Questions? Ask Lumu

We use DHL Express Shipping for all orders made in our online store, all free of charge.

Lumu Light Meters are dispatched directly from our warehouse in Ljubljana, Slovenia in the European Union.

All orders are shipped within 24 hours. Delivery is usually within 2-4 working days.

Please note:

- We cannot deliver to PO Box addresses.

- Import duties and taxes may be applied by your local authorities. The purchaser is responsible for any additional costs.

At Lumu our goal is simple: we want you to have the same confidence in our product as we do.

You may return the products purchased online, for any reason, within 30 days of purchase. If 30 days have passed since the time of purchase we, unfortunately, cannot offer you a refund or an exchange except in the case of a defective product.

To be eligible for a return your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.

To complete your return we require a receipt or proof of purchase. If you wish to return your Lumu products it is free and easy to do.

We provide a pre-paid shipping label for FREE returns.

Lumu Light Meters are dispatched directly from our warehouse in Ljubljana, Slovenia in the European Union.

All orders are shipped within 24 hours. Delivery is usually within 2-4 working days.

Our warehouse team takes a much deserved break on weekends and public holidays, so orders placed on those days will be shipped the following business day.

Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item. We will also notify you of the approval or rejection of your refund. If you are approved then your refund will be processed and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment within a certain amount of days.

If you haven’t received a refund yet first check your bank account again. Then contact your credit card company, it may take some time before your refund is officially posted. Next, contact your bank. There is often some processing time before a refund is posted. If you’ve done all of this and you still have not received your refund yet please contact us using iMessage or Chat. 

Our team moves quickly to get your order shipped out ASAP, which means that we aren’t able to make any changes to an order once it’s been placed.

We currently ship everywhere in the U.S., as well as Canada, Australia, and most of Europe. Our goal is to bring Lumu to the whole world—and soon. Tweet us (@lumu) or send us an message at iMessage or Chat and let us know what country you’d like us to have on our radar.

Please note:

- We cannot deliver to PO Box addresses.

- Import duties and taxes may be applied by your local authorities. The purchaser is responsible for any additional costs.

Sorry, we don’t. Because we ship with DHL, we are unable to deliver to a P.O. Box address.

Sure. Lumu Labs warrants that Lumu light meter and the component parts thereof will be free of defects in workmanship and materials for a term of one year from the date of first consumer purchase. Lumu Labs will, without charge, repair or replace, at it’s option defective Lumu light meter product or component parts upon delivery to the Lumu Labs Service Department if accompanied by proof of the date of first consumer purchase, such as a verified warranty or sales receipt. Before sending the product to repair please contact us at iMessage or Chat. This will ensure the fastest turnaround time on any repair.

Special Warnings: Our products are not toys, are not waterproof or edible. Use Lumu only with the protective cases for your mobile device, which allow operation without restrictions.

It is the user’s responsibility to use our products both prudently and responsibly. 

Yes! Lumu light meter meets the essential requirements for product safety, and complies with the relevant standards required by the United States (FCC) and European Community (CE). Please check Certificate of Conformity for more detailed information.

Open a Lumu app on your iPhone, tap Settings (Gear icon), tap Support, Tap User Manual.

Or you can find it here: USER MANUAL

Plug in your Lumu.

Open the Lumu app on your iPhone, tap Settings (gear icon) and you will see what model you currently own. 

If it says Lumu Power (it means it is the first generation of Lumu Power therefore it cannot be upgraded via the app for additional features). 

So, if you would like to try out the new features we encourage you to check out our Trade In Program.

Yes, Lumu Light Meters will be compatible and work perfectly with new iPhones as long as iPhone will have Lightning Connector. In case Apple  decides to change the connector, we will have at least 2 things to offer for our users:

1. Trade In Program, that we already run, where you can Trade In your current Lumu Light Meter for credit toward your next purchase;

2. We will make sure that our app works fine with your current Lumu Light Meter in case Apple will offer a dongle, so you will be able to continue using your Lumu Light Meter even if you upgrade your phone.

We have gone through this kind of cycle before therefore we know how to make sure our users are not left behind. 

Kelvins - the standard units for measuring Color Temperature (more precisely Blue vs. Orange color cast) - are not a linear scale. 

This means:

- if you are taking photographs under low-Kelvin-value lights (which look orange or yellow): every small Kelvin change will cause visible change in the photograph tonality

- if you are taking photographs under high-Kelvin-value (very blue lights or shadows): Kelvin change needs to be much bigger in order to generate any visible tonality change

To put it differently, even though the discrepancy between your Lumu Power and your other color meter (Sekonic, Minolta, etc.) is significant, your Lumu Power is most likely still giving you correct results.

When the Kelvin values are very high (10,000+K) the difference between various color meters can be up to 3000K and your final photo/video/light will still have a perfect White Balance. On the other hand, when you're working in low-Kelvin conditions (around 2800K), the difference can be around 300K.

Lumu Power's strength lies in metering low-Kelvin values, so in strong light, which are most common. We are, however, planning to improve high-Kelvin measurements in one of our future app or firmware upgrades.

You can read more about Color Temperature and Lumu Power here.

If you believe that you received a faulty unit that doesn't measure Color Temperature correctly, please read this troubleshooting article or contact us using iMessage or Chat.

