of focal lengths that the app would list. It seems to be capped at about 20.
Also, I see a control for linking settings to format, but I don't see any effect of that. Having a list of focal lengths for each format would be nice for those of us who work in many formats.
My iphone is almost wide enough for 90mm on 4x5--now pondering an iphone holder for my Travelwide.
Rick "lensaholic" Denney
Version 1.3 which is available now, includes the separate focal length menus for each film format. This should allow you to reduce the size of your focal menu per format.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I used the app for the first time last week on the North York Moors and was well impressed. Not just a viewfinder but a great way of visualising the scene in B&W and keeping a record of the exposures. Great job, well done!
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
I purchased the app yesterday and have been using it for some things around the house. I like it and seems very user friendly. My question though, is there a way to keep default settings on the AV/TV/M to M? It likes to switch on me after I close out of the app from M to AV.
R/
Dave
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
seabee1999
I purchased the app yesterday and have been using it for some things around the house. I like it and seems very user friendly. My question though, is there a way to keep default settings on the AV/TV/M to M? It likes to switch on me after I close out of the app from M to AV.
R/
Dave
Hi, I had decided to switch off the manual on restart because I thought people would forget they had it on and assume the exposure readings they were getting were correct. I know I miss stuff even though it is straight in front of my eyes. I can rethink that, I guess an additional option to not reset is a possibility.
Adam
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Adam Fowler
Hi, I had decided to switch off the manual on restart because I thought people would forget they had it on and assume the exposure readings they were getting were correct. I know I miss stuff even though it is straight in front of my eyes. I can rethink that, I guess an additional option to not reset is a possibility.
Adam
Thanks for your reply Adam. I was hoping it could be a setting that was a personal setting to set in the the settings section of the app. I stopped shooting AV/TV a long time ago. Having the option to set and keep at M would be useful, at least in my humble opinion.
R/
Dave
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Just installed the update and I dig the manual exposure default switch. Thank you for that option.
R/
Dave
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Adam,
I just purchased your app and it looks good.
My primary usage would be with my 8x20 using a 1200mm lens. I see you've increased the acceptable lens focal lengths. Could you do the same for film width (increase it to 20 inches)?
Thanks. I really appreciate the convenience your app gives to us goofy guys with the giant cameras.
John
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
John Jarosz
Adam,
My primary usage would be with my 8x20 using a 1200mm lens. I see you've increased the acceptable lens focal lengths. Could you do the same for film width (increase it to 20 inches)?
John
Looking at 8x20 cameras on the internet they look awesome. The next release will allow for a 20 inch film width, although the app already allows you to go up to 500mm which is almost 20 inches.
I'm currently on holiday so don't expect a release for a week or so though.
Adam
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Thanks very much.
Have a great holiday.
John
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Hmmm
I mis-interpreted the error message when I tried to enter 508mm for the 20" film width. Actually, 500mm is fine as it more closely represents the film size without the rebate generated by the filmholder.
So for me your original number of 500mm is perfectly acceptable. Sorry for the confusion on my part.
John
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
It is a very useful app, in principle. However, I do not seem to be able to make the „spot meter“ function work. On tapping within the preview, the square appears, but no change in exposure or histogram take place. When tapping outside the preview, the square box does not disappear.
Thanks for the good work and please keep on improving this grat app, even if, due to the niche market, it will not be commercially attractive to do so ...
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Unfortunately, changing film format and/or focal length seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Most often, changing the value does not result in any change in the preview image, which is a bit disconcerting.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Adam Fowler
The standard mode for the light meter is average but if you touch the screen it will be a spot meter for the point you touched. It works in a similar way the iPhone camera app works.
Regarding the 400mm focal length limit that is being upped to 1500mm. I have just submitted a new version of the app to Apple with this change
Thanks, nice app! Thus far I used Cadrage, but that app is only for composition and doesn’t tell me how the tonal scale would come out. I wonder if I can trust the light meter for long exposure times, for instance 160 secs, for being corrected for reciprocity failure for instance for Delta 100? And if so, if you used the Ilford figures?
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nomennominatur
Unfortunately, changing film format and/or focal length seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Most often, changing the value does not result in any change in the preview image, which is a bit disconcerting.
I have had the same experience. I have to stop and restart the app for the focal length to change. Too bad - I nice idea.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
The app‘s behaviour
- is inconsistent on my iPhone (as detailed in previous posts) with regard to changing FL of film format,
- yet it seems to work flawlessly on my iPad...
Thus, it seems a matter of debugging and no principal flaw. Please DO keep up the work on this little gem, as the iPad is a bit unwieldy to be used as a viewfinder in the field :cool:
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
otto.f
Thanks, nice app! Thus far I used Cadrage, but that app is only for composition and doesn’t tell me how the tonal scale would come out. I wonder if I can trust the light meter for long exposure times, for instance 160 secs, for being corrected for reciprocity failure for instance for Delta 100? And if so, if you used the Ilford figures?
Sorry , the app does not correct for reciprocity failure.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nomennominatur
Unfortunately, changing film format and/or focal length seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Most often, changing the value does not result in any change in the preview image, which is a bit disconcerting.
I'll private message you to get details and see what I can do.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nomennominatur
Unfortunately, changing film format and/or focal length seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. Most often, changing the value does not result in any change in the preview image, which is a bit disconcerting.
The unresponsive UI issues have now been resolved. Version 1.4 which was released today contains the fix. Thank you to nomennominatur for helping me to find the issue. It was a performance issue related to the older plus size iPhones.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
The new version also has a feature I've long wished for - it now shows frames for multiple focal lengths, not just the selected one. Thanks for the nice improvement!
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Are we Version1.3.4 Build 929? Using iPhone SE iOS 12.1.2?
I didn't see an update in App Store.
I still have extreme difficulty with this App.
-
Re: iPhone Viewfinder app
Any chance you will compile this for Android?