There is a lot to learn about photography! But reading about different techniques, lenses, exposure, and composition, while important, can only take you so far.
You can often learn more by actually doing than you do by studying. Take this 30 day challenge to improve your photography!
How this listing is laid out
This post will be arranged into several categories of apps:
- Camera settings info and calculations
- Weather and other environmental info
- Location and points of interest
- Other photography related items
Each app description box will have a logo to quickly identify the type of phone the app is for. The description info is taken directly from the app store. There is a button below each app to go to that app’s page.
A word about ratings. The ratings stated are end user ratings and will be based on a huge number of factors. They could even be based on previous versions of the app where this issues they had have been fixed already.
Therefore, if the app is free or low cost, nothing beats trying it out yourself or doing some additional inline research regarding its function.
What app do most photographers use?
Apps for Camera Settings
These are apps that help you with camera settings based on various situations and scenarios.
1. PhotoPills (iOS)
- Rating: 4.7
- Seller: PhotoPills S.L.
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 10.3 and up
- Languages: English, others
Price: $9.99
Whether your passion is to capture beautiful landscapes, immortalize the infinite night sky, surprise the bride and the groom in their happiest day… or to travel the world, PhotoPills will make you love exploring new artistic possibilities to tell visual stories in a way it wasn’t possible before.
PhotoPills is an all in one, swiss army knife type tool that does most anything a photographer might need.
2. PhotoPills (Android)
- Rating: 4.8
- Seller: PhotoPills S.L.
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 4.1 or later
- Languages: English (others)
Price: $9.99
Whether your passion is to capture beautiful landscapes, immortalize the infinite night sky, surprise the bride and the groom in their happiest day… or to travel the world, PhotoPills will make you love exploring new artistic possibilities to tell visual stories in a way it wasn’t possible before.
PhotoPills is an all in one, swiss army knife type tool that does most anything a photographer might need.
3. SetMyCamera (iOS)
- Rating: 3.5
- Seller: Roger Bauchspies
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 11, watchOS 3.0
- Languages: English
Price: Free
SetMyCamera takes the guesswork out of capturing the perfect photograph. The best settings will appear right on the screen of your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
SetMyCamera applications help you to take the best shots with less hassle and confusion using your DSLR, SLR or any camera with user configurable capabilities.
4. SetMyCamera PRO (iOS)
- Rating: 4.3
- Seller: Roger Bauchspies
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 11, watchOS 3.0
- Languages: English
Price: $5.99
SetMyCamera Pro includes tools to remotely trigger your camera, aid in composing better photographs with its Field of View (FoV) utility, and assist in camera configurations for both Depth of Field (DoF) and minimum shutter speed using your DSLR, SLR or other Camera.
5. Long Exposure Calculator (iOS)
- Rating: 4.7
- Seller: Ilya Genkin
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 10 or later
- Languages: English (several others)
Price: $3.99
LExp or Long Exposure Calculators is a must-have app for any landscape photographer who is shooting with ND filters or with long exposures or at night. All of the important calculators, reference tables and cheat sheets in one place.
Select your shooting parameters and the app will do the rest for you!
6. ND Filter Calc (Android)
- Rating: 4.3
- Seller: Ioannis Ioannou
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 4.1 or later
- Languages: English (others)
Price: Free
Simple calculator app for DSLR photographers taking long exposure shots using Neutral Density ND filters. Select the shutter speed applicable without the filter, then select the filter you intend on using and the shutter speed you will then need to use will be displayed.
7. Slower Shutter (iOS)
- Rating: 3.5
- Seller: Michael Wong
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 11.3 or later
- Languages: English
Price: $1.99
Slower Shutter is a long exposure calculator for any landscape photographer who is shooting with ND filters to slow down the movement in their photo.
Simply enter the shutter speed for an exposure without a ND filter and then select the strength of your ND filter. Slower Shutter will then calculate the correct shutter speed for the correct long exposure time for up to 16 stop ND.
8. Simple DOF Calculator (iOS)
- Rating: 4.5
- Seller: Dennis van den Berg
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 9.0 or later
- Languages: English
Price: $1.99
Simple DoF Calculator allows photographers to calculate the depth of field and hyperfocal distance for any given settings.
It calculates the near limit, far limit, total depth of field, hyperfocal distance, distance in front of the subject and distance behind the subject.
9. DOF Calculator (Android)
- Rating: 4.0
- Seller: Aimen RG
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 4.1 or later
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Depth of Field Calculator for Photographers. Calculates Hyperfocal Distance, Near Focus Limit, Far Focus limit, and Depth of Field (DOF). Has option to select teleconverters, automatically corrects focal length and apertures.