As you know, White Balance consists of Kelvins (blue vs. red color cast) and Tint (green vs. magenta color cast).

“Kelvins" are standard international units used, luckily, by all manufacturers. There are, unfortunately, multiple different standards for “Tint”.

Lumu Light Meter app currently shows green or magenta color cast within a "valid Color Temperature bandpass", defined by the international colorimetric standards. This means that the absolute ratings are always the same, but you can define the number of steps in the app settings.

For instance:

if you want to use this measurement with Adobe Lightroom or Camera Raw, you should set the number of steps to 150, because they use +/-150 steps for Tint compensation.if you use RED cameras, their Tint number of steps is from -100 to +100.if you use it with Nikon cameras, their Tint number of steps is -21 to +21.

However, if you use ARRI cameras or some other equipment you stumble across other units as well:

Wratten numbers: CC Green & CC Magentaplusgreen and minusgreen (used by color filter manufacturers)

Currently we are putting together the overview of all these standards, so they can be incorporated in the app.

Lumu Power "1"  hardware (first generation, released first at the end of 2015) can't measure Flash Color Temperature. 
Which means it can't be upgraded to measure Flash CT. 

We honestly believed tried really hard for quite some time to be able to enable this functionality with the original Lumu Power 1 with e.g. simple Firmware and iOS app update. Unfortunately we weren't able to achieve it and had to develop a new hardware - Lumu Power 2. 

Lumu Power 2, released in October 2018, is a completely new hardware with new color sensor and additional fast response photodiode. 
It can measure everything that the fist generation was able to do:

Ambient/Flash ExposureAmbient Color TemperatureChromaticityIlluminance

+ additionally Flash Color Temperature. 

In terms of accuracy for Ambient/Flash Exposure, Ambient CT, Illuminance and Chromaticity - both versions, 1 and 2, are basically the same. 

We will continue to make the measuring accuracy, speed and overall performance of Lumu Power 1 and 2 better in the future - with free automatic Firmware upgrades and iOS app updates, just as we did in the past.

Lumu Power 2 hardware is more expensive to produce, and we are introducing three different variants of it, from the cheapest to the most expensive): 

"Lite" (measures only Ambient/Flash Exposure for photographers and video shooters)"Power" (additionally measures Ambient Color Temperature, Chromaticity and Illuminance)"Pro" (additionally measures Flash Color Temperature).

"Lite" and "Power" variant can be upgraded to the "Pro" functionality, over-the-air with simple in-app purchase. 
Price for in-app purchase upgrade after original purchase will be roughly 10-15% higher than the original price difference between variants. 

Learn more details about our products and pricing at http://lu.mu/. 

No, Lumu Power does not measure Photosynthetically active radiation as it was made with photographers, cinematographers and lighting designers in mind.

If you think Lumu should measure PAR fill out this FORM and let us know where you would use this kind of measurements and what your workflow looks like.

It is a rare occasion that a Lumu Power stops working, so please try to diligently follow these steps first:

- Try to reinstall the app.

- Unplug Lumu from your phone and then plug it in again.

- Turn your phone off and on again.

- Clean the lightning connector port on your iPhone for any dirt residue.

- Try your Lumu Light Meter on another iOS device.

If none of the above fix the problem contact us using iMessage or Chat and we'll happily assist you. Please state your name & purchase date (or the Invoice number) and if you have conducted the steps described above.

Unfortunately we do not support Android devices.

Why?

Our devices connect either via the Apple's Lightning port or the audio jack. The former is an established standard across all modern iOS devices and enables us to focus our R&D on one, unified port. It also certainly looks like it will stay that way for a some time.

The latter has a constant power delivery and a unified communication protocol, which is not consistent between various Android manufacturers and their models.

Our past experiences have shown that it is best practice to focus on one platform & make it perfect. Only then we'll be ready to support another one.

Having said that, we are also very much looking forward to the moment when the USB type-C will be adopted by all / most Android manufacturers. It will certainly make our lives easier.

Have you bought your Lumu Light Meter thinking it will work with your android device? Don't worry, contact us using iMessage or Chat, we'll arrange a DHL pickup and once we receive it, we'll refund you in full. 

The Lumu Light Meter works on all iOS devices running iOS8.4+.

No, it doesn't.

Lumu Light Meter uses tristimulus CIE 1931 XYZ color sensor, it can't measure light spectrum - meaning we can only get spectral information in red, blue and green wavelength regions. Lumu Light Meter is just not capable of providing us with enough information to be able to derive CRI index.

Our color sensor is True Color Sensor (MTCSiCF) from MAZeT with a filter function based on the color standard CIE 1931/DIN 5033. It was designed with measuring LED lights in mind. This is copied directly from the sensor's data sheet regarding the led measuring:

"LED lighting control management for solid-state lighting (SSL), LED spotlights, cabin lighting, day-light management / Human and Color Centric Lighting (HCL and CCL), Color Light Output (CLO), ambient light color detection / correction, (O)LED display control, and dynamic display color balancing, portable light color measurement, and digital light projection (DLP)".

