One essential piece of equipment for any photographer is a light meter. While many of today’s SLRs have light meters built in, their readings are often not as accurate as having your own separate incident light meter on hand.
Enter Luxi, a small diffusion dome that fits over the forward-facing camera on your iPhone, turning your smartphone into a light meter with the help of a light-metering app.
So, you already have a light meter app on your iPhone. Why do you need Luxi?
“It is important to capture all of the light falling on your subject. Luxi is designed to work just like a professional incident light meter which can capture light from a 180-degree angle,” says its Kickstarter page. “When using a light meter app without Luxi, the iPhone camera only receives light from a limited angle which means it doesn't capture all the light. This will produce readings that are both inconsistent and inaccurate.”
Readings from Luxi can be entered directly in your SLR using your camera’s manual override mode.
The gadget is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. Aiming for just $10,000, the project already has more than $48,000 in funds pledged from more than 2,200 backers. It plans to ship units to backers in May.
What do you think about Luxi? Would you use the gadget? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.