10. Hyperfocal DOF (Android)
- Rating: 3.8
- Seller: Javier Cancio
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 2.3.3 or later
- Languages: English
Price: Free
The hyperfocal distance is the closest distance at which a lens can be focused while keeping objects at infinity acceptably sharp.
When the lens is focused at this distance, all objects at distances from half of the hyperfocal distance out to infinity will be acceptably sharp. With this app, you can calculate hyperfocal distance in an easy way. More than 1600 camera models!
Apps for Weather & Environment
These are photography assistant apps that help you with the conditions of your location
11. The Photographers Epehmeris (iOS)
- Rating: 4.8
- Seller: Crookneck Consulting LLC
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 12.0 or later
- Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish
Price: $9.99 (In app purchases)
The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) helps plan outdoor photography shoots in natural light, particularly landscape and urban scenes. It’s a map-centric Sun, Moon and Milky Way calculator: see how the light will fall on the land, day or night, for any location on earth.
Whether you need at-a-glance information on today’s sun, moon and Milky Way data for your current location, or need to plan a precise alignment of the full moon for a future shoot, TPE has the tools you need. The combination of augmented reality, line-of-sight analysis and visual search supports the most sophisticated photo planning needs.
12. The Photographers Ephemeris (Android)
- Rating: 3.8
- Seller: Crookneck Consulting LLC
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 5.0 or later
- Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish
Price: $2.99
Ideal for landscape, nature, travel and outdoor photographers, TPE’s map-based approach means you can search for any place name on the planet or position the map pin exactly where you want it.
Advanced features include: automatic time zone and elevation detection, correction for atmospheric refraction and height above the horizon. You can even determine when the sun or moon will be visible from behind nearby hills and mountains.
13. B&G Blue Hour, Golden Hour (iOS)
- Rating: 4.6
- Seller: Lorenzo Piccinini
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 9.0 or later
- Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish
Price: $0.99
This app uses the date and location to calculate the correct time frame(s) for the Golden Hour, the Blue Hour and what time sunrise and sunset is going to be. Very useful for getting great lighting for your photos!
14. Photo Time Golden Hour Blue Hour (Android)
- Rating: 4.6
- Seller: Photographers Toolbox
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 5.0 or later
- Languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish
Price: $0.99
This app uses the date and location to calculate the correct time frame(s) for the Golden Hour, the Blue Hour and what time sunrise and sunset is going to be. Very useful for getting great lighting for your photos!
15. Magic Hour (iOS)
- Rating: 4.8
- Seller: Linda Byrket
- Category: Utilities
- Requires: iOS 12 or later
- Languages: English, several others
Price: Free (In app Purchases)
Magic Hour makes it easy for you to know when magic hour is coming and how much time you have left once it begins. The app takes your location along with the current day and calculates when magic hour will occur.
If the weather forecast is available, it gives that to you as well. The Moon Watch section lets you know the next moonrise and when the next full moon will appear.
You can set up notifications on and before magic hour begins. And with the in-app purchase you can select locations other than your current one, view future magic hour times, and create calendar events for them.
16. Sun Position (Android)
- Rating: 4.6
- Seller: Stonekick
- Category: Tools
- Requires: Android 5.0 or later
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Sun Position shows you sunrise and sunset times, as well as the solar and lunar path on an augmented reality camera view for any day of the year at your current location.
17. Sun Surveyor (Android)
- Rating: 4.6
- Seller: Adam Ranta
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android version varies with device
- Languages: English
Price: $7.99
Sun Surveyor takes the mystery out of the sunrise, sunset, and moon phases, allowing photographers and filmmakers to scout the best locations, plan effectively, and get the perfect shot.
Uses augmented reality view to allow you to hol dup your phone and see exactly where the sun/moon will rise/set.
18. Sun Surveyor (iOS)
- Rating: 4.8
- Seller: Adam Ratana
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 10.0 or later
- Languages: English, others
Price: $9.99
Sun Surveyor takes the mystery out of the sunrise, sunset, and moon phases, allowing photographers and filmmakers to scout the best locations, plan effectively, and get the perfect shot.
Uses augmented reality view to allow you to hol dup your phone and see exactly where the sun/moon will rise/set.
19. SunIZup (iOS)
- Rating: 4.3
- Seller: Afzal Khan
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 9.0 or later
- Languages: English, others
Price: $2.99
SunIZup helps you to know the timings of the various Sunlight phases including the Golden Hour and Blue Hour (also known as Magic Hour by photographers and cinematographers) for any selected location and any given date.