This sensor is also stable over the entire product lifetime and resistant to external influences, such as temperature or aging drifts. Every Lumu Light Meter is calibrated individually before it's packaged and no calibration is needed after that, due to the special interference filter technology the sensor is using.

Check this measuring test under different types of lights as well: COLOR TEMPERATURE: Real life measurements, accuracy and comparisons

You can change FPS value by tapping the current FPS.

After tapping the field, a keyboard will appear enabling you to input whatever value you wish.

Of course, you can set the same value for Shutter time or Angle.

1. Device Compatibility

Lumu lite with headphone jack basically still works with iPhone 7/7+ and lightning to 3.5mm adapter, but we don’t recommend using it. There is a glitch in iOS that makes Lumu connect and reconnect every 10 seconds or so, when used in combination with Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter, making Lumu unusable on devices without a headphone port.

The Lumu Power works on all iOS devices from iOS 8+ / all iOS devices that have Lightning connector port.

2. App Compatibility

Currently the only app working with Lumu Power is our own free Lumu Light Meter app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lumu-light-meter/id730969737?mt=8

We have plans for making a public SDK for Lumu Power but ETA is currently unknown. Lumu Power SDK is currently being developed. If you're interested in working with us, please take a quick survey so we can get to know you better.

2.1. Pinhole app

There's already a pinhole mode in the current Lumu Light Meter app  available to download at: http://appsto.re/i6d85B3

After you've installed it on your iOS device, just tap 'PHOTO AMBIENT' on the home screen. Tap the PHOTO SINGLE label at the top of the screen and select PINHOLE to enter the PINHOLE mode. You will need to have Lumu Power plugged in to be able to access this mode.

2.2 Snapcount

Snapcount only works with first generation Lumus, which are not available at our store anymore. Lumu Power, available at our website, is currently not compatible with Snapcount's software.

3. Extension cables

A list of extension cables that work well with Lumu Power:

Meenova lightning extension cable

This information tells you how much did the light from your flash unit contribute to the total exposure. This info is helpful if you use external flash to exposure the subject in your photograph. 

Lumu Power is an incident light meter, so when measuring Ambi or Flash Exposure you have to have it placed close to your subject end keep the Dome faced directly towards the camera lens.

Of course, if you are measuring a person you can have Lumu Power placed

directly in front of the person oron the left or right side of his/her face.

It depends on which part you want to have properly exposed and what your desired effect is.

When shooting Flash, you have 4 variables:

ApertureExposure TimeISOFlash power output.

All 4 variables contribute to the final exposure. But be aware that only two things impact the Flash vs. Ambient ratio: changing the Flash power output or changing the Exposure time.
Changing ISO and Aperture will only make sure your photo isn’t in generally over- or underexposed.

For further reading we suggest you take a look at this series of articles by David Hobby, who is master in flash photography http://strobist.blogspot.si/2006/03/lighting-101-balancing-flash-and.html.

His general advice is:

1. Read ambient exposure first (without flash). This will give you a good impression about the available light and where you stand with Exposure time/ISO/Aperture.

2. Drop the exposure down to create a little "drama". How much, is up to you.

3. Bring your subject back up to full exposure by adding flash.

4. Then play and experiment.

If you want to use shutter angle instead of shutter time, you can change that in CINE/VIDEO mode specific settings.

Tap the settings icon when you're in the CINE/VIDEO mode.

You'll be presented with the next screen, where you need to tap the 'Unit type' setting.

Make sure the 'Angle' option is selected and you're good to go.

If you find the alert dialog appearing every time you plug Lumu Light Meter in your device annoying, here's how to disable it.

Open Settings by tapping the gear icon in the top left corner.

Tap the 'GENERAL SETTINGS' button and you will arrive at the next screen. Make sure your Lumu Light Meter is plugged into your device, otherwise you will not see this setting. Uncheck the 'AUTO APP OPEN' setting as seen in the picture.

The next time you plug in your Lumu Light Meter, you won't see the dialog box again.

With the iOS app version 3.1.6, Lumu Light Meter actively supports HSS metering functionality.

Please kindly update your iOS app to avail you the opportunity to explore this feature!

If you have been using Lumu Light Meter to help with exposure but your camera is showing you a different result, there are possibly two reasons for this:

1) You made a "reflected light measurement" with your camera on the completely white Lumu Power diffuser dome and this photograph is actually underexposed. Reflected light metering will always give you slightly underexposed photograph when measuring white surface and slightly overexposed photograph when measuring dark surfaces.
It works the best when metering even scenes, which are not too bright or too dark.

Read more about incident vs. reflected metering here https://www.thomaspiteraphotography.com/techniques-reviews/reflected-vs-incident-metering/ or explore further on the internet.

2) For the best result you have to make incident light measurement with the light meter dome diffuser pointing directly towards the camera lens. Perhaps you had your Lumu pointing up, instead towards the lens and I believe he thought the scene is darker that it actually is. 


Two additional things which are widely known and contribute to discrepancies when using light meter out-of-the-box: 

1) Each digital camera model can have slightly different "effective" ISO sensitivity than the one it claims it has. This means if your camera says the ISO is 8000, it might be effectively slightly more or less.

