Color meter and sun tracker for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch
Walk onto any set and know your light.
Cutvey Meter is a color meter and sun tracker for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, made for cinematographers, gaffers and videographers. Point your phone at a light, read its kelvin and tint, and get the gel that matches it to the rest of your set.
Free to download. $19.99, once.
Included in a Cutvey plan.
White balance
Read the color of any light.
Point the camera at a light, or fill the frame with a gray card. You get kelvin and tint to dial into the camera, and a badge that says how steady the reading is.
HIGH means steady and clean. It is your phone's camera reading the light, so treat it as a fast starting point.
Gels
Match it with the right gel.
Pin one light with REF and point at the other. Meter names the CTO or CTB that brings them together, in LEE or Rosco numbers, with what is left over in mired.
Up to two sheets. Within 5 mired the card says MATCH. The plus or minus green suggestion is marked approximate.
Exposure and ND
Know your ND before you roll.
Set your ISO, stop, shutter and frame rate once. Walk from the shade into the sun and the strip names the ND to drop in, from 0.3 to 2.1.
Lux is worked out from the exposure, assuming an 18% gray surface: close on a gray card, an estimate everywhere else.
Flicker
Catch flicker before the take.
When Meter sees banding from a dimmed LED or a lamp on the mains, it names the nearest shutter that won’t flicker. Tap USE and your rig takes it.
It can miss a light running at an exact multiple of your frame rate, and it does not measure how much a light flickers.
Sun and planning
See where the sun will be.
The sun’s path over the live picture, golden and blue hour to the minute, and the Meter Map to plan any place on any day, with a stand-in’s shadow at every hour.
Shown for Los Angeles on November 14. The sun’s position is worked out to a fraction of a degree; the arc on screen is only as good as your phone’s compass, and Meter shows how far off that is.
Golden hour by cityBlue hour by citySun and golden hour for any place
Apple Watch
Your meter on your wrist.
A golden hour countdown, your rig’s ND, and the phone’s live reading while you walk the set. Double tap to log the reading.
Comes with the iPhone app and needs it installed. The reading always comes from the phone’s camera. Double tap needs a watch that supports it.
Free, in your browser
Free tools for the light
Golden hour
Golden and blue hour for any city, today
Times on the place's own clock, to the minute, worked out the way the app works them out. No sign-up, nothing sent anywhere.
Unlock Forever
$19.99, once.
The whole app, for good, on your iPhone, your iPad and the Apple Watch app. One payment, no subscription.
Download on the App StoreFree to download. The app opens on three choices: Unlock Forever, Sign in with Cutvey and Restore Purchase. Apple shows the price in your currency.
Already on Cutvey?
Included in your Cutvey plan
Meter is included for each person on a paid Cutvey plan or a trial: one person on Solo, five on Pro and twenty on Studio. Sign in with your Cutvey email, and it works on up to three of your devices while the plan is active.
See Cutvey plansWeighing it against a meter you already carry?
Compare color meter appsCutvey Meter beside a Sekonic C-800Can a phone be a color meter?Asked on set
Is it as accurate as a color meter?
It reads the light through your phone's camera, so treat it as a quick, steady starting point rather than a lab instrument. Every reading tells you how steady it is: HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW.
What does DIFFICULT SOURCE mean?
The light is flickering, a gray card is lit by two colors at once, or the color is past what your camera can read. Use that reading as a starting point.
Does it work without signal?
The meter, the sun path, your rig and your readings all work offline. The map, place search and buying need a connection.
Where do my readings go?
They stay on your phone and your Apple Watch, and they are never sent to Cutvey. Places you look up on the map go through Apple Maps.
Is there a subscription?
No. Meter is free to download, and one purchase of $19.99, once, opens it on your iPhone, your iPad and the Apple Watch app for good. A Cutvey plan includes it too, for each person on the plan.
Does it run on Android or a Mac?
No. It runs on iPhone, iPhone Duo and iPad with iOS 17 or later, and the Apple Watch app needs watchOS 10. The meter reads through the camera of the phone or iPad in your hand.
More answers in Help.