20. Dark Sky (iOS)
- Rating: 4.7
- Seller: The Dark Sky Company LLC
- Category: Weather
- Requires: iOS 11.0 and WatchOS 4.0
- Languages: English
Price: $3.99
Dark Sky is the most accurate source of hyperlocal weather information. With down-to-the-minute forecasts, you’ll know exactly when the rain will start or stop, right where you’re standing. (It’s like magic.) Recently acquired by Apple may become part of iOS in the future.
Apps for Location and Maps
These are photography assistant apps that help you locate areas and features of interest
21. Google Earth (iOS)
- Rating: 4.3
- Seller: Google LLC
- Category: Travel
- Requires: iOS 12.2.0 or greater
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Explore the whole world from above with satellite imagery and 3D terrain of the entire globe and 3D buildings in hundreds of cities around the world.
Zoom to your house or anywhere else then dive in for a 360° perspective with Street View. Great for examining potential photography locations in the field.
22. Google Earth (Android)
- Rating: 4.4
- Seller: Google LLC
- Category: Travel & Local
- Requires: Android varies with device
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Explore the whole world from above with satellite imagery and 3D terrain of the entire globe and 3D buildings in hundreds of cities around the world.
Zoom to your house or anywhere else then dive in for a 360° perspective with Street View. Great for examining potential photography locations in the field.
23. Light Pollution Map (Android)
- Rating: 4.5
- Seller: Photographers Arsenal
- Category: Education
- Requires: Android 4.4 and up
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Light Pollution Map allows you to easily locate dark sky locations where the sky will not be affected by light pollution, allowing the best observance, star gazing, and photography of the night sky!
24. Light Pollution Map (iOS)
- Rating: 4.6
- Seller: Dunbar Technology LLC
- Category: Weather
- Requires: iOS 9.0 or greater
- Languages: English
Price: Free
Light Pollution Map allows you to easily locate dark sky locations where the sky will not be affected by light pollution, allowing the best observance, star gazing, and photography of the night sky!
25. Peak Finder (iOS)
- Rating: 4.5
- Seller: Fabio Soldati
- Category: Travel
- Requires: iOS 10.0 or greater
- Languages: English, others
Price: $4.99
Like to photograph mountains? PeakFinder AR makes it possible… and shows the names of all mountains and peaks with a 360° panorama display. functions completely offline. PeakFinder knows more than 650’000 peaks – from Mount Everest to the little hill around the corner.
26. Peak Finder (Android)
- Rating: 4.5
- Seller: Fabio Soldati
- Category: Travel & Local
- Requires: Android 4.2.10 and up
- Languages: English, others
Price: $4.99
Like to photograph mountains? PeakFinder AR makes it possible… and shows the names of all mountains and peaks with a 360° panorama display. functions completely offline. PeakFinder knows more than 650’000 peaks – from Mount Everest to the little hill around the corner.
Apps for Misc and Other
These are photography assistant apps that serve other functions needed by a photographer
27. The Photographers Transit (iOS)
- Rating: 3.7
- Seller: Crookneck Consulting LLC
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 10.0 or greater
- Languages: English
Price: $8.99
The Photographer’s Transit (“Photo Transit”) is a map-based shot planning tool for outdoor photographers who use interchangeable lens cameras (such as SLRs).
Plan the best possible camera, lenses and shooting locations for your photo trip or assignment using the sophisticated built-in field of view simulator.
28. Pocket Light Meter (iOS)
- Rating: 4.4
- Seller: Vladislav Vyshemirsky
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 9.0 or greater
- Languages: English, others
Price: $10.99 (In app purchases)
A light meter that is always in your pocket. It is indispensable for film photography with all manual camera. Measures reflected light, and allows reciprocity calculations.
29. LensTag (iOS)
- Rating: 3.9
- Seller: Trevor Sehrer
- Category: Photo & Video
- Requires: iOS 10.0 or greater
- Languages: English
Price: Free (In app purchases)
Free, easy theft protection for all your cameras, lenses and everything else with a serial number.
Look up serial numbers of gear you’re thinking about buying to see if it’s stolen, report missing gear and securely transfer gear to other photographers.
30. LensTag (Android)
- Rating: 3.9
- Seller: Lenstag
- Category: Photography
- Requires: Android 5.0 or later
- Languages: English
Price: Free (In app purchases)
Free, easy theft protection for all your cameras, lenses and everything else with a serial number. Look up serial numbers of gear you’re thinking about buying to see if it’s stolen, report missing gear and securely transfer gear to other photographers.
Conclusion
I hope this list of photography assistant apps has given you some new ideas on how to use your Smartphone when out taking photos. There are many useful tools here! I would be very interested in hearing if you found something particularly awesome/helpful! drop a line and let me know.
Also, If you have additional useful information to contribute, or new apps that need to be added, by all means contact me and I’ll get it updated appropriately. Feel free to create links to this page and come back occasionally to see whats new and whats changed!