2) Each light meter manufacturer uses slightly different algorithms for calibrating their light metering devices and calculating exposure value. Even the photographic ISO 2720-1974 standard doesn't specify any exact numbers, only suggest ones. That being said, light meters from Sekonic, Lumulabs, Gossen and Kenko/Minolta will always give slightly different readings, because each manufacturer decides what "final result" seem the best for them. For instance Sekonic returns slightly darker and Gossen slightly brighter results.
We made Lumu Power calculations the same way ISO standard suggests it. 

FINAL WORD: Light meter is your own tool and you have to tune it to your shooting taste, needs and equipment (camera body). Give it time, play with it, using your own equipment. Test reflected vs. incident results. 
You can adjust Lumu Power outcome by going to general app settings (gear icon in top left corner on the first screen) --> General Settings --> Lumu Power calibration --> EV calibration. If you slide it to "+", it will return you brighter photographs and vice versa. 

Many users adjust it differently for different cameras (or DSLRs vs. mirrorless cameras). That's why we'll introduce "camera profile" option with the app, where you will be able to tune it for multiple cameras and save it as a preset. 

If the problem continues, contact us using iMessage or Chat and we'll give you a replacement.

Aperture Priority Mode
(often it has a symbol of ‘A’ or ‘Av’)

In this mode, you as the photographer set the aperture that you wish to use and the app makes a decision about which shutter speed is appropriate in the conditions that you’re shooting in. To go into aperture priority mode, you need to tap on the shutter time section in the app. Then, you will be able to set the aperture you wish to use. 

Shutter Priority Mode
(often has a symbol of ‘Tv’ or ‘S’)

In this mode, you as the photographer choose the shutter speed that you wish to shoot at and let the app make a decision about which aperture to select to give you a well-exposed shot. To go into shutter priority mode, you need to tap on the aperture section in the app. Then, you will be able to set the shutter time you wish to use.

Shutter and Aperture Priority Mode (sometimes referred to as "Manual" Mode)

EV stands for exposure value, so it measures exposure. Measuring EV helps you make the lighting just right, not too bright and not too dark. This is mostly useful for photographers and cinematographers. Using Lumu Power will help you determine the right exposure so you won't have to edit your photos/videos after shooting. You can read more about it in this article.

LUX measures luminous flux per unit area. It is equal to one lumen per square meter. It is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by the human eye, of light that hits or passes through a surface. You can watch this short video that explains it quite nicely. LUX values can help you determine how strong your lights are, how much light they emit. 

It is correct that you have a small amount of Green shift when measuring Sunlight.

Basically, what Lumu Light Meter measures is chromaticity coordinates in the CIE 1931 chromaticity space.

Planckian locus is a theoretical line which represents Color Temperature values with zero Green or Magenta offset. However, there are very few light sources which have chromaticity exactly on the Planckian locus.

The next image shows the zoomed-in section of the chromaticity diagram with D50, D55, D65 and A standard illuminants marking:

On the average, when measuring daylight, you would get roughly between 10/1000 and 150/1000 of Green cast. It heavily depends on the sun's angle, your geolocation, weather, quality of the air, etc.

If you are interested in further theory you can read the basic theory on these links:

Wikipedia - Standard illuminant

Wikipedia - Planckian locus

Wikipedia - Color temperature

If you are comparing the measurements from your Lumu Power to some other light meter please check first: 

1. how high is the offset (expressed in EV steps)?

2. is the offset constant through all illuminance levels?

If the offset is small (<1.0EV) and constant through the whole range, this is normal. Each manufacturer uses slightly different EV calculating algorithms and constants. Even the photographic ISO 2720-1974 standard doesn't specify any exact numbers, only suggests ones. That being said, light meters from Sekonic, Lumulabs, Gossen and Kenko/Minolta will always give different readings.

We made our calculations the way the ISO standard suggests it.

Light meter is your own tool and you have to tune it to your shooting taste and needs. You can do that by going to general app settings (gear icon in top left corner on the first screen) --> General Settings --> Lumu Power calibration --> EV calibration.

If the offset isn't small and constant, contact us using iMessage or Chat.  Tell us:

1. which Serial Number does your Lumu Light Meter have

2. what type of lights are giving you problems.

You might have received a faulty unit, which doesn't happen often, or maybe there is a problem with measuring specific light types. The latter needs to be solved with the Firmware or iOS app upgrade, and we can be more effective with your help. 

Sometimes when measuring and then taking photographs of extremely non-even spectral power distribution light sources, such as some LEDs and fluorescents, the output image "just doesn't look completely white". 

This can happen due to much of a spectral mismatch between the camera sensor and light spectrum.
What does that mean?

Camera has different light sensitivity for different colors (or wavelengths) of light. And e.g. LED light outputs more light at some wavelengths than other. The cheap ones usually have large spike in blue light area.
When one such "low" and "high" are combined (it can happen rarely, with just some lights) you get a color mismatch.

If we list all possible reasons for discrepancy between what color meter measures and what the camera "sees":

- different sensitivity to different wavelength

- different color handling

- different internal WB measuring algorithms.

Even when using multiple units of the same camera model, there could be some very small but noticeable color discrepancy between the final photographs.

The proof is if you take a look at the histogram of the photograph, shot under extremely non-even and low CRI light source (such as cheap LED lights). Fine tuning your RAW file in the Adobe Lightroom, you can match R, G and B channels in the mediums area, but you still have large channel mismatch in the highlights section:

So it is impossible to make a photograph under this particular light and get a neutral white result in dark, medium and highlight areas.
And that's why also the WB measured by the camera itself isn't completely correct.

That doesn't mean that the color temperature meter is useless.

As Adam Wilt says in his comparison test between Lightning Passport and Sekonic C-700 spectrometers and Minolta Color Meter II and Sekonic C-500 tristimulus meters, "The more lumpy your source’s spectrum is, the more a slight difference in the spectral responses of your camera and meter will be likely to cause visible mismatches between what the meter predicts and what the camera sees." 

You can read Adam's complete test here: On the Color of Light, and the Measurement Thereof.

The single most important aspect of using a handheld Color Temperature meter is to use it in real life situations, with a camera you are used to, and to have it as a starting point in getting the image suited to your taste and desire. 
It will help you become a better photographer or cinematographer.

It isn’t too small, you have to use it. At first, it feels tight, small and too hard. But after a couple of days of use, the leather will soften and it will take the shape after Lumu Power. It will fit absolutely perfectly.

his is how natural leather behaves and Lumubag was designed with this in mind. And don’t worry, you won’t break the Lightning connector on your Lumu Light Meter.

We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with CT readings. They should be OK and each Lumu Light Meter is individually calibrated before being shipped. 

Please try and check a couple of things, so we can see if you really got the faulty one:

- Are you measuring CT with the flat side? You have to use the flat side to measure Color Temperature and Illuminance; and the dome side to measure Ambient and Flash exposure. Be aware of the small pictogram on top of each screen - it tells you which side is measuring in particular mode. You can, of course, plug your Lumu Light Meter in your iOS device in either orientation. 

- Which serial number does your Lumu Power have?

- Can you go to general app settings (gear icon in top left corner on the first screen) --> troubleshooting and make a factory restore of your Lumu Light Meter

- What types of light are you measuring, what is the discrepancy in Kelvins? 

Let us know about your findings by using iMessage or Chat and we'll solve your problem.

You can read more about CT and the tests we made here and more about why Lumu Power is showing different Kelvin values than other meters here.

In order to find out if the problem is iOS app, Lumu Light Meter hardware or your own iOS device, please do this:

- completely delete and reinstall the Lumu Light Meter app

- try your Lumu Light Meter with another iOS device

If none of these work, contact us using iMessage or Chat and we'll help you immediately. 

The early bird catches the worm 

It is no secret that the quality and the mood of your photograph depends on the lighting. With good lighting you can achieve great results.Taking a photo of a beautiful landscape on a sunny afternoon is completely OK. However, if you want your photographs to stand out you will have to get up before the crack of dawn in order to catch the golden hour. The golden hour is roughly the first hour of light after sunrise (and the last hour of light before sunset). During these times the sun is low in the sky, producing a soft, golden light and long shadows. This diffused light is much more flattering than the harsh midday sun we are used to shooting in.Just by choosing the best time, you can make your photos look like they were taken by a professional photographer.

Say goodbye to bad composition 

If you are a complete beginner you might not have heard of the rule of the thirds. It is a simple rule that divides your photo into nine even squares with two vertical and two horizontal lines. This can then help you to achieve a clean composition. Some photos will look best with the focal point in the center square, but placing the subject off center will often create a more aesthetically pleasing result. A lot of modern cameras offer the function to show this grid when you are looking through the view finder or when you are using the camera’s LCD screen, and this can help you immensely.

Three fundamental settings

When you feel confident enough to stop using the auto setting on your camera, you will realize that the quality of your photograph depends on 3 things: ISO, aperture and shutter speed. These are the three fundamental elements of exposure. Creating a harmonious exposure using the aperture, shutter speed and ISO is a juggling act. As soon as you make a decision about one element, you will need to compromise with another. The trick to achieving optimal exposure is to get all three elements working together so you get the results you want, and not what the camera tells you you can have.This might seem complicated at first but with a little practice achieving perfect exposure will become a piece of cake. You will quickly figure out that using settings other than auto results in much better photos.

Blurry photos are a thing of the past 

A lot of photographers have to deal with bad shooting conditions, which can lead to photo noise or blurred photos. Camera shake is something that can plague any photographer and here are some ways to avoid it. First, you need to learn how to hold your camera properly; use both hands, one around the body and one around the lens and hold the camera close to your body for support. A lot of cameras already come with some kind of a built in stabilization feature, and DSLR cameras most often have this feature included in the lenses. This stabilizer is known under different names in different camera brands — Optical stabilization (OS), Vibration reduction (VR) etc. In most of the point and shoot cameras this feature is available and known as “anti-blur”, “steady shot” etc. Refer to your equipment’s manual and use it appropriately. However, if you are shooting in bad light blurry photos are still possible because you will need to use a very slow shutter speed to catch enough light. In this case you cannot go wrong with using a monopod or a tripod. If you do not have one you can always use a wall or something else to stabilize the camera. But remember one thing: when you are using a monopod or a tripod you must turn off image stabilization!

