White Balance Color Temp Meter
The app measures the color temperature of the lighting so that you can set the appropriate white balance setting on your camera. Problems have been reported on certain Android(TM) devices and therefore I now offer a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
- if you are not happy with the performance of the app on your device, let me know and I give you a full refund! Valid within a whole month from the date of purchase.
How to Use the App?Find a surface that is white or gray. A white paper with or without text works perfectly. Just make sure to avoid any colors. Point the camera towards that surface and click the Analyze button. The app will then show the measured color temperature of the light that falls on that surface. The app will also recommend a white balance setting for you to use on your camera in these lighting conditions.
What is Color Temperature?Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that measures the hue of light from a light source. Color temperatures are usually measured in Kelvin (K). Low color temperatures (below 3000 K) are called warm colors (red and yellowish white) while high color temperatures (above 5000 K) are called cool colors (blueish white). Technically the color temperature is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source.
When is Color Temperature Important?Color temperatures are of special interest in all kinds of color photography. The human eye easily compensates for the color temperature of different light sources. Most cameras today have a feature called Automatic White Balance, AWB, which tries to do the same. In some conditions this works OK, in other conditions the results are poor. Many photographers therefore prefer to manually set the white balance value on the camera to match the color temperature of the current scene. With this application you can measure the color temperature before doing the white balance setting on you camera to get a more accurate setting.
You can also use this app to learn about the color temperatures in your environment. With this knowledge you can develop a better understanding of how the color temperatures varies which helps you when you are trying to master the light and colors in your photography.
How Accurate are the Measurements?To measure the color temperature accurately is a complex issue. On an Android(TM) device is it complicated further by the fact that all devices are slightly different from each other. See the measured values as fairly good approximations.
Got Feedback on the App?Please send any feedback, ideas or improvement suggestions on the application to [email protected].
Category : Photography
Reviews (29)
For what this program is, it's very much worth the $0.99. Works accurate enough to have a good idea of the Kelvin color temps. I will be using it for general room lighting and for surfaces in the room. I like the simplicity and the direct reading of the K degrees. Perfect for my needs! The asking price is well worth it for this program. No adds and very simple to use.
It works, but there is a major flaw. It's a simple un-fussy app to analyse the colour temperature of lighting. If you want to know the colour temperature of a bulb so you can match it, it can be ideal but there is a problem. Sadly, it is woefully inaccurate when used with LED lighting. This is caused by the LED mains flicker interacting with the scanning of the phone's camera. This causes moire fringing in the sampling area, leading to erratic results. A better sampling model is required.
On Note10+ not always does the trick. In dim light it was off, the image was not on real color tones or temperature. Indoor, natural light it was fine, accurate and close to accurate. Outside, sunny daylight, it was off, not accurate. It could be calibration, maybe the paper brightness needs to be 100, not all the papers has the same brightness level. Is not perfect, at least not all gets the right data.Hopefully the dev will take time to update it,no update since 2012 :( Android Eclair 2.1old
Not perfect, but close enough. I bought this to measure white balance on a scene with mixed lighting. I have some studio lights and know their exact color temperatures. On my Galaxy S10+, the measurements are within a reasonable margin of error for all of them. It does seems to read the daylight temps a bit more accurately, however. If you want better, expect to drop major cash on a real light meter.
Fantastic app! When I just compared the color temperature of one lamp to another because they looked the same to me, even though one is rated at 4000K and the other at 3000, this confirmed that I'm not nuts. (Especially because aside from these two, I also measured one that's rated at 5000K.) It'll obviously probably be off a bit because of the slightly different tints of white surfaces - wall paint, paper, etc. but given a lamp with a reliable color temperature as reference, it's all good.
Purchased this app expecting to measure the color temperature of lightsource in my home, however I am disappointed to see it incorrectly measures color across different light settings and every time shows white/cloudy. Furthermore, after purchasing the app it showed a popup message that app may not work on latest android version. Not recommended!
This Color Temperature app worked incredibly well on my Galaxy S1. I installed it on later Galaxy S phones & had poor results. Lucky for me I kept my old S1 phone and I still use the app on the S1 and it works so well. It seems that the smartphone manufacturers have altered the lens glass on newer phones and the app just doesn't respond as accurately. In my opinion the app itself is superb. I believe the smartphone lens is the problem, possibly making people think the app is not accurate.
Inaccurate - however, it did say in installation that it was designed for an older version of Android. (For instance, it suggested 5100 Kelvin, when the actual colour temperature was about 3100). I'm using a Samsung S10 Plus. Unfortunately, as it is, it's of no use at all. Still, I only wasted $1
Pretty simple, with just three buttons. You have to hit "Analyze" to get a reading -- I wish it had the option to update in realtime with a hold reading function. Sufficiently accurate for choosing the right gel.
It works and very close to being accurate as I pointed out to lightbulbs. Great app for a cheap price. I wish there was another app to compare this one to for accuracy checking. Installed on Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Galaxy S10+: Does exactly what it should. I have tested with a white sheet of paper on multiple known color temp ranges and it has been accurate within 100K, and consistently so. If you need more precision, shell out the money for a true meter.
It said my Android version is to new but it worked spot on anyway. I'm a professional photographer. Just read of white surface and set your DSLR camera accordingly. I guess some negative remarks are from some people are that thinks its for using a mobile phone camera. You use your mobile camera only to measure.
Its a grate tool to have to get your white balance close as an expensive meter. I use a Sony a6000. It has made my shot better and cleaner. Try it there a refund button there if you don't like it.
Wrong reading every time. 6490 K. Edit: You can request a refund from Google Play. You don't have to send an email for that. App was last updated in 2012. Please take a note of that before buying.
Nice app. Doesn't work for LED lights on my Nexus 4a, but works great on an old Galaxy III. 😃
Doesnt work on my Pixel 3. Says this is designed for older phones... I think if the developer updates this .. this will be a home run because a lot of rookies are buying cameras these days... I wish this app existed when I was starting out.
app works very wel. bought a led lamp it says 6500 app shows 6480... I would say great result. use a white paper, do not hold camera into the light source!
Oh my, It's ridiculous! That one and only working app in Google Play for measurement white balance/ colour temp is from 2012 )) - I'm ready to pay even more, but please provide me with modern functional product. But thanks anyway!
It gives the sAme result for everything I try to measure on my Google pixel 3a. 6490 k in bright sunlight! Don't waste your time on it. I then got lightspectrum pro Evo which works great.
no way to set the white balance for the camera to use in the app, keeps trying to use auto so all the readings are way off. menu button does nothing (htc m9)
I have had this app on several phones. It works right. It's the only app that assesses color temperature. It was and is well worth the price.
Doesn't work at all. I held it in front of the white reference card of a WarmCard set, in the evening and it calculated 6400K. I set the camera to that and everything was red.
Last update was 2012. It says on first setup it's for an older machine (not my Note 9.) Maybe there will be a more current version.
Works great on my Pixel 4. Seems accurate enough for an educated guess as to K of a light source.
Works very well with a grey reference. Very easy. Very fast.
Works perfectly. Completely accurate! Very useful app.
Nowhere near accurate using Galaxy S8. Says app is for older Android.
You can not know what the true color is until the light is white.
Good idea in theory, and with the right phone it could be pretty useful. But if your phone does auto white balance like mine does, this app doesn't work. It tells me every light source is ~4500K, regardless of the actual CCT. I tried everything from 2700K to 6500K, and it couldn't tell the difference. I tried on a Nexus 4 and Nexus 7; neither one was anywhere near accurate.