New iPhone Photo App: Light Finder

Description from the AppStore: Light Finder searches into the future to find the date and time when the sun will be right where you want it to be in the sky. Unlike sun calculators that tell you where the sun will be on a given date, Light Finder tells you when the sun will be in the location you want.

Light Finder makes use of the advanced sensors in your device so you can indicate the desired sun position through intuitive gestures: Orient the device along the path you want the sunlight to fall or aim where you want the sun to be in the sky using a live image from the built-in camera. For highest accuracy you can use the manual compass with or without magnetic declination correction to specify the sun’s bearing.

Use Light Finder to know when to photograph a scene with the sun in a certain place in the sky. You can plan an architectural photo with the least amount of shadow. Determine when the sun will be shining right on the TV. You can even use Light Finder to estimate when a photo was taken by mimicking the path of the sunlight in the image.

Light Finder tells you the date and time when the sun will be nearest to the position you indicated. You can restrict the search to give the best result in the next day, week, month, or year. When you’re done you can copy or email the results.

NOTE: Light Finder works on all iPhone and iPod Touch models. Automatic compass heading requires iPhone 3GS. Live video aiming feature requires built-in camera and is only available on iPhone models.

AppStore Link: Light Finder - Price £1.19/$1.99

Editors comments: If this app works as described, then this could be a really useful app.

If anyone tries this app, then please let us know what it is like.

Comments

[Leon]

The "Point where you want light to hit" feature works a tad bit better than "Face where you want the sun to be" for obvious iphone compass shortcomings. I haven't tried relying on this app for accuracy, but I have gone to my local hangouts and correctly guessed at what time the sun normally shines through their windows. When I use this for an actual shoot I'll update!