Edit your photos 

If your camera offers the option to take photos in the RAW-format definitely use it. You can set your camera to also save photos in the JPEG-format, the RAW photo is crucial for the post-production. This format includes raw, unprocessed photos and also all of the photo information (such as ISO, shutter speed and aperture you used). You have certainly seen a photo or two you really liked and wanted to know the author’s secrets. Every great photo had to undergo an extensive editing process. There are a number of different photo editing programs you can use, from Adobe Photoshop to Lightroom. You can edit the photos in any way you see fit, the possibilities are endless.

Correct exposure is everything, correct White Balance even more! 

Even if you always use the auto setting you will soon realize that your camera cannot achieve perfect exposure every single time. Many times you will end up with a photo that is over- or underexposed. But do not fret! You still have control over the brightness of your photo. All digital cameras offer a quick setting to brighten or darken a photo even when your camera is set on auto. The exposure compensation button usually has a plus and minus symbol on it.A great number of cameras will also offer you a preview of the photo when you change the settings, and when you are satisfied with the shot you only have to press the shutter-release button. Correct exposure indeed is everything, but even if you follow the above tip your photos may still not look as perfect as you would like them to. This is where White Balance comes into play.  White Balance balances the color temperature in your photo - so if your white shirt appears blue or orange it should appear white after correctly white balancing a photo. All digital cameras have an in-built Auto White Balance, but oftentimes the camera can be fooled. The best way to correctly set your White Balance is by using an incident meter such as the Lumu Power light and color meter. Lumu Power enables you to measure color temperature of the object you will be shooting, so that you can manually set the correct White Balance on your camera. Lumu is the best because it is compatible with your iPhone, and it is so small that after you measure the color temperature, you can just put it in you pocket.

You can see Bonyo Bonev’s original blog post on his blog and be sure to check out more of his wonderful work on his website at http://www.bonevphotography.com.  

Learn from others 

Everyone has to start somewhere and even professional photographers were beginners once. You can look for inspiration in photos posted on various social media. You can also join a number of different photography forums and find a lot of useful information and tips. Or why not join a local photography club or take part in a photography class or two? This can be a wonderful chance to meet people with similar interests and different experience, who can share their knowledge with you. Societies, clubs, classes or photo trips are an excellent chance to get motivated and work harder. On these different meetings you can examine your work and the work of others, ask for advice, find out some new editing tricks, etc., and as a result your photos will improve in no time. 

Don’t be afraid 

When you acquire enough knowledge and find your confidence in your work, do not be afraid to go further. Find a location you would like to shoot and explore its surroundings. Make a plan beforehand. Come to your location before the sun rises and take a couple of remarkable photos. Make use of the space, try different compositions and settings. Do not be afraid to experiment. To put it differently, try everything that comes to mind and, most importantly, enjoy your journey. This is what photography is all about. Do not worry about the mistakes you will make. Do not delete the shots before you come back home. When you are finished, go through all of the photos on your computer and try to figure out why some of them did not turn out the way you wanted them to. Just remember, practice makes perfect!

Sharpness is key 

One crucial thing that can ruin your photo and you cannot really fix in the post-production process is sharpness. When using the auto setting, your camera will choose the focus point on its own. This is great, but what happens when you want to put something else into focus? A bit more effort is needed at this point because you will have to manually set the focus. If you’re feeling brave you can set your camera to Manual Focus or you can choose the focus where you focus on only one spot. The latter technique is great but you have to be careful. When you select your focus point, press the shutter button half-way down and do not let go, otherwise you will loose the sharpness - if you move your camera even a little bit your object might not be sharp anymore, as the focus point will move.

Change your perspective

Another simple, yet effective way to make your photos look more professional is to choose the right perspective. Most beginners will take a photo in their eye level. However, if you just slightly change your perspective the end result will be drastically different. The two most simple ways to do this are to take a photo of your object from above or shoot from a low angle. The choice depends on the situation, the surroundings of your object and the effect you wish to achieve. Do not forget about making the object appear closer or further away by using zoom. You can also play around with a telephoto lens or a wide angle lens. Use your imagination and try different angles. This way, your photos will shine in a completely different light.

Color Temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, horticulture and other fields.

It consists of two different scales: Blue vs. Amber and Green vs. Magenta.

When we know the Color Temperature of light, we use it in camera or image processing software to set the White Balance correctly. 

1.) Comparing Lumu Power vs. camera or Adobe Lightroom Auto WB function

When you don't have a grey card with you to create a custom WB profile for each lightning situation (or the time or space to do it), a handheld color meter comes in handy. 

Below you can see a couple of examples how camera's built-in reflected light color meter measures White Balance in colorful situations under trickier light conditions. Reflected light color meter in a camera can be tricked in such situations, because it always makes an assumption that it sees a white or grey scene.
We compared a camera's Auto WB with the Adobe Lightroom Auto WB function as well. 

If you use the WB picker in Adobe Lightroom in combination with RAW files you can get sufficient results, but in many cases you can pick different grey or white areas in the photograph and get different results. 

Comments

There are small visible differences between the four Lumu Power measured photographs. This is normal and can happen because:

lights used in the test have very different CRI (Color Rendering Index), which means some of them reveal the color of colorful objects faithfully in comparison with an ideal or natural light source, and some not. Human eyes compensate for a low CRI quite well, but cameras are not that good. the lower the quality of the light, the bigger the measuring error - either with Lumu Power or camera.

But overall, measuring your scene with a Color Temperature meter will give you sufficient accuracy to have your Kelvins and especially Green/Magenta compensation in order.

2.) Visual impact of the Color Temperature change

Kelvins - standard units for measuring Color Temperature (more precisely Blue vs. Orange color cast) - are not a linear scale. 

This means:

if you are taking photographs under low-Kelvin-value lights (which look orange or yellow): every small Kelvin change will cause visible change in the photograph tonalityif you are taking photographs under high Kelvin value (very blue lights or shadows): Kelvin change needs to be much bigger in order to generate any visible tonality change

Here's a short example of White Balance bracketing, made with three different light sources (native Kelvin values of them approx. 2800K, 5200K and 10000K):

3.) Comparing Lumu Power vs. custom WB profile (made with grey card + camera)

Here is a real life comparison between Lumu Power White Balance measurements and a custom White Balance profile created with X-Rite Color Checker and two different cameras:

Nikon D750 + Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di USD lens andPanasonic GH5 + Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 Ii Asph lens.

The comparison was made with 6 different light sources, at the total of 8 different output settings.
Light sources were chosen to represent various types and Spectral Power Distributions: LEDs, Halogen, Sunlight, Fluorescent with even and non-even Spectral Power Distribution.
CRI of these light sources varied from 68 (Philips HUE at max. Cold output) to 99 (direct Sunlight).

Testing procedure

X-Rite Color Checker Passport was placed on a dark paper inside a dark room (except when measuring Sunlight, where it was placed outside).
The camera and light source were always placed at an approximately constant position regarding to the X-Rite card.

1) We first measured each light with Lumu Power:

Exposure, which was then used in the camera to take photograph. Measurements were ranging from f/3.5, 1/100s, ISO3200 to f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO100.Color Temperature. Green/Magenta scale was set to +/-150 steps, which is the standard Adobe Lightroom scale. 

2) Then, for each light we built a custom White Balance profile with the X-Rite card and camera.  See how you can create custom WB profile using a grey card and: Nikon D750 YT tutorial and with Panasonic GH5 YT tutorial.

3) We took a photograph of the X-Rite card with Exposure settings measured with Lumu Power, and White Balance set to custom profile, made with camera and X-Rite card.

4) To see how the photograph would look if we used the Lumu Power measurement, we set the measured WB + Tint in RAW files in Adobe Lightroom software.

Results
*Table with the exact measured numbers will be added soon.

Comments 

Photographs made with the help of all three different WB measuring methods (Lumu Power, Nikon D750 and Panasonic GH5) are visually very close to one another under various light sources. Most of the time, differences would be indistinguishable if these would be photographs of real life scenes, e.g. the ones which would contain people and different colorful objects. 

Observing our test results closely, one can see very small color differences between final photographs. These differences can be seen a couple of times in all possible combination:

when both cameras use their own custom built WB profile and evenwhen both cameras are set to exactly the same Color Temperature and Tint setting, measured by Lumu Powerwhen both photos are made with one camera, but with custom WB and Lumu Power measured WB.

The first reason is the difference in camera image sensors between models, specifically

different sensitivity to different wavelengthdifferent color handlingdifferent internal WB measuring algorithms.

Most possibly, even when using multiple units of the same camera model, there could be some very small but noticeable color discrepancy between the final photographs.

The second reason is the differences in spectral sensitivity between your Color Meter and your camera.
As Adam Wilt says in his comparison test between Lightning Passport and Sekonic C-700 spectrometers and Minolta Color Meter II and Sekonic C-500 tristimulus meters, "The more lumpy your source’s spectrum is, the more a slight difference in the spectral responses of your camera and meter will be likely to cause visible mismatches between what the meter predicts and what the camera sees." 
You can read Adam's complete test HERE.

The single most important aspect of using a handheld Color Temperature meter is to use it in real life situations, with a camera you are used to, and to have it as a starting point in getting the image suited to your taste and desire. It will help you become a better photographer or cinematographer.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned cinematographer or you’ve just started dabbling in filmmaking - correct exposure can make your film look like a masterpiece. 

Exposure refers to the amount of light being captured by the camera and is directly connected to the brightness or darkness of the image. If too much light is reflected into the camera the result will be an overexposed image. On the other hand, not enough light will cause your film to be too dark. Creating perfect exposure is not always easy to achieve, for example if you’re shooting under daylight, you obviously cannot dim the sun. Keep in mind that ideal exposure is subjective and different cinematographers will have different opinions. You just have to find the exposure that works for you. 

There are 5 pillars of exposure:

1. Aperture: the method of controlling how much light is let onto the sensor. A larger aperture creates a shallower depth of field than a smaller aperture – leaving a creative impact on what is in focus, and on what is not.

2. Shutter Speed: the amount of time each frame is being exposed to light. Faster shutter speeds freeze action in the image where a slower shutter speed allows for movement within the exposure – leaving a creative impact on motion blur within a frame.

3. ISO: the sensitivity of your film stock or digital sensor. The creative side effect of increasing the ISO is the grain or noise that will also be increased within the image – leaving a creative impact on the perceived clean or dirty look to the image.

4. Neutral Density Filters: darkened glass that reduces the amount of light entering the camera lens. The creative side effect really lies in the ability to use aperture, shutter speed, and ISO however you want while controlling the amount of light with a filter.

5.Lighting: the source of illumination that allows your camera to capture an image. The creative side effect depends on perceived light size and how close the source is to the subject. 

That’s quite a lot of factors you have to take into account when filming. Here is where a light meter like Lumu Light Meter will come in handy. You can use Lumu Light Meter to always achieve perfect exposure of your videos. All you have to do is point it towards the object you wish to shoot, and it will provide you with the exact shutter aperture settings. 

Open your Lumu Light Meter app and plug your Lumu into your iOS device. When the app menu opens up, select the “CINE/VIDEO” mode. 

You will now be able to measure correct aperture for your camera settings. Before you start measuring, you have to determine the FPS(frames per second), shutter speed and ISO - tap on each setting and put in the values.When everything is set, all you have to do is point and measure. As you can see in the small pictogram on top of the screen, you have to use the dome side of Lumu to measure aperture. Place your Lumu Power close to the subject, make sure the dome is turned towards the camera and tap on the black button to measure aperture. All that’s left to do is to input the f-stops value into your camera. Voila, perfect exposure every single time!

But that’s not all! If you tap on the overlapping circles icon in the bottom left corner, you can set exposure compensation and calculate ND filters.

You can also take notes by tapping on the pencil icon in the bottom right corner, which is great for location scouting. 

If you’re interested to see more about exposure and how Lumu Light Meter can come in handy when filming, make sure to check out the following videos:

- Using Stops to Measure Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, Light and Filters for Exposure 

- Nail Perfect Exposure Every Time 

- Lumu Power Light & Color Meter Attachment for iPhone 

- 3 Tips to PERFECTLY Expose Your Videos EVERY TIME! 

Using Lumu Light Meter can help you in various ways. 

When using ambient exposure metering: 

- You can use exposure metering to have your photographs or video footage overall properly exposed.

- With measuring exposure difference between your desired subject and the background (or the rest of the frame), you can control the feeling of the image: you can make it more dramatic, more soft, more friendly, etc.

- If you want to re-shoot a scene sometime later you can reconstruct it easier and without notice also with the help of previously measured and saved light values in it.

When using flash exposure metering:  

- Control the Flash vs. Ambient ratio to achieve the desired picture feeling. 

When using Color Temperature metering:

- You can simply measure Color Temperature of the ambient light and use the measurement in your camera to get the most neutral White Balance. 

- Color Temperature will help you nail correct Green/Magenta compensations better than your eyes.

- You can use it to measure color difference between different light sources and match their color by using color filters such as http://us.rosco.com/en/products/family/filters-and-diffusions and http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-list.html

Basically, it still works but we don't recommend using it. There is a glitch in iOS that makes Lumu connect and reconnect every 10 seconds or so if used in combination with Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter, making Lumu unusable on devices without a headphone port.

It is a rare occasion that a Lumu stops working, so please try to diligently follow these steps first:

- Which iPhone and iOS version do you use? Lumu only works on iOS8 devices or newer.

- Did you enable Lumu microphone permissions (found in Settings / Privacy / Microphone / Lumu)? 

- Did you turn off the Volume Limit? Go to Settings / Music / Volume limit and make sure it's turned off.

- Did you turn off the Mono Audio option? Go to Settings / Accessibility / Audio/Visual / Mono Audio and make sure it's turned off.

- Clean the audio port on your iPhone for any dirt residue.

If none of this works we would like to ask you to do the following:

- Try your Lumu on some other iOS device, but please follow the same steps described above first (in order to avoid any similar issues).

If none of the above fix the problem contact us using iMessage or Chat and we'll happily assist you. Please state your name & purchase date (or the Invoice number) and if you have conducted the steps described above.

Apple Compatible
Lumu was designed to be compatible with all official Apple cases. There should be a distance of 2mm between the Lumu casing and the audio connector. If you think that the distance is smaller on your device please send a photo of the Lumu attached to your iPhone to support@lu.mu and we will assist you.

Other bumpers/cases
If you use one of the other case types and your Lumu does not fit on it you can also use an extender. The extender must be the 4 pole version.

You can use a short extender (this or that) or you can use an audio cable extender which can measure up to 1m (approx. 3ft) in length.

Here's another great 4 pole headphone jack extender.

To be eligible for this, the process is as explained below:

1) Please kindly register here: https://lu.mu/account/register

On the registration page, there’s a VAT ID input field wherein you would be required to fill in your complete and accurate  VAT ID. Please note the country code + 8 or 9 digits varies from country to country (for example: SI12345678).

2) Upon registering, our system automatically verifies your ID and you would be notified via email if everything is okay or not.

3) When you receive the notification via email, please kindly proceed to place your order by logging in with the account details as created via this link https://lu.mu/account/register

4) On completing the whole process, you would be automatically refunded the amount of VAT.

For enquiries about partnership(s) and collaboration channels/possibilities, please kindly forward an in-depth overview of your proposition to sales@lu